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Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher
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DEMENTIA REIMAGINED

Tia Powell

Building a Life of Joy and Dignity from Beginning to End

This is a cultural and medical history of dementia and Alzheimer's disease with surprising answers about the progress we've made, and what we still don't know, by a leading psychiatrist and bioethicist.
Medical school never prepared Tia Powell to address the immense challenges of dementia that she faced as a daughter and granddaughter. But she was far from alone: Just in the US, 10,000 baby boomers turn 65 every day; by the time people reach 85, their chances of having dementia approach 50%.

This book is for all those who face dementia, in themselves or in their families. Powell knows how hard it is to get things right: to plan, to get the right care at the right time, to pay for that care, and to work with doctors and other professionals to find the best treatments and support. In REIMAGINING DEMENTIA, she shares some of what readers can do to make the experience of dementia a little less terrifying, and even a bit more joyful.

Dementia is not only about loss - it is also about preservation: of affection, of dignity, of hope. The reality is, there is no cure, and none likely to arrive anytime soon. Only a tiny percent of drugs successfully complete the research process, either because most don't work or because they have side effects that make their risks greater than the benefits. Instead, our research efforts need to incorporate how to care for those affected, intelligently and compassionately.

Beyond offering advice, Powell reveals the often harrowing cultural history of dementia, from the poorhouse to the asylum to the nursing home, as well as the groundbreaking medical advance that we could have pursued - but didn't - over one hundred years ago. She also offers a contrarian perspective on what has been gained and lost with the bonanza of funding for Alzheimer's disease at the expense of other forms of dementia.

Tia Powell is Director of the Montefiore Einstein Center for Bioethics and of the Einstein Cardozo Master of Science in Bioethics program. She is Professor of Epidemiology, Division of Bioethics, and Psychiatry. She has bioethics expertise in public policy, dementia, consultation, end of life care, decision-making capacity, bioethics education, and the ethics of public health disasters. She served four years as Executive Director of the New York State Task Force on Life and the Law, which functions as New York State's bioethics commission. She has worked with the Institute of Medicine on many projects related to public health and ethics and most recently served on the 2017 report on community approaches to address health inequities. She is a board certified psychiatrist and Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine, the American Psychiatric Association, and The Hastings Center.
Available products
Book

Published 2019-04-02 by Avery

Book

Published 2019-04-02 by Avery

Comments

In this effective demystification of dementia and Alzheimer's disease, physician and bioethicist Powell reframes two debilitating cognitive disorders... Throughout this insightful book, the author addresses the issues facing dementia victims and their caregivers with the kind of compassion and dignity everyone deserves at the end of life. A potent hybrid of medical history/journal and memoir. Read more...

Essential reading for anyone who cares for or about a person with dementia, treats a person with dementia, or is concerned about their own risk of dementia. Powell skillfully traces the sometimes surprising, often tragic, history of this disease and explains the current state of science and medicine and how they interact with advocacy and public policy. This book gives us a vision for what a meaningful life with dementia can look like.

Eye-opening... a good start toward reimagining this devastating disease.

Beautiful and powerful. Dr. Powell has somehow achieved that magical and difficult balancing act of being both informative and deeply personal at the same time. So many people will be touched deeply by this book, and many will think very hard (and much more knowledgeably) about what they want, for themselves or their family member, when faced with dementia. It will go to the top of my list of books I recommend to families when they ask me what to read, and I will plead that my colleagues to read it, too.

Radio Interview, The Alzheier's Podcast Read more...

DEMENTIA REIMAGINED is an Amazon bestseller! #29 on the list (May 22, 2019)

With candor and humor, Tia Powell examines all aspects of dementia: its history, treatment, and most importantly, how to care for people as they struggle to maintain dignity and autonomy. I recommend this book to anyone with a family or friend with dementia.

Korean: Rokmedia

Dementia is the defining disease of our era. Powell invites us to imagine a brighter way forward. Dementia Reimagined succeeds on many levels - it is informative and insightful, historically illuminating, scientifically accurate, socially savvy and so well written. The result is utterly engaging.

Dementia Reimagined is a brave, sobering, and profoundly humane book about one of the most serious challenges we face both as individuals and as a society. As a physician and bioethicist with a family history of dementia herself, Powell excavates the little-known history of the condition, while persuasively arguing that we must supplement our efforts to develop a cure by building an infrastructure of compassionate care to ensure a decent quality of life for our beloved elders and our future selves.

For all us baby boomers and our children joking about senior moments, it turns out that a lot of people living with dementia are actually having a hell of a good time. Read this book. Accepting what is and making the best of it requires a little planning, but the payoff in joy in the moment is huge.

Fresh Air interview with Tia Powell Read more...

Author's article: The Comforts of Home - Helping people with dementia stay home longer. Read more...

author's article: Shaking Down Grandma - Older people can be subject to financial abuse. Read more...

Zestful Aging - Chat about Tia Powell Read more...