Pet therapy is well-known for comforting people with dementia. Snuggling a four-legged friend brings on a smile, soothes anxiety and encourages physical activity. People connect to memories of their own beloved pets. Can a robotic pet replace the real thing?
Topics: dementia care, Senior Care Professionals, dementia, caregivers, Pets, touch
Stress Reaction is a term being used more often to describe communication in persons living with dementia. Behavioral expression, too, is communication. In a growing number of circles, the term behavioral expression is being replaced by stress reaction simply because behaviors sometimes leans toward being a negative descriptive of how persons with dementia express unmet needs.
Topics: dementia care, Senior Care Professionals, Family Caregiver, dementia, Care Partners, compassionate touch, Dementia Live, leadership, Hospital Professionals, Stress, AGE-u-cate Training, Behavioral Expression, communication
Quite simply, the definition of personhood is the quality or condition of being an individual person. At the core of personhood is the self- who we are are, our values and beliefs. It's who makes us who we are. Being able to recognize the "self" of personhood is key to understanding and practicing person-centered care for persons living with dementia.
Topics: AGE-u-cate Training Institute, dementia care, Person-centered, Senior Care Professionals, Family Caregiver, dementia, Faith Community, Person centered care, Personhood, Work
It the first sense to develop in the womb and one of the last ones to go during the dying process.
Topics: dementia care, Senior Care Professionals, Family Caregiver, Elders, compassionate touch, leadership, Hospital Professionals, aging, Anxiety, Healing Touch, End-of-life, older adults, Healing, Skilled Touch
What exactly is the meaning of Life Enrichment?
Topics: AGE-u-cate Training Institute, dementia care, The Family Caregiver, Senior Care Professionals, memories, dementia, Hospital Professionals, activities, life enrichment, Person centered care, Joy, Flashback Reminiscence Training
"Touching as a therapeutic event is not as simple as a mechanical procedure or a drug, because is, above all, an act of communication...the use of touch and physical closeness may be the most important way to communicate to acutely ill (and aged) persons that they are important as human beings..." - Ashley Montagu
Topics: AGE-u-cate Training Institute, dementia care, Senior Care Professionals, Memory Care, compassionate touch, Hospital Professionals, Psychotropic drugs, Ground Breaking
Dear, Honey, Hun, Sweetie, Buddy, Chief, That’s a good boy, Let's go potty now. No, I am not talking to my 18-month-old, I am repeating terms of endearment and phrases I hear in memory care and assisted living every day. There is so much research behind the use of this type of language researchers refer to it as elderspeak. I know I am guilty of using terms like these and I know you are too but explore the impact it may be having on our residents.
Topics: AGE-u-cate Training Institute, dementia care, The Family Caregiver, Senior Care Professionals, Senior Care, dementia, Caregiver, compassionate touch, Dementia Live, leadership, Hospital Professionals, eldercare
There is an urgent need to equip caregivers to better respond to and care for persons living with dementia. Traditional training models have focused on the number of classroom hours an individual must spend in training, assuming that a person who completes the required training hours is ready to work successfully with people living with dementia. The shift to competency-based training improves dementia care by focusing on mastery of tasks and tools that are learned.
Topics: AGE-u-cate Training Institute, dementia care, Senior Care Professionals, care staff, dementia, caregivers, compassionate touch, Dementia Live, leadership, Hospital Professionals, dementia training, staff
Having just returned from Australia, I'll be devoting several upcoming blogs to my research and fact finding with how Australia is advancing in aging and dementia care, as well as dementia and age friendly best practices. I found their award wages for aged care workers to be one significant difference from the US and worthy of discussion.
Topics: AGE-u-cate Training Institute, dementia care, Senior Care Professionals, Senior Care, dementia, compassionate touch, Dementia Live, leadership, Hospital Professionals, Australia, award wages, Aged care workers
I have always been a proponent that if something is just not working well, shifting gears may be a solution. Let's face it - everything is changing fast these days, so much so that it seems as if technology leads the pack in shifting gears at every juncture of our daily lives.
Topics: dementia care, Senior Care Professionals, Family Caregiver, dementia, caregivers, leadership, Faith Community, elder care, AGE-u-cate Training Instite
