Marcy Cottrell Houle

In a powerful blending of memoir and practical strategies from a medical doctor’s perspective, The Gift of Caring: Saving Our Parents – and ourselves - from the Perils of Modern Healthcare reveals the hidden side of modern healthcare practices for aging Americans. This ground-breaking book, co-written by award-winning author Marcy Houle and nationally-recognized geriatrician and public health advocate, Elizabeth Eckstrom MD MPH, sheds new light on aging by showing it from twin perspectives: the story of a daughter desperately seeking help for the parents she loves, and a geriatrician who offers life-changing strategies that can protect our loved ones and ourselves. Today, for many older adults, the medical delivery system is confusing, fragmented, and ill-equipped to provide comprehensive, person-centered care. Under our current healthcare model, thousands of aging persons face unnecessary suffering, hospitalizations and nursing home stays, and even preventable death. Seniors and families often feel powerless as they travel this sad journey. Not having knowledge of aging’s changes, they resign themselves to believing there is nothing anyone can do to help, while some health care professionals simply write off symptoms seniors endure as “just old age.” But as Marcy Houle discovered in caring for her parents, many of the problems often are not “just old age.” Further, the real issue is not that the answers to ease suffering don’t exist. Rather, what we need to know is generally not available to the general public. Even more concerning, many health care professionals have had little or no training in the care of older adults. The Gift of Caring hopes to change that. It is written to give empowerment to all older adults, family members, and health care professionals, by sharing much needed knowledge and practical strategies. The Gift of Caring shows the best ways to advocate for our parent’s health care … and our own … by giving us the tools we need to insist upon the better way. Your parents and you deserve the best healthcare as you age- But there are so many reasons why that’s not happening.You can change that.

Award-winning authors Marcy Houle and Elizabeth Eckstrom have teamed up again following the success of their critically acclaimed book The Gift of Caring, winner of the 2016 National Christopher Award. This new book blends frontline science with inspirational stories and insights from wise elders for aging with health, joy, and purpose. The book explains how our bodies and brains age, defining what can be expected with aging and what is unusual. It demonstrates ways we can significantly increase our chances for a positive aging experience into our 80s, 90s and 100s. It offers key strategies for meeting the challenges of aging, informs us of issues of inclusion and equity, and advises on handling legal and financial affairs. The Gift of Aging illustrates how we can make the third act of our lives meaningful and fulfilling, ensuring we as elders can make a difference in our world.

Award-winning authors Marcy Houle and Elizabeth Eckstrom have teamed up again following the success of their critically acclaimed book The Gift of Caring, winner of the 2016 National Christopher Award. This new book blends frontline science with inspirational stories and insights from wise elders for aging with health, joy, and purpose. The book explains how our bodies and brains age, defining what can be expected with aging and what is unusual. It demonstrates ways we can significantly increase our chances for a positive aging experience into our 80s, 90s and 100s. It offers key strategies for meeting the challenges of aging, informs us of issues of inclusion and equity, and advises on handling legal and financial affairs. The Gift of Aging illustrates how we can make the third act of our lives meaningful and fulfilling, ensuring we as elders can make a difference in our world.

Situated in the rugged hills west of downtown Portland, Forest Park is the nation’s premier urban natural sanctuary. It supports essential habitat for hundreds of native plants and animals, including species at risk, and is one of the largest city parks in the world. While extending critical ecosystem services to the region, it offers miles of outstanding hiking trails, all within minutes of the downtown core.Forest Park: Exploring Portland’s Natural Sanctuary showcases this treasure in new light, offering a compendium of the most up-to-date and comprehensive information available. Twenty-one hikes covering 75 miles bring a full awareness of the park’s outstanding attributes. Hikes are grouped by theme to encourage people to explore Forest Park’s watersheds; geology; lichens and mosses; vegetation; amphibians and reptiles; pollinators; native wildlife; and wildlife corridors. Beautiful photographs and full-color maps accompany each trail description. Forest Park is a shining example of the Pacific Northwest western hemlock community--an ecosystem unique among all temperate forests of the world. It is also an exciting model for a future Urban Biodiversity Reserve, a concept under development recognizing the park’s scientific, natural, and cultural qualities. Forest Park: Exploring Portland’s Natural Sanctuary will help all visitors discover the beauty and wonders of this extraordinary natural resource.

A Generous Nature: Lives Transformed by Oregon offers profiles of twenty-one conservationists and activists who have made enduring contributions to the preservation of Oregon's wild and natural places and its high quality of life. These stories speak to their courage, foresight, and actions—at times against great odds—to save places, enact legislation, and motivate others to cherish and protect the places that make Oregon unique.Taken from personal interviews conducted by the author over a decade, these stories will help readers understand the histories of Oregon's exceptional places, innovative planning efforts, and laws. They provide insight into the principles and values that motivated individuals to preserve the beauty and natural resources of Oregon, craft legislation to further protect them, and educate others about their value. Places as diverse as the Columbia River Gorge Natural Scenic Area, the wild and scenic Sandy River, and Tryon Creek State Park are featured, along with background on critical laws such as the Beach Bill, Diack Act, and Senate Bill 100, and organizations such as SOLVE and the High Desert Partnership. A Generous Nature is a testament to the vision and hard work of people who loved Oregon and fought to protect its ecosystems and habitats for the benefit of all.These stories do more than educate. They will inspire readers and demonstrate that individually we can make a difference. They underscore that the natural wonders of our state should be guarded and not taken for granted. In these times of unsettled political polarization and divisiveness, A Generous Nature is a crucial reminder of our individual and collective responsibility to stand for and defend the places, ideals, and laws that make Oregon a progressive model for the rest of the nation.

Forty years ago, the peregrine falcon was on the U.S. endangered species list and many doubted that it would survive. Marcy Houle was a young wildlife biologist observing one of the last remaining pairs—located at a site in southwest Colorado slated for development as a major tourist site.First published in 1991 and winner of several national awards, this book chronicles her work at Chimney Rock along with the recovery of the species. A new preface examines the last thirty years of the peregrine population and its remarkable comeback and culminates with President Barack Obama’s designation of Chimney Rock as a national monument.

Situated in the rugged hills west of Portland, Oregon, Forest Park is one of the largest urban parks in the world and the only city wilderness park in the United States. The park is home to hundreds of native plants and animals and offers more than eighty miles of trails—all within minutes of downtown Portland.This updated and expanded edition of One City’s Wilderness provides directions to twenty-nine hikes of varying length, difficulty, and scenery, covering every trail within the 5,100-acre park. Each hike is accompanied by new, full-color maps, and a fold-out, full-color map of the entire park is included inside the back cover.Marcy Houle shares the history of Forest Park, introduces the people who fought to preserve it, and explores the role stewards play today. She describes the park’s critical wildlife corridor, its exceptional watersheds, and its important native interior forest habitat. She encourages people of all ages to take an “All Trails Challenge”—learning about the unique nature of the park by exploring every trail.For its recreational and educational opportunities as well as its extraordinary natural beauty, Forest Park is unquestionably America’s premier urban forest. One City’s Wilderness, in its updated third edition, continues to be the authoritative, complete guide to Portland’s greatest natural resource.Full color trail maps for 29 hikesFold-out color map of entire park84 color photographs of native plants and birdsPark history, geology, watersheds, vegetation, and wildlifeBird, plant, and mammal checklists