The Longest Embrace is a solution-filled guide to coping with one of today's most urgent healthcare issues - aging parents no longer able to care for themselves. The Longest Embrace is a timely, frank introduction to the challenges more than a third of American families already face as they care for elderly, declining parents or other family members. In 17 concise chapters, veteran Care Manager Barbara R. Hornby describes the emotional struggles and crises families are confronting, the healthcare system's strengths and shortcomings in dealing with the aged, the special problem of dementia, and practical solutions families can use to guide their parents through a more secure, fulfilling final chapter. Hornby's discussion includes a moving account of her own father's slow passing and dozens of examples from her 30-plus years as a geriatric nurse and care manager that dramatically illustrate the healthcare dilemmas families are experiencing.