“You Showed ‘Em”

In our years of bringing her DAWN Dementia Specialist care, we skillfully and respectfully built the right kind of care, care that she would accept and come to value.  It was a process, as anosognosia required delicate skill while we worked to preserve her strong sense of independence and autonomy.

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End of Life Care

We recently have had the privilege of walking through end-of-life care with several of our companions. I have been reminded of how different the end-of-life journey is when someone is experiencing dementia.  With dementia, they do not necessarily have the cognitive ability to advocate for themselves as their ability to understand how they are feeling and what to do about…

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Preserving Dignity

The DAWN method taught me the sacred balance between safety and selfhood. I am so grateful to Judy Cornish and all that I have learned. In my experience with my companions with dementia, I have learned first-hand that full-time care is not always the answer. I have seen how the right care, in the right amounts, at the right time,…

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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…

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In Memory of Sally

Our companions experiencing dementia teach us so much, and we are grateful. Click on the link below for a glimpse into the beauty of the work we at Better People Care are privileged to do; using the tools of The DAWN Method to make the dementia journey ok. https://youtu.be/39LJ2AqE7RQ

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Why what we say matters.

When spending time with one of my companions experiencing dementia, it matters how I communicate with them. They are losing contact with the recent past as their memory skills are changing. So when preparing my greeting, I thought about how I could stay in the "moment of now." For example, she will not remember the weather over the past few…

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Enjoy Your Mom, Joe

My friend Joe called me a few weeks ago.  He was on the way to his mom’s home in another state; on his way to sort through the long list of things he needed to do on her behalf, as her Power of Attorney and devoted son. He was calling to say thank you; thank you for encouraging him months…

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