Wanna know what Broadmoor looked like? I know I do! Here’s some pictures:
The BBC: Broadmoor Hospital: Inside a Victorian ‘lunatic asylum’
Getty Images: Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum Pictures and Images
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Civil War and PTSD
I think something important to bring up when it comes to this book is the idea of Post Traumatic Stress and its effect on W.C. Minor. First, here are definitions of PTSD by the National Institute for Mental Health as well as the American Psychological Association.
Here are articles that address this idea of PTSD and the Civil War. While at the time they would not have recognized mental disorders in the way we do today, I think it’s worthwhile to explore this subject on how the perception of mental illness has changed or not changed from the 19th century until now.
New York Times – PTSD and the Civil War
Smithsonian Institute – Did Civil War Soldiers Have PTSD?
U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs – History of PTSD in Veterans: Civil War to DSM-V
History Welfare Network- Dying to Get Home: PTSD in the Civil War
Hospice Nurses
End of life care and nursing care doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Yet rarely are the perspectives of nurses and caretakers put into the mainstream. So I would like to post a few stories from hospice nurses and other healthcare providers to get their perspective on an uncomfortable subject we all have to face.
Slate – Approaching Death
NPR – A Nurse Reflects on the Privilege of Caring for Dying Patients
Hospice Diary – A Hospice Nurse’s Diary
Chicago Tribune – Striking Similarity of Dying Words
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – Life’s Journey: A Better End / A hospice nurse’s frank approach to end of life
All Nurses – Hospice Nursing Message Board – Tell Me About Death
Casa de la Luz Hospice – Great Moments Can Be Small Moments – A Hospice Volunteer’s Story
Mystery Solved and an Epilogue
For those of you who have been wondering, yes Roz Chast did find her sister’s grave. With help from a fan and findagrave.com, she solved it. Here’s the epilogue, penned years later (also included in the article):
Nursing Homes
Here are a few articles outlining the history of nursing homes in America, reflecting our culture and evolution on the subject of elder care and how we see how we take care of our older relatives. I won’t include the thousands and thousands of stories of nursing home and elder care abuse stories out there, mainly because they are so numerous and easily found. But I would like to focus this post on the history of nursing homes, the outlook for the nursing home industry, and the legal recourse for abuse victims.
George State University Law Review – From Almshouses to Nursing Homes and Community Care: Lessons from Medicaid’s History
National Center for Health Statistics: Nursing Home Care
National Center for Biotechnology Information: The Changing Structure of the Nursing Home Industry and the Impact of Ownership on Quality, Cost, and Access (published c.1986)
Franchise-Help.com: Senior Care Industry 2016 At a Glance
Bankrate.com: Americans racked by retirement fears
Chicago Tribune: Nursing homes for boomers gain traction over opposition in Chicago area
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality: Improving Patient Safety in Nursing Homes:
A Resource List for Users of the AHRQ Nursing Home Survey on Patient Safety Culture
Elder Law Answers: What Nursing Home Staff Levels Are Required?
New York Times: The Right to Sue Restored
United States Senate Special Committee on Aging: Senate Unanimously Approves Collins, Blumenthal Resolution Recognizing World Elder Abuse Awareness Day
Caregiver Training
For those of you who might be dealing with this issue right now or know someone who is, I’d like to post a few links to help people who choose to take care of an elderly family member in the home.
The first is a 33-part series of YouTube videos from UCLA which help give practical training to a home caregiver to someone with Alzheimers and Dementia. I’m posting the first one here.
This series of videos is from Senior Helpers, an in-home care company. I’m not advocating on their behalf but they put out a great 4-part series for home caregivers dealing with Alzheimer’s and Dementia.
Sundowning
Since Roz brings up a lot of different difficult topics up in this book, I’ve decided to focus on a few topics to highlight resources and interesting articles. The first topic I want to touch on is Sundowning.
Mayo Clinic – Sundowning: Late-Day Confusion
Alzheimer’s Association – Sleep Issues and Sundowning
CBC – Sundowners and Their Exhausted Caregivers
The Atlantic – An Overnight Nursing Home for Dementia Patients
New York Times – Behind the Scenes: Capturing Mental Twilight
Intentional Caregiver – My Experiences with “Sundowning”
Facts About Autism
Just in case you need to wrap your head around the current realities of Autism in the world, I’m going to put up links to some great resources to learn more about it.
Illinois Autism Society: Latest Autism Statistics
Autism Speaks – Autism at 70 – a reaction to a New England Journal of Medicine article and a brief historical timeline of Autism
Autism Speaks – Learn the Signs of Autism
National Institute of Health – Communication Problems in Children With Autism Disorder
Disability Scoop – Learn about some current Autism news stories
Excellent Local and National Organizations to Know About:
NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness)
David Mitchell Interview
Here is an interview with author David Mitchell who wrote the introduction to the book, helped translate and introduced this book to the English-speaking world. He talks about how the book has helped him with his autistic son, the translation process for the book, and even some accusations from some that the book is a farce.
