Book offers help for caregivers

A Custer High School grad was back in town last week to celebrate Christmas with her mother. Connie (Himrich) Porcaro who currently lives in Coral Springs, Fla., was also celebrating the upcoming release of her first book which is being published by the prestigious Johns Hopkins Press.
And there’s even a “Christmas miracle” aspect to this story.
Porcaro, the daughter of long-time Custer resident Fran Himrich, and her colleague Barbara O’Connor Wells (both are professors at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton) have edited a book called “A Caregiver’s Guide to Communication Problems from Brain Injury or Disease.” The description on the book’s cover describes its content: “Helpful strategies for speech problems, swallowing disorders, memory issues, language impairment related to stroke, Parkinson’s, dementia, and more.”
Poracaro said the inspiration for the book came from the authors’ backgrounds in speech and language pathology as related to those who have suffered brain injuries or brain altering diseases such as Parkinson’s.
Believing there was a void in the literature, especially targeted toward the families and caregivers of brain injury patients, the pair began discussing putting together a book that would be helpful to laypersons working one-on-one with those individuals.
“Medical doctors know about the medical part but they don’t always know about the communication part and that’s so important,” said Porcaro.
She said there were some books on the market that had been written by medical doctors but they had only a page or two devoted to issues like speech or swallowing.
“We started meeting for lunch and talking about this book,” said Porcaro, “and we brought in some other people who were experts in memory and swallowing and other areas where people often have problems when they’ve had Parkinson’s or damage to the brain. We just kind of pulled together the best people we could to write each chapter.”
Porcaro said, while written by academics, the book is aimed at the lay caregiver and is written at that level.
Asked about the connection between speech and swallowing, Porcaro said both functions use the same muscles. Therefore, when a person is diagnosed with dysphagia—a difficulty in swallowing due to a brain injury—speech pathologists are often called in to prescribe treatments and exercises that can help patients regain that function.
“We wanted to help the caregivers understand how to communicate best with their loved ones,” said Porcaro. “If they’re dealing with communication and swallowing...our book is the one that does really cover that.”  
She said they wanted the book to be “accessible and relatable” and she believes they have accomplished that goal.
Once the rough draft was completed, the task of shopping to the book to publishers began. They were in discussions with several publishers, at least one of which wanted them to pay to have it published.
But then in 2019 Porcaro and Wells experienced their “Christmas miracle” as they like to call it.
“We both went to church on Christmas Eve (at different churches) exactly two years ago and while we were both at church we got an email from an editor at Johns Hopkins. When I was leaving church she was texting me, ‛Did you see the email from Johns Hopkins?’”
Porcaro said they feel fortunate to have gotten in with Johns Hopkins because of the publisher’s solid reputation in the industry, however, the process of bringing the book to market has taken longer than anticipated.
“It takes a long time to publish things and COVID did not help,” said Porcaro.
However, after numerous delays the publisher is now planning for a formal book launch in February, during which Porcaro and Wells will do media interviews and other publicity events.
Here in Custer there’s no need for paid promotion. Himrich has taken on the role of publicist and has preordered a number of the books including one to be donated to the Custer County Library.
Porcaro speaks fondly of her Custer upbringing, giving her high school English teacher Sandy McFarland credit for helping jumpstart her interest in writing.
“She kind of recruited me to be the yearbook editor,” said Porcaro, who also recalls that Bill Young was her teacher and golf coach when her team won the state championship.  
Porcaro’s journey from the Black Hills of South Dakota to South Florida and from high school golfer to university professor and published author has taken her all over the country.
After graduating from Custer High School in 1983 she left home for the first time to attend the University of South Dakota, Vermillion, where she got her BA in Communication Sciences and Disorders which she said is “the fancy name for speech pathology.”
She went on to get her master’s degree from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley and then worked for 12 years as a speech and language pathologist with children in the public schools in Iowa. After moving to Laramie, Wyo., she started working with adults who had Parkinson’s Disease or had suffered from strokes.
“I really liked that so much better,” said Porcaro. “That was closer to what I wanted to do.”
While in Laramie, she also began teaching at the University of Wyoming and found she enjoyed it. To teach at the college level, however, she would need to become a professor and in order to do that she would need her doctorate. That took her to the University of Arizona in Tucson.
Porcaro said she has long had a particular interest in Parkinson’s Disease because her paternal grandfather, who died before she was born, suffered from it. When she did her doctoral dissertation in Arizona it involved 12 Parkinson’s patients who were subjects in her research study.
The book is currently available for pre-order in hard or softcover or Kindle editions from Amazon.com for delivery Feb. 22.