Reading and presentation with author Laura Katz Olson

Caregiving is the “new normal” for nearly forty-three million Americans who will relate to the book Elder Care Journey with tears, laughter, sighs, outrage and nods of acknowledgement. Laura Katz Olson, a researcher of elder care, finds her studies inconveniently interrupted by a real person with ever-increasing demands—her mother. A healthy and strong Senior Olympics medal winner, mom is steadily incapacitated by Parkinson’s disease and a gradual loss of vision.

Thrust into a long-distance caregiving role, Olson finds her previous ideas about assisting a frail parent increasingly at odds with the lived experience. Although Olson and her mother are at the center of the narrative, Elder Care Journey belongs to two generations: elders with functional limitations striving to remain at home and the beleaguered adult children attempting to help them.

“The author’s experiences – provide helpful advice to caregivers on what to expect and how to deal with it, as well as reassurance that they are not alone.” — Christine L. Day, University of New Orleans (Author of What Older Americans Think: Interest Groups and Aging Policy)

Free to the Public