Caregiving author will discuss memoir Nov 14
Author Elizabeth Pannier, Ph.D., will discuss the art of storytelling through memoir and read from her book “Walking Together: A Mother and Daughter’s Journey Through Aging and Alzheimer’s’ at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 14, at the Surround Sound Theater at The Garlands of Barrington, 1000 Garlands Lane, Barrington.
The program, which commemorates National Family Caregivers Month, is co-sponsored by BACOA and The Garlands.
“Walking Together” was written from a personal journal and notes that Dr. Pannier kept while caring for her mother, who had Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Pannier says she wrote the book to offer help and support to other families dealing with Alzheimer’s and dementia.
“Although I had worked professionally as a teacher and therapist with many people with critical illnesses and in hospice care,” she says, “I learned that the long walk through Alzheimer’s is quite different, and we had much more to learn during that time.”
Dr. Pannier lived and worked in the Barrington and Lake Zurich area for more than 25 years. She helped to create and build Hospice of Northeastern Illinois (now JourneyCare) in the 1980s, and worked with Horizon Hospice of Chicago for 23 years as a teacher and consultant for patient care. In addition to her hospice work, she worked as a counselor and psychotherapist for many years in the Northwest suburbs. She and her husband have retired to Wisconsin, where she writes, gardens and teaches memoir writing to elders in her community.
The event is free, but reservations are requested by Friday, Nov. 8, as seating is limited.
For more information, or to register, call BACOA at (847) 381-5030.