Jacqueline Marcell

When I began caring for my elderly parents (both with early Alzheimer's, not properly diagnosed), I was shocked to read that family caregivers are often more depressed than those they care for. (And caregivers with a chronic illness have a 63 percent higher death rate than their peers of the same age.) A year into my caregiving duties, without a day off from my "challenging" elderly father--I was surprised the statistic was that low! Read more…

If I had only known about the effectiveness of Elder Mediation (EM) during the hardest year of my life as a caregiver to my elderly parents, I could have saved myself so much heartache, time and money—and even my own precious health.

For eleven years my challenging elderly father took care of my sweet but ailing mother, calling me long-distance daily to complain about how difficult it was yet refusing my constant pleas to accept help. Every caregiver I hired to help him would call within a few days of my flying back home and sigh in exasperation, “Jacqueline, I’m sorry, I just can’t work with your unreasonable father!” Read more…

As the economy declines and seniors’ homes aren’t worth what they once were, and retirement nest eggs are lost just when they are needed most, seniors are trying to figure out creative ways to pay for their retirement years. Before giving up and moving in with your kids, here is an idea that has been circulating in various forms on the Internet for years, but now it is actually quite worthy of consideration! Read more…

Ohhh, I had this exact situation while I was caring for my parents, so I know how exasperating it is! I actually went through 40 caregivers the first year—well, most only there for about ten minutes as my father would be so nasty they’d run out of the house or he’d throw them out. After much trial and tears, I finally figured out how to handle the many complexities of the situation—so I want to share what I unfortunately had to learn the hard way! Read more…