by Kristina Gabalski
Kathleen FinkSeniors and their adult children will find plenty of help and guidance in a new book by Bergen resident and Lakeside Hospital Emergency Department nurse Kathleen Fink, RN, CEN.
The Golden Years: Keeping Up the Fight – Helping Seniors Maintain Well-Being, covers various topics of concern to older adults including housing options, emergency preparedness, diet regimes and general health and fitness considerations.
Like her first book, It’s My Baby! What Do I Do?, The Golden Years, published by Evenhouse Printing, LLC in Hamburg, NY, is an easy-to-read guide and includes color photographs.
“I see people struggling with changes while aging and their children trying to help,” Fink says. “The purpose of the book is to get information out there in simplified form, for seniors and their adult children, to help steer them to the right things to keep them self-sufficient, independent and safe.”
Fink says this book has a different feel than her first one on babies because, “With babies, you know they will progress and get better. With seniors, you know things are going to decline in the future, but don’t know when that will be.”
Chapters focus on avoiding emergencies and being pro-active – including information on health care proxies and Medical Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment forms as well as activities for stimulating the mind and body. Diets including gluten-free; dental soft diets and low-purine diets (for gout). Fink also provides specifics on when to call the pharmacist, doctor and 911.
The Golden Years is available at Lift Bridge Books and the Lakeside Memorial Hospital gift shop.Other chapters focus on what to do when your home becomes too much work and what housing options are available; changes in memory and mobility; when to stop driving and managing pain.
Fink says she knows these decisions can be difficult, especially regarding when to leave your home or give up the car keys, but she notes these changes don’t have to mean giving up your independence. “You’re not just stuck when you give up the keys,” she says, “there are lift line buses, cabs, and rides from family and friends. It used to be called asking favors, now it’s called networking.”
There’s even a chapter devoted to tips from seniors. One especially helpful suggestion Fink says, is to leave a note on the counter or dry erase board about where you are when you’ve gone out – including the time you left and expect to return. This can be very helpful for others in the household or for those who might be checking in on you.
The book includes a magnetized pocket which can be removed and stuck on the fridge to store emergency information.
Fink adds that her books clearly indicate when situations need to be referred to a doctor.
“It’s been exciting and fun,” writing the books, Fink says. She has already completed additional books, but they are not yet in print.
Her first book on baby care has been printed in Spanish for use in outreach programs by agencies and SUNY campuses that assist local migrant groups, Fink adds.
The Golden Years is available for $13.99 at Lift Bridge Books and the Lakeside Hospital gift shop in Brockport. Fink also has a website – www.simplyhealth.biz – where you can connect with her, and order the books on-line.
