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.

Challenging behavior is a catch-all term that, in the context of dementia, includes one or combinations of things like shouting, wandering, biting, throwing things, repetitive talking repetitive movements, destroying personal possessions and other objects without regard for whom it belongs, agitation and general anger, physical  or verbal attacks on others, waking others at night, making sexually inappropriate comments, disrobing inappropriately, and urinating or defecating in undesirable locations. This is not an all-inclusive list and I am sure you can think of many more examples that fit under the umbrella term of challenging behavior.

The number of older people is rising dramatically, particularly those in the 85 years and above age group.  Because the likelihood of developing dementia increases with age, reaching a one in 3 chance by the time a person reaches 85, we must turn our attention to eldercare, age-friendly initiatives to be that of dementia-friendly initiatives.  Let's look at what research tells us about how our neighborhoods can be transformed to age-friendly, dementia-friendly places for people to live as they grow older.

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.

Eldercare is becoming more about caring for those with dementia.  Because our fastest growing segment of the population are those 85 and older, it correlates with the rise in people living with dementia.  In fact, one in three people age 85 and older are living with some level of dementia.   There are over 1 million Americans living with Parkinson's Disease and over 10 million worldwide.  This number is also rising with the increase in longevity.

I just learned about the Purple Table Reservations program and was beyond excited to learn and share with my readers.

Walking in the shoes of someone living with dementia is challenging at best, especially since every person, like shoes -  is different!  There is an urgent need to help professional and family caregivers communicate and respond to the needs of their care partners.  A walk in their shoes is a powerful and very needed training and education tool to help others develop understanding, empathy and improve care.