This in-depth description of life in a nursing/care home for 70
residents and 40 staff highlights the daily care of frail or ill
residents between 80 and 100 years of age, including people suffering
with dementia. How residents interact with care assistants is
emphasised, as are the different behaviours of men and women observed
during a year of daily conversations between the author, patients and
staff, who share their stories of the pressures of the work. Living
Before Dying shows a world where, in extreme old age, people have to
learn how to cope with living communally.