Carol Bradley Bursack
Columnist/author/ speaker Carol Bradley Bursack, author of "Minding Our Elders: Caregivers Share Their Personal Stories," has been interviewed on national radio shows, and by journalists interested in elder care. She has also written articles on elder care and speaks frequently at conferences and workshops. Minding Our Elders has been chosen as a text for college gerontology classes as a vehicle to humanize the caregiving experience to students.
Bursack is an elder care columnist and
Bursack is an elder care columnist and
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Articles by Carol Bradley Bursack
May 20, 2006
“Carol, I’m so sorry about your dad,” people told me after he died. “I’m sure you miss him.” They were right. I missed him terribly. But, my dad had, effectively, died on an operating table ten years before. The man we just buried was my dad, yet not really. The pain – the grief – had started after ...
May 06, 2006
For many suffering from painful or debilitating disease, death is the only real relief. For many caregivers, it is the same. Often, worn down by years of attending to the needs of a loved one; years of watching the mental decline from Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias; years of watching the fru...
May 01, 2006
For over 20 years, Carol Bradley Bursack cared for a neighbor and six elderly family members. Her experience inspired her to write "Minding Our Elders: Caregivers Share Their Personal Stories." "Minding Our Elders" contains six stories of Bursack's experiences and interviews with 20 other caregivers...
May 01, 2006
Minding Our Elders: Caregivers Share Their Personal Stories
Prologue
A small breeze sifts through the screen, then sneaks around a cracked open window, carrying the rich scent of fall harvest from fields surrounding Fargo. Dad's horn-rimmed glasses sit on the tip of his nose, well below his fog...
May 01, 2006
When was the last time you listened to a bird? Noticed tree leaf buds bursting open on a spring day? Enjoyed a child?s laugh (even your own child or grandchild)? Can?t remember? You?re caring too much. That?s right, you are caring for other people too much and cheating yourself out of living your l...
April 15, 2006
You’ve got kids and they’re growing up. You’ve got a job and you’re moving up. You and your spouse have smoothed out the wrinkles of early marriage. Sailing along pretty well, right?
Bang! Dad has a stroke. Mom, while trying to help Dad, falls and breaks her hip. And you have to deal. What happe...
April 15, 2006
Did you think you left the sibling rivalry behind when you all left the nest? Did you dream that if and when your parents got old and needed help, you?d all pitch in? Did you envision snug discussions about who would do what when the folks did need help?
Dream on. While researching Minding Our Eld...
April 15, 2006
Typically, when most people think of a caregiver, they picture a woman. An elder?s care-giver? The daughter, of course. However, when I was looking for caregivers to interview for ?Minding Our Elders: Caregivers Share Their Personal Stories,? I kept stumbling on caregiving men. My final percentage o...
April 12, 2006
A study from New York University, found that caregivers are twice as likely as non-caregivers to report physical and mental health complications. One in three caregivers uses medication for caregiving-related health problems and depression among caregivers is three times greater than for non-caregiv...