Stories Preserve Memories
If your companions experiencing dementia repeat the same stories over and over, remember this:
Love, Admiration, and Respect
The DAWN method taught me that folks living with dementia will benefit from feeling a sense of love, admiration, and respect. But in the same way, caregiver spouses need this too! Pushing a caregiver spouse toward what we believe they need doesn’t work - instead, we need to show them love, admiration, and respect. We need to give them the…
A Change is Needed
In December I shared a blog on long-term care insurance, you can read that here. In continuing the conversation with an individual, we discussed how benefits can pay well but only if the person moves into a facility. Long-term care benefits do not pay well when someone remains in their home. But research shows us these people want to remain…
How we speak about dementia
How do we speak about dementia with our loved ones who have dementia? The short answer: we don't. Check out this video for more info! Let me know if this was helpful and what other topics you'd love to have me cover! https://www.instagram.com/p/CkbzE3JgKxC/
Better People Care receives the 2022 Spark Award
Four years ago, I started Better People Care because I believed we could do better when caring for folks living with dementia. Recently we were selected by the Better Business Bureau to receive the Spark Award! The Spark award recognizes business leaders based on their character, the culture of the business they run, and the community they commit to support. …
How I will Miss My Favorite Hand Warmer: A Tribute To Our Friend Carol
Our good friend Carol passed away this week, surrounded by friends and family. Her best friend and care partner loved her through the dementia journey, in their own home, until her last week of life when inpatient hospice was the way to help her be comfortable. Carol was a remarkable woman; an accomplished musician, a mom of six, one who…
Cognitive Assessments and Dementia
The typical pattern for how the medical system addresses dementia these days includes a visit to the doctor, and then a referral to a neuropsychologist for a neuropsychological assessment. This neuropsychological assessment typically involves about three hours of cognitive testing for the person with suspected cognitive change. A report follows, which outlines the specific areas of cognition assessed and which…
Don’t Buy New Shoes!
If you are thinking of buying new shoes for your loved one who is older and living with dementia, don’t! I know that we want to do nice things for our loved ones, and we want to feel like we are taking good care of them. But new shoes are not the best idea. Our feet are so incredibly important…
How Dementia Heals Us
There is hope, and there is beauty in dementia. Turns out there is also healing. Don’t stop reading now because you do not believe me. I’ll try to explain how in the world I could be saying that something as unordinary as dementia could heal us. If you’re still reading, please stop what you are doing and listen to this:…
Toenails, Teeth, and Ears, Oh My!
I am a big fan of comfort care once someone with dementia is needing regular support, supervision, and guidance. I see a lot of folks with advanced dementia being put through doctor’s appointments, procedures, tests, that they are no longer able to understand and that bring considerable discomfort to their days. I teach families that we should use the concept…