Helping Yourself Help Others

In her book, Helping Yourself Help Others: A Book for Caregivers, Rosalynn Carter, the wife of Jimmy Carter, the former President of the United States, provides a personal and informative guide for caregivers in their challenging tasks of caring for the severely ill and disabled. Carter is able to provide an empathetic and personal perspective to this issue because she has also experienced the difficulties and challenges of caregiving in her younger years. During her adolescence, Carter's father was afflicted with leukemia and died half a year later, leaving Carter, her sister and two younger brothers in the care of her mother (Carter 16-8). After her husband's death Carter's mother had to work in a variety of jobs in order to raise her family and take care of her ailing father-in-law (Carter 19-22). Carter's mother, who is still living, serves as a personal inspiration for Carter in her work to improve the lives of caregivers in the U.S.

Through her participation in the Governor's Commission to Improve Services to the Mentally and Emotionally Handicapped while her husband was governor of Georgia, Carter began her "formal education about the problems of those suffering from mental illnesses" (Carter 25). As the First Lady, she joined in the government's effort to address the problems of health care for the mentally ill and the elderly (Carter 25-8). Since her departure from the White House, Carter has continued her effor

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this book provide a sense of belonging to the isolated caregiver- readers. The caregivers presented in this book are at different stages of their caregiving process. While the book contains stories of frustrated caregivers such as Faye who feel overwhelmed by their enormity of their tasks (Carter 130), it also includes the story of Sissy. Sissy who has institutionalized her grandmother deals with her effort to recover her past life, one that does not involve the constant devotion to her grandmother (Carter 191). Therefore, the personal accounts of these caregivers at different stages provide a larger picture to the caregiving process. Instead of feeling frustrated by the present, the caregiver-readers can recognize the fact that the caregiving experience is an evolving process that will not stagnate forever. By presenting the perspectives of formal caregivers, Carter shows her willingness to address the negative relationships between formal caregivers and informal caregivers. Informal caregivers often complain about the lack of cooperation and indifference of formal caregivers. Many physicians are not trained to treat informal caregivers as partners in the treatment of the patient. On the other hand, Carter also highlights
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Approximate Word count = 2023
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)

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