LEWISTON — Androscoggin Home Care and Hospice and Central Maine Medical Center will host a lecture and book signing with author and physician Dennis McCullough from 6:30 to 8 p.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 7, at the Bates College Muskie Archives, 70 Campus Ave. The event is free to the public. 

McCullough is the author of “My Mother, Your Mother: Embracing ‘Slow Medicine,’ The Compassionate Approach to Caring for Your Aging
Loved Ones.”

McCullough’s book and lecture will focus on the fastest growing group of elders, those over age 80. This group has more interaction with the medical system and uses more resources per capita than any other age group. And it is about to double its numbers, with a spiraling demand for health services. Diseases which once ended lives relatively quickly have been changed into chronic illness, chronic debilitation and extended years of decline. The pressure of numbers is creating unprecedented family and societal burdens.

The Slow Medicine movement works from the premise that this particular group of elders has the highest likelihood of benefiting from care that is more measured and reflective, which actually stands back from rushed, in-hospital interventions and slows down to balance thoughtfully the separate, multiple and complex issues of late-life.

Following his presentation, McCullough will sign copies of his book that will be available for purchase. The Lewiston Public Library is coordinating the book signing.

To register for the event, call 795-8448 or e-mail [email protected]. Interpreter services are available upon advance request.