Last week, about twenty residents of a nursing and rehabilitation facility in Greeley, Colorado, held a protest against Covid restrictions on the sidewalks outside their facility. Their hand-made signs said things like, “Rather die of Covid than loneliness”, and “where are our rights as residents?”. The Governor of Colorado’s statement following this protest was “We absolutely understand how difficult it…
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…
I am very grateful for the valuable life lessons shared with me in my young years. These childhood lessons that form character have a powerful impact, and build a foundation in our lives. Young hearts and minds are the perfect training ground to learn about generosity, respect for others, responsibility, honesty, compassion, the importance of good work and good play,…
I have a question. Or maybe it’s a couple of questions. Questions that I’ve had since the world shut down due to Covid-19. Questions that need to be asked, and discussed, before it’s too late. You see, my friend Dottie turned 97 today. I had the privilege of spending time with her because I am an Occupational Therapist; an “essential…
We believe that our older folks are to be respected, and treated with dignity. That we should interact with them in such a way that they feel valued. That they readily sense that we appreciate their history and the lives they have lived…regardless of how that history might have played out. We have the privilege of spending time every day…
©Jill Couch At Better People Care, we believe the best approach to dementia care is a team approach; where several minds and eyes and ears, each training in the DAWN Method, are paying attention to the lives of our friends living with dementia. And we believe that as we train families, and friends, and neighbors, and church communities, and the…
© Jill Couch “I feel that many people see the terms Alzheimer’s, dementia, and any other disease that causes dementia as large umbrella terms for their simple interpretation: “mindless old people walking around.” I, too, felt this way prior to being introduced to the DAWN Dementia Method…and thanks to my wonderful mentors with Better People Care. I feel that I…
People with dementia sometimes get VERY angry. And it is no fun for them, or for those of us with them. And it seems like no matter how hard we try, we struggle to help them get un-angry. We both end up frustrated and unhappy and feeling hopeless. So it goes when we don’t understand some of the frequent triggers…
As a dementia specialist and advocate for folks living with dementia and their families, I’d like to propose we take a different perspective. Every person who receives health care from a licensed provider will receive a diagnosis. And with that diagnosis comes a code, a combination of letters and numbers, to simply classify the diagnosis so that the person’s medical…
I don’t have dementia. But I have the privilege of spending a lot of time with people who do. And if they had the ability to articulate their thoughts and feelings, my observation is they would tell us this: “Expect me to forget. In other words, please don’t react with disappointment or frustration or worry when I forget that I…
