Burkhard Pechmann
Altenheimseelsorge
Gemeinden begleiten Menschen im Alter und mit Demenz
1. Edition 2011
96 pages
ISBN 978-3-525-58022-6
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
Gemeindearbeit praktisch -
plus S&H
Book
The world of the nursing and retirement home is one unto itself. Anyone entering and wishing to retain his own health and sanity needs advance preparation. The new volume in the series “Practical Pastoral Work” consists of two parts – an introduction and a reference work concerning the world of elderly and dement individuals.
What should I expect when I enter such a home, what sorts of people will I meet up with? What can I bring along and what should I leave at home (e.g., haste and impatience)? The “Introductory Course” can be studied individually or together with others. The thrust is to become oriented to and to understand the very particular world of the retirement home – its way of seeing time and space, life and death, memories and the perspective of life after death. Particular emphasis is placed on dementia, its symptoms and approaches to understanding it.
The section “A to Z” offers explanations of keywords that play a major role in retirement and nursing home: from aging, compassion, dignity, and future to home, memories, peace and time.
Burkhard Pechmann also provides many examples from everyday practice. He is not only able to create empathy for the situation of persons who have grown old, but also to offer new perspectives on the meaning of life: aging as a blessing.
