Doing Things: A Guide to Programing Activities for Persons with Alzheimer s Disease and Related Disorders

"A valuable resource for professionals, paraprofessionals, and family members working with Alzheimer's disease patients."

"This guide shows how to establish a positive environment for Alzheimer's patients by providing social interaction and productive activity, with an emphasis on treating patients with empathy, courtesy, and dignity."

"This material provides useful suggestions for the Alzheimer's patient at home. Zgola's program would work best in the community setting where the patient with a disease of the Alzheimer's type (DAT) is transported to a center or health care facility. Doing Things provides step-by-step alternatives to a dull vegetative existence, and should be particularly helpful to the primary care provider who desperately needs a 'day off.'."

"The book's greatest strength is that it serves as a source of dozens of ideas for meaningful activities for persons with dementing illness... This book should be required reading for the adult day-care staff with an interest in dementia. But this reviewer hopes the book will find a wider audience. Patient educators and counselors will find this a valuable reference and teaching guide; the book will be especially helpful to those counselors who work with families caring for persons with dementing illness. Families living with the day-to-day stress of caregiving will find hope in the book's optimism and viewed that we can strive to bring out the best in persons with dementia."

"It is vitally important that we understand the ways in which programs can benefit people with Alzheimer's disease―not by altering the course of the disease but by improving the quality of life. This book tells in clear, step-by-step language how to provide this care."