God bless you, Carol.
It is people like you who are doing so much more for people like me than I could ever do...you have helped to define caregiving in the highest of terms, full of love, compassion and understanding. You, in turn, are continuing to help caregivers understand that they need to care about themselves, too.

Leah Jones, Person with dementia

An Enormous Gift to Caregivers and Caregivers to be

This book is far more than a delightfully well-written collection of inspiring stories.... The book really seems to prepare one for something one can't prepare for!!...It's quite brilliant...through a collection of vividly told stories, the reader has actually been there, ...with differing elders, personalities, needs, wishes, emotions, settings, timetables, etc.. .all are unique, yet all are similar in that they are all trial and error on the caregivers part...uncharted waters you will just get into ...but the hope of the book (to me) is that the caregiver finds out there is no right way....far to many forces are at play... beyond the caregivers control...so you suck it up, do the best you can.. ..and don't fight natural events and ones desire to have done a better job. Readers are really lifted with more confidence, less guilt, and the definite feeling of not being alone. You will learn that you are not going to be perfect, but you can get the job done by doing the best you can. We can't be Carol, but we can learn from her going before us. What a friend to all caregivers. What a gift she has given us.

Skip Jones, Human Service Professional and family caregiver

Caregiver Voices Are Heard
As the frazzled son of an aging mother with dementia, I found validation and comfort in Carol Bradley Bursack’s exceptional book, “Minding Our Elders.” Eldercare is often a lonely business and one that places a profound mental and physical burden on the caregiver. Healing begins with the discovery that one is not alone. “Minding Our Elders” provides ample evidence that eldercaregivers have plenty of company these days.
 
Bursack uses a professional journalist’s interview technique to compile the trials and challenges of over twenty-five caregivers who have poured out their hearts to her.There is a relaxed intimacy to her writing style that immediately engages the reader. It feels as though each of her subjects has become your own personal friend who is quietly sharing with you the private pain associated with care of their loved one.
 
Bursack introduces each person with a description of surroundings, clothing, gestures and expression that reveals a sharp eye for detail—the kind of detail that imbues the people and their stories with humanity. Her faithful and insightful reporting of these stories, told in each caregiver’s own words, has created a sensitive and well written book that is must reading for anyone facing the decline of a parent.
 
I recommend it highly.
 
Robert Tell
Author, Publisher, Speaker
Dementia Diary, A Caregiver’s Journal
http://www.dementia-diary.com

I have read "Minding Our Elders" and found it a wonderful account of care-giving with a positive attitude, dealing with a subject that can have a significant downside for families.  The author's take on various care giver issues brings together the emotional as well as the realities of care giving, without being negative.  The book draws you in, finding similarities with your own family care giving situations. So many baby boomers are assisting parents or other family members dealing with issues of aging. This book helps put things into perspective. A must read.
 
Barbara Halpern
Founder: On-Line Support Group
groups.msn.com/CaringforElderlyFamilyMembers
Founder: Coalition for Senior Safety

Using an easy narrative style, author Carol Bradley Bursack provides readers with poignant stories of caregivers in the act of caregiving. As a backdrop to her detailed stories, Carol has been a caregiver herself for many years for a multitude of family members. In addition to her experiences in varied caregiving situations, Carol is an accomplished writer and columnist for The Forum Newspaper in North Dakota. Her stories have beautiful prose and colorful details that will make readers really feel like they have attended a caregivers support group. I highly recommend this book!
 
Susan E. Lanza
Dementia care consultant

"I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation to you for taking your valuable time to provide a presentation for the Fargo VA employees entitled "Minding Our Elders." We gathered so much important information that we can utilize in our every day practice. You were right on target with your comments to include the importance of including family in those key discussions. I heard so many positive comments about your presentation and I plan to discuss many of your comments with our Customer Service Team."

Karen R, Robinson, PhD, RN
Associate Director for Patient Care
Department of Veterans Affairs
Fargo, ND

"I've always looked to books for the answers and Carol Bradley Bursack's book Minding Our Elders was there at the very time that I needed the emotional support necessary to confront the prospect of aging parents... there is such comfort in knowing that one is not alone and that others have been able to successfully and compassionately deal with this difficult life transition."

Sue A. Campbell
Children's Librarian/Consultant
San Francisco

"America's Baby Boomers will become increasingly familiar with the challenge of elder care. Carol Bursack's compassionate stories help chart this difficult territory." Eric Maisel, Ph.D.
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
Author of both fiction and non-fiction

Eric Maisel, Ph.D. is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist living in Concord, California. His fiction includes The Black Narc, The Kingston Papers, Dismay, The Blackbirds of Mulhouse, and the Fretful Dancer. His non-fiction includes Staying Sane in the Arts, Artists Speak, A Life in the Arts, Fearless Creating, Affirmations for Artists and Fearless Presenting.

"This book is a 'must read' for those of us in healthcare. We need to be reminded, not just once, but often, of the life-changing experiences faced by our elders and those who care for them."

Charlotte M. Feldman, BSN, RN, C

"I just meant to take a glance at Minding Our Elders and read it later, but I simply couldn't leave it alone! I finished it the same day. These are issues I know I will be dealing with soon."

Arlene Huseby, retired

"I really wish we'd had this book years before when we were helping Dad take care of Mom, let alone more recently when it was Dad's turn to be taken care of. There were several places where my wife and I were both tearing up over passages that took us back to some of our own experiences.

"I expected the book's primary objective, that of helping people cope with their own troubles by sharing the experiences of others. However, I didn't expect what has turned out to be an even bigger value to us than that important one. Perhaps it is because our experiences with our own parents are finally (whew!) behind us. But the really big value for us was that both of us kept thinking all the way through, 'What about us when it's our turn to be taken care? Are we ready? Have we planned the way we should so that things will go as smoothly as possible?' Our answer was a resounding 'NO!'

"We are beginning to do some serious estate planning for ourselves and will pay serious attention to educating those who will be caregivers for us when the time comes so that they are better prepared to assume the role than we were with our own parents. We have this book to thank."

Richard Sandin
San Diego

I actually started reading your book from the very beginning, instead of from back to front. I could count on one hand how many books have enticed me to do that! God inspired every word you wrote, Carol. Your imagery – wow – it’s beyond compare!