In the 1980’s, the United States education system transitioned from the common practice of institutionalizing children with disabilities, to “mainstreaming”

It seems that the goal was “inclusion”; helping children with disabilities be included and welcomed among fellow students who did not have disabilities, and helping students without disabilities become comfortable with kids with disabilities.  I suppose that the idea was to create community where people of all types and abilities live together in harmony.

This certainly seems to have been a worthy goal, with its roots, I would think, in the foundation that all life has value, and all lives should be treated with value.  Thus mainstreaming; where students with disabilities spent much of their school days in regular education classrooms versus special education classrooms, where they had a special education teacher with them for some minutes during their school days. 

But according to one of our nation’s best teachers who was teaching first grade as this mainstream movement took hold (she just happens to be my gift Mom, and she is now enjoying retirement after 34 years inspiring young minds), it left children with disabilities without the specialized attention, care, and education that they needed.  

And it struck me, while out putting on the putting green with my dear friend living with dementia, how maybe we are at the same place, only backwards, with folks with dementia.  

My observation is that Memory Care units are far more commonplace than they used to be.  And maybe, just maybe, because of lack of education and skilled personal care, folks are being admitted to these locked units before they really need to be.  

Thus the heart behind our work with Better People Care.  Thanks to learning how to get dementia care right using the DAWN Method, we get to be part of dementia care that is skilled, personal, engaging, and regularly takes place in our communities.   We get to bring security, and meaning, and social and sensory stimulation customized for the specific interests and needs of the person.  We get to model for people in our communities that it’s okay for someone with dementia to be out and about, living a full life, even when they are struggling to remember and think as efficiently as they used to.  

And when the time comes that a memory care unit has become the best decision, then we are able to bring the same good feelings with favorite books and pictures that we enjoy together.  We sweep the outdoor patios.  We are able to tell folks their favorite stories; stories they’ve shared with us many times, because those stories mattered to them.  

We are working to help dementia become more mainstream, more inclusive.   And we are trying to strike the just right balance of inclusion, mainstreaming, and destigmatizing dementia, while providing the personal, skilled care that folks need.  

Good dementia care does not look like a person sitting for far too long in their recliner or wheelchair, with minimal conversation and little more than the mindless hum of a television.

Good dementia care looks like folks who are actively engaged in meaningful and enjoyable activities.   Folks who are known and valued for who they are.  

Mainstreamed, and included; valued and accepted.

Grateful,

Jill

©Jill Couch