sponsored by
Park Slope Geriatric Day Center & Bay Ridge Center
Dr. Rosemary Laird &
Dr. James Huysman,
co-authors of
Take Your Oxygen First: Protecting Your Health and Happiness While Caring for a Loved One with Memory Loss
spoke to caregivers, answered questions, and signed books at the April 29, 2010 event.
(click on photos for a larger view)
Bay Ridge Center Executive Director Joanne Mason (right) meets guests at the dessert table.
PSDGC Board President Mary Brennan (right) visits the agency information tables.
PSGDC's Executive Director Christopher Nadeau (right) welcoming guests.
(l to r) State Senator Martin Golden, Dr. Rosemary Laird, Joanne Mason, Dr. James Huysman, and Christopher Nadeau
State Senator Martin Golden introduced the speakers by talking about the caregiving that he and his seven siblings share for their elderly mother.
Dr. Rosemary Laird is Medical Director of the Health First Aging
Institute in Melbourne, Florida, and an expert in geriatrics and memory loss. She told caregivers
to be sure to take care of their own health so that they would be able to care for their loved one with memory loss—as the title of the book implies, "take your oxygen first," from the flight attendant warnings on airplanes.
Dr. James Huysman is a psychologist and the co-founder and Executive Director of the Leeza Gibbons Memory Foundation. When he learned that his friend Leeza Gibbons' family was caring for her mother, who had Alzheimer's Disease, he realized their story would be an important one for all caregivers. The book is a result of many interviews with the Gibbons family.
Audience members get a chance to ask questions of the experts.
Others had a chance to talk with agency directors.
The authors signed books and continued to answer questions for who attended the evening's program.
Thanks to Drs. Rosemary Laird and James Huysman for the generous contributions of their time and expertise to this successful evening!
Photos by Ruth Benn
To learn more about Take Your Oxygen First or to order copies, please click on the title to link to the book home page.
For information about the Leeza Gibbons Memory Foundation, click on the name.
Return to the PSGDC home page