Polar Vortex: A Family Memoir

Cartoonist Denise Torrance in her memoir skillfully and with extreme sensitivity covers a problem that is currently afflicting many American families. How do children care for seniors when the latter are no longer able to care for themselves? Finding her mother alone and ill, she flies from London to the hospital in frigid Iowa, where she suddenly realizes her mother is afflicted with dementia. With a freeze like a polar vortex suddenly striking her, she must assume care and responsibility for her mother.

The problems that arise are cleverly illustrated in subdued colors, which sometimes scream out in red, showing the daughter seeking help from complacent medical personnel who she finds bound by medical rules, insurance policies that offer no coverage, and a parent who is unable to advise her. She is haunted by the specter of death that threatens her mother, as she tries to find suitable care facilities that are appropriate.

The author exposes the anxieties and emotional pain that afflict the family in caring for a needy parent with her satirical cartoons and snappy comments. She also points out the shortcomings of our health system in caring for the elderly. A easily readable book on a topic that families should beware of.