Stand by Me: A Guide to Navigating Modern, Meaningful Caregiving

Words are powerful, conveying how people feel and what they do. The words caregiver and partners in care are so essential to clinical psychologist Applebaum (founding director, Caregivers Clinic; psychologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center) that she spends pages defining them, explaining them, and expanding them beyond the casual understandings in this book. Caregiving at its core is an act of love. It can be a parent or teacher nurturing a child, or a child trying to address the intense feelings of powerlessness caring for an older parent. Applebaum is the daughter of composer and musician Stanley Seymour Applebaum. (He worked with several recording artists and is most recognized for his arrangement of the song “Stand by Me.”) In this book, she shares her personal experience of being her father’s caregiver, describing her dual experiences as the caregiver and as a clinical scientist focusing on the needs of the caregiver. She emphasizes that the caregiver conveys the patient’s personhood, which is often overlooked, to members of the health care team.