Home Health Books

I am purchasing an additional 3 copies for my staff. I found this book to be very helpful and certainly provided a lot of practical information. Especially useful was the section on medical emergencies overseas. Our company's health plan does cover medical needs abroad but many of our employees declined in-house coverage because their spouses had covered them with other policies. Many of those folks were not covered when they traveled. Also, we got into the habit of registering with the local embassies when we traveled to problematic regions. This was something we never considered before but was helpful. The embassy staff gave us good recommendations as far as security was concerned and even provided some additional information as to good places to eat, visit and shop.

Some of the information was too detailed. As a business traveler I didn't need to know that much about counter-surveillance and body armor. Interesting though not helpful to me personally.

Overall a good source.

I am buying several more copies for my staff. I found this information to be enormously useful. In particular, the information on overseas planning for medical emergencies was great. Also, the suggestion that we check in with the local embassy upon arrival overseas was something I had never done before. The embassy staff was great and not only gave us some valuable information but also gave us additional advice on places to stay and visit ect.

Some of the information was unecessary. I am a corporate traveler and really only needed to know the basics. Some of the book is a bit too detailed, especially the parts on counter-surveillance and body armor. Overall, very helpful and already made a difference.

Originally, I bought this book with my business in mind. I felt that we really needed to keep abreast of the latest techniques in security. Living in a nice, quiet community, I didn't have too much concern about my personal security. Boy, did this book open my eyes! I highly recommend this book for everyone---particularly businesses of all sizes. At home or abroad, especially in this day and age, we need to be alert. You will be as surprised as I was to discover all the risks that are out there to your company, yourself and your family. The authors have thought of everything; certainly things that the average person would surely overlook. Don't get caught off guard. Arm yourself with the latest ideas in security and anti-terrorism. Buy this book! You won't be sorry.

I have had a necklace for years with the I Ching symbols, but I never knew their meanings. In this 228 page beautiful book, feng shui is explained beautifully and simply. For the first time I understand the elements and their relationship with energy, astrology and healing. Simply the best book I have read for novices like me who have admired the tranquillity and peace of oriental gardens but were unable to capture the techniques required to plan such a simple yet complex space.

Gill Hale has done a nice job of introducing Feng Shui concepts, but I feel this book is perilously lacking in depth. OK for those who want to dabble because it's trendy, but not much else. Photos are good; basic design advice is sound. BUT as a Feng Shui landscape design consultant with several years experience I have grave reservations about anyone relying on this book for serious Feng Shui. Hale's grasp of many FS concepts seems superficial at best, and possibly harmful if not well understood when applied. For serious readers I strongly suggest instead Lillian Too's 'Complete Illustrated Guide to Feng Shui for Gardens', very readable, lots of good photos & diagrams.

I really like the color photos. She is very clear and informative as well as encouraging.It made me feel like staying home just to garden!

"Why didn't our grandparents and parents fall over dead from all these hazards?"

Our grandparents didnt have to cope with all the chemicals we have today! They didnt get allergic, 1/3 of all americans are allergic today. In my book that is due to poison coming from products we have in our homes, combined with not enough ventilation.

If you wrap the house in plastic and use buildingmaterial of formaldehyde inside it, whats going to happen? Myself I got allergic just a few years after moving into such a house, built 1974. Nowadays there are many more toxic stuff to breath in.

This is an exceptional book with obviously good scholarship and scientific reviewers and information drawn from primary sources. Although it began with well-intentioned concern, the "asbestos hazard" became one of the most costly mistakes of the 20th Century, and it continues to cause damage through exploitation of fear. There are few better examples of the costs incurred through making sweeping regulation based on political activism rather than on science. "Radon" promises to become an issue cast in the same manner. This book furnishes a case study on the larger issue of why a government agency charged with regulation incurs a conflict of interest that prevents its doing objective research about seriousness of a hazard-the more fear raised over a potential hazard, the more important and influential a regulatory agency becomes. Where influence and funding depend on fear, research that discloses fear as largely unfounded is invariably unwelcome. As result, government has little interest in providing the public with facts or solid information that reveals severe misjudgments and expensive mistakes. One has to dig through the primary science literature to deduce this--a chore few can or are inclined to do. Moore's book documents mistakes of enormous magnitude that negatively impact homeowners. It gathers enough primary information in readable form to show how it occurred and the vehemence with which it is perpetuated. Critical thinkers will love this book; those who thrive on promoting baseless fear will hate it.

For the last 20 years, I've rehabbed old houses and loved the work. I've always wondered about the EPA's wild statements regarding HOW UNSAFE old houses are. Why didn't our grandparents and parents fall over dead from all these hazards?

While writing an article about radon in the home, I discovered Casandra Moore and her book and even had a chance to interview her. I was so impressed with her, I came right to Amazon.com and bought her book. **It is one of the finest books in print.** Period.

She speaks the truth about these hazards in our home and each statement is substantiated and supported.

It is a very interesting read and a very reassuring read. No, our grandparents and parents did *NOT* fall over dead from the hazards in these old houses and there's a reason they did not!

Too often, the so-called hazards are completely overstated and blown out of all proportion by a massive governmental bureaucracy's creative imagination or a misplaced hope to save us from ourselves.

Moore's book reveals that lead levels [measured by blood lead levels] have fallen from 60 micrograms in 1970 to about 10 micrograms in 1990. That is a significant decrease.

She also reveals that the US Public Health Service keeps lowering the bar. Three times in 15 years, they've decreased the *safe* number for blood lead levels, which makes the numbers or percentages of children at risk APPEAR to jump way up. Makes for hot headlines, but bad information.

Her book is stuffed full of this kind of information. Very very interesting.

This is a good read, an interesting topic, an important book and a wonderful resource. I'd recommend it as a *must read* for anyone who lives in a pre-1970 built house.

TO conclude, Moore has good news to share. The EPA is not the final word on on our health and well being. We are indeed, "safe at home."

Rose

Dr. Arthur Garson and Carolyn Engelhard both of the University of Virginia Medical School (at least according to the book jacket) have written a clear, intelligent, factually-based analysis of the healthcare system in the USA. The book is similar to A Second Opinion by another physician/academician/administrator, Dr. Arnold Relman, whose background seems to be similar to that of Dr. Garson. Both have experience and knowledge that permit them to accurately analyze and comment on the full range of issues from the science and practice of medicine to healthcare policy.

The tack that Dr. Garson and Ms. Engelhard have taken is to identify half truths in various segments of the healthcare system, then discuss what is the true half and what is the false half of each half truth.

The introduction to the book lists 20 myths (aka half truths) that are later treated in detail in each chapter. The first myth listed is "American medical care is second-rate compared with other countries", myth three is "American wastes one-half of its medical care dollars", "America will not ration medical care".

The authors briefly discuss each myth after stating it in the introduction. For that reason a busy policy-maker or other interested party could simply read the introduction to gain an excellent understanding of the current system and to understand which issues are the most salient and why. The introduction debunks virtually all of the unsubstantiated assertions that physicians, politicians and average patients/taxpayers assume to be true simply because they are constantly repeated.

As an example, in the first chapter after the introduction, the authors make the important distinction between the medical care/medical care costs and healthcare/healthcare costs. Almost universally, people make assertions about healthcare and healthcare costs when in fact they are discussing medical care and the costs of medical care.

Health outcomes are the key measures of the efficacy of the healthcare system in total of a given country or region as opposed to measures of the efficacy of the medical care system alone. The medical care system has a strong influence on health outcomes, but it is not the sole influence by long measure. Health outcomes are a function of many factors. The authors cite several. They include the per capita income of a country and its distribution, level of education, geography, genetics, social standing, personal behavior (i.e. use of harmful substances such as alcohol and tobacco), governmental public health policy and others.

Two statistics that the authors discuss in the first chapter are usually used as a proxy for the health status of a population: infant mortality and life expectancy. The USA scores poorly on both measures relative to other countries. The authors state that the USA's position is 23rd in the world in regard to life expectancy at birth. That depends on the report and year. The usual ranking puts the USA at close to 40th in that category and in infant mortality. Unacceptable situation by any measure, but abysmal when measured against medical care spending which on a per capita basis is more than 2 times the average of other OECD countries (the 30 largest industrialized countries by GNP). A mindboggling outlier status when one considers that almost all other OECD countries on a per capita basis, particularly when adjusted for per capita income, are quite close together around the mean. So much for health outcomes being second rate - they are.

On the other hand, the quality of medical care itself is generally excellent, although there is substantial variation in quality and in cost.

The book is an easy read, well-written and well-documented. The second half of the book is devoted to reviewing sources for each of the 20 chapters. The sources are good and fairly comprehensive. Each source is discussed briefly by the authors.

The book makes assessments of likely reforms to the healthcare system that will occur in coming decades. The analysis is thorough and intelligent. The last page of the next-to-last chapter (Chapter 19) lists characteristics of the American system that the authors feel have to be considered in order for any reform to be effectuated. Reform must be:

1. Consistent with the desires of lobbyists
2. Agreeable to private insurance companies
3. Accommodating to for-profit businesses and professions
4. Allowing of patient choice of provider
5. Without rationing, no to little waiting
6. Without mandates
7. Allowing of continuing employer payment of premiums
8. Without centralization in the federal government
9. Without incremental taxation
10. Granting at least a limited right to care for everyone

Personally I believe that the authors are too pessimistic regarding the potential for eliminating private insurance to be replaced with a single payer/insurer system. The current insurance/payment system is hugely wasteful in regard to resources - to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars a year. There is a confluence of interests among businesses in their entirety, providers of all types and the general patient/taxpaying population towards realizing a single insurer/payer system. Resistance from the general public would dissipate with adequate explanation of the benefits to it of such a system. A united alliance of business as a whole and provider groups would overwhelm the lobbying of private insurers and likely pharmaceutical manufacturers/distributors on Congress that heretofore has been sufficient to foil any material change in policy.

In any case the analysis and recommendations that the authors provide are excellent, making this one more highly commendable book for interested readers.

This book does provide some good background into a lot of the various issues involved in our broken, health care system in the USA. For someone new to this field, Garson and Engelhard give some valuable insight into many of the complexities that have developed over the past 20 - 30 years. It does point out that there is a difference between medical care and health care. Obviously the medical care definition reflects a restricted scope and the rather obvious bias of a medical doctor. The authors contend that our USA medical care (the physician and patient relationship only)is about the best in the world; witness all the people who come to this country for surgery and complex medical care. However, the book is weak in identifying the shortcomings and errors in hospital service and doctor malpractice. A new emphasis on transparency in service and costs is not developed nearly as strongly as it should be.

Another subject that has not been investigated at all is the make-up of the uninsured 45 million residents in our country. Chapter 15, "Myth:People Who Work Can Afford Insurance" includes this one key sentence, "However, there are 11 million people -twenty five percent of the uninsured-who probably CAN afford health inssurance coverage, with family incomes over $50,000 (after all, the same family plan in the individual market used for our low income family would amount to less than ten percent of income)." That is all that is said in the entire book about this gross inequity between who pays and who doesn't. When Governor of MA, Mitt Romney's bi-partisan commission examined the uninsured in his state, it found that over 50% of those claiming uninsured status could afford a health insurance plan. In addition, the authors do not even examine the millions of federal, state, county and city public employees who have "first dollar" complete medical coverage as employees (and retires)for which they pay small (or zero) premiums, deductibles or co-pays. Local tax-payers subsidize these very inequitable medical expense plans that far exceed what the average worker in this country receives or can afford.

Unfortunately, this helpful book side steps the huge inequities in coverage and employee cost that present major distortions at the personal level in our health or medical care systems.

This book is an excellent, up-to-date overview of how the health care system works as of today. It assumes little prior knowledge, although you might have deeper understanding if you have some (they talk about the Clinton health care reform plan of 1994 but spend little time explaining what it would have done). The book is phrased as a series of "myths," but that seems to me just a gimmick that they fit around whatever they want to talk about. Who knew that a common myth was "People Who Work Can Afford Health Insurance?" It seems to me that the fact that they can't is rather well-known.

The authors' stated goal is to give factual information about the American health care system, and as such, the last half of the book is simply a references/further reading section. So the book is much shorter than it appears (but I think this is a strength, see below).

But there is some excellent stuff in here.

* They point out the leaps in some flawed arguments, like "The quality of care in the U.S. is bad because we have low life expectancy and high infant mortality."
* They do puncture some real myths, like "half of all medical spending occurs in the last year of life."
* They challenge some important story lines used by reformers, like "Preventive care saves money." (Sometimes it does, but many times it costs money. And the same for the opposite -- smoking usually saves money.) Another is "No Additional Money Is Needed To Cover The Uninsured" (a candidate favorite).

There are a few running themes throughout. Uninsured and underinsured people are bad for the system, and the system is bad for them. There are process and technology improvements that would be helpful in more efficiently providing medical care. Best practices don't spread throughout the medical professions as quickly as they could.

One thing this book does well is that it's scrupulously even-handed. You don't even have to open it to get a sense of this -- it has cover quotes from an aide to the new Democratic governor of Virginia, Newt Gingrich, the Brookings Institution, and the Heritage Foundation. There's stuff a single-payer advocate would love in here, but plenty of stuff to challenge the single-payer model as well.

But I think this book's greatest strength is that it provides a clear overview of where the system stands now, and does so in a read that can be done in a few hours. Absent the massive references section, we are talking about 156 pages, not particularly packed with words, and using prose that is mostly clear and not dense. I think the health-care debate last reached mass consciousness when the Clintons tried to pass their health-care reform in 1994. A lot has happened since then -- a lot of things of which I was not aware, or which I didn't understand very well. After reading, I have a much clearer picture of what the current laws are, who is covered by insurance, who usually isn't, what happens when people get sick, what the effects of some of the reform experiments of the last decade have been, what happened to the HMOs of the 1990s, and so forth.

I'd strongly recommend it for anyone interested in the system and thinking more deeply about how it should work. I would have limited my recommendation to laypeople like me, but the authors (both physicians) have convinced me that even practitioners aren't always aware of what's going on outside their immediate surroundings, so they might benefit by reading it too.

John Bower is one of the original pioneers in writing books about how to make your home healthy. This is the classic text that describes what might be unhealthy in a home and provides specific suggestions for alternatives. Lots of product information, i.e, where to order alternative building materials, less toxic-paint, safe insulation, etc.

Dan Stih is the author of Healthy Living Spaces: Top 10 Hazards Affecting Your Health

If you are concerned about indoor air quality, this is a good read. However, it left me a little paranoid. There are so many air contaminates listed in the book, it's hard to know how to improve your home. In the book itself it states that people have often replaced items in their home contributing to poor indoor air quality, only to find the replacement item was more toxic than the former item.

If you are building a home, read this first. If you already have a home.... this book will leave you wondering how to improve your life without spending your retirement fund.

Lots of good information in this book.

When this book came out, it was the best primer on Healthy Homes/Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. It is easy to read and covers most of the important stuff. John Bower has learned by doing.

He is one of the better authors covering home ventilation. On the down side, there are some vague referances not backed up with objective data.

All in all, well worth the money.

This small book is a quick read that should not be disregarded. Although not well-edited, the information provided more than compensates for any minor writing or publishing flaws. Having also heard Mr. Stih speak on talk radio, I am convinced his credentials are sound, and the topics discussed are pretinent to the health and well-being of each of us.

There are many toxins in both the modern and not-so-modern home that we live with daily and that have a significant negative impact on our health. This book identifies the worst of the worst and explains how we can eliminate those from our environment.

Having recently retired to the "clean" space that has long represented my greatest allergic environment, I can't afford to ignore the up-till-now unknown triggers found inside my house. Mr. Stih has provided the "what" and "how" to identify and rid my home of those toxins for good. The recommendations are not difficult to follow, and I am grateful to have found this resource as a guide to action.

This book is short and to the point, informational, educational and packed full of well-researched and not so well-known facts about things in our homes that could be detrimental to our health. Every chapter is well-organized: how to detect or find the problem, how to fix it (most solutions are "do-it-yourself" ones) and resources are listed at the end of each chapter. This little book has substance and the author doesn't waste your time with a lot of babbling about stuff you already know. We're all aware that environmental toxins are bad for us. This book tells us how to find them and how to get rid of them ! It's a quick read (easily read in one sitting) and yet covers the major topics like mold, dust, gas, wiring errors (that can cause elevated exposure to electromagnetic fields), remodeling, new house smell, ductwork, crawlspaces, ceiling cavities and more. As another reviewer pointed out, editing of this book was weak but the valuable information herein more than makes up for the annoyance of poor grammar or a few mispelled words.

Great factual book. Can be used in or daily lives. Author has great ideas that help to keep your life free from daily contamination. Author uses comon sense in his approach to enviormental issues.

Mrs. Carter begins her book with the following statement: "There are only four kinds of people in this world: Those who have been caregivers * Those who currently are caregivers * Those who will be caregivers * Those who will need caregivers". The definition of who a caregiver is, that follows that statement, is one of the most succinct descriptions I have read. This is a book everyone facing the prospect of long term care with a loved one must read and possess. She talks about caregiving as a time honored tradition, that although inherent with great stress and isolation, nevertheless holds the possibility of satisfac-tion if positive attitudes are nurtured and support services and help are attained. No one can do it alone. She provides a list of places to start for information and planning when long term care becomes a challenge in your life. I highly recommend this reading.

My five star rating for this book is because when it was published - and when I first read it - it was uptodate and a leader for resources. Very few books were written to give those who care for loved ones places to find answers. Most available books concentrated on specific conditions and the patients. Also at the time, the web didn't have the helpful, informative sites of today. Personally, I would love to see Mrs. Carter update the book to include the email adresses and web sites for the sources listed.

My mother had been having a series of TIA's when I found this book. Several months later she had a full fledged stroke. I was her main caregiver until she required full time skilled care outside the home. When she was hospitalized and then in a nursing home setting, I continued to be her medical surrogate. As such, I found this book not only a wealth of information, but also a great inspiration. Much of the encouragement and advice given, falls in line with the Hospice literature I received in the final month of my mother's life. It is important for caregivers to understand there are places to receive help to let them care for themselves besides the patient. It can all be so overwhelming to try to do it all and so unnecessary to be alone. Beyond that, the book helps to educate to be able to ask questions about medical, social, emotional, and economic issues to insure the best quality care.

This volume is filled with love and respect and I cannot recommend it enough. I even donated a copy to our local library.

I was a caregiver for a few years for my father and wish I had had a book like this then. If only I had known about all the resources out there that could have helped us! It also would surely have helped to know there were many others out there facing the same situation we were - the comments from caregivers in Georgia mirrored what I felt here in Pittsburgh. Caregiving is the same everywhere - we all have to cope with the same thing. For anyone who is or may ever be a caregiver, this book is a nice and simple read.

This book had varied stories of several family's experiences with the school district, or not, and their adventures in homeschooling. It definitely strengthened my resolve to homeschool.
My complaint is that, from the title, I thought this would cover all parts of the spectrum more fully. Nine out of the eleven stories, if I counted right, were about children with Asperger's! These children usually did fairly well in the school district but better at home, which is not our situation. I was looking for more information on homeschooling children with autism, with more limited capabilites.

This book really brings home how bad things can be for ASD children at school. You will be amazed what some of them suffered before they were withdrawn and homeschooled. If you are thinking of homeschooling an ASD child then this is essential reading (along with Lise Pyles book). It gives a number of different summaries from different families.

I was very taken with the parent who said that she used to concentrate all her energy on getting what she was entitled to from the dept of education but once she got it she realised that it wasnt anything like enough and that homeschooling had much more to offer her child.

Inspiring reading and if your child is suffering at school there is no better place to start if considering homeschooling.

This is the best book I've found about homeschooling my special needs child. The best because we learn not only why but also how twelve different families homeschool their special needs child - twelve different children and twelve different approaches and ways of homeschooling. The book does indeed demonstrate that "paths are made by walking" and that everyone has their own path which they discover on their journey.

I would recommend this book to anyone with a child with autism or Asperger's syndrome who is experiencing difficulties in school, as well as to anyone who is already homeschooling to see how others are doing it.

Great for providing information on all types of rehab assessment tools, ethics, and quick emergency assessments and protocols. For a PT preparing to transition into home health, I have found this book helpful in understanding the focus of home health vs. my typical clinical practice. I also liked the section on questions for asking when interviewing for a position. I know this book can't include everything, but I would have appreciated some additional information and suggestions on practical matters such as basic home adaptation, handouts for caregivers (such as transfer training, positioning, etc.) and advice for working through the lengthy initial assessment tool for new patients.

I found this book surprisingly full of helpful info., and organized quite well. I have been able to use this book to review many things that I had gotten "rusty" on, in a concise, easy to follow, easy to find category index, with many useful & objective tests which make evals much easier, as well as creating a more quantitative set of data collecting. In the home health setting, we professionals are "on our own" per say, as there are usually no other references or personnel available in the home setting. I've really used this book a LOT since purchasing it, and found it to be an excellent resource! I purchased this book based on the Amazon tool of being able to look inside the book before purchase-great tool! It sold me!!

I received "Home Rehabilitation: Guide to Clinical Practice" By Anemaet & Moffa-Trotter 2000 and LOVE it!
I think it is especially good for those new to home care.
It has sections on setting schedules, equipment, infection control, safety, regulations, medications, ethics, and pediatric and adult conditions. There is an extensive listing of evaluations, which are described in usable detail.
Common medications are listed by both generic and brand names, making them easy to track down, and side-effects are also listed.
I think it is a great reference!

i could not wait for this book to arrive in the mail! this book gave me the most interesting ideas. i tried the glycerin soaps that were on the cover and they came out perfectly. the bath tea sachets were also a wonderful idea. i would recommend this book to anyone who loves to soak in the bath tub. the author also gives instructions on how to make salt scrub and bath milk. i would definitely recommend this book to anyone who has a difficult time shopping for someone who has everything.

this book is not that great. the pictures are nice but it really needed more of them. its alittle fluffy and frilly. not that practicale. don't buy.

This book offers practical suggestions for projects that you can make yourself to enhance your home spa (bathroom). With women's hectic lifesyltes, we rarely make time for ourselves. This book lets me dream about all of the different ways I could relax at home. I especially liked the tips for making my own guest towels and accessories. After I bought this book, I spent the weekend making a tiny little powder room special. I incorporated many of the author's techniques and I was amazed at how I could transform this little space from an irritating, outdated bathroom to a tranquil and organized guest bath. It really worked! I also love the inscribed soaps on the jacket.