The A-to-Z Alzheimer’s Caregiver’s Handbook, Written by One Caregiver for Another
Alzheimer's Care

Written by One Caregiver for Another

I received an email after providing an educational program entitled The Journey of Dementia: What the Family Members are Experiencing. This was so meaningful to me that I asked the author if I could use this as a testimonial on my website and here is what he had to say: “I would just like to say it was a very new and refreshing perspective. Over the past six months I have attended many online classes/courses/sessions on Alzheimer’s/Dementia/Caregiving in order to keep current, refreshed, and in tune so I can provide better caregiving support. When you take a lot of classes,

April 21, 2021
#dementia care

A Labor of Love

Most healthcare professionals choose their profession out of a personal passion to care for others.  It is a true labor of love.  There is great concern that reaches all of healthcare.  This is the depleting pool of professional direct care staff.  In reading articles and journal entries from 2018 and 2019, this was already of major concern in the healthcare industry.  The pandemic has only contributed to the shortage. However, with the system-wide healthcare shortage, this continues to be most challenging for so many nursing homes, homecare agencies, assisted living, and memory care communities.     Looking at the nursing home level of staffing needed to provide the required basic care

October 21, 2020
Alzheimer's Care

What is Alternatives in Alzheimer’s Care?

This month, I would like to explain what Alternatives in Alzheimer’s Care is and what I do as a Dementia Specialist.  Please see the video interview with Jon Younger, Owner of Assisted Living Locators below.  I speak to what services I provide as a Dementia Specialist. My professional journey over the last 24 years in healthcare allowed me to work with people living with dementia, their families, and healthcare professionals.  My personal journey began with my grandmother’s diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease. During the early years of my profession, my maternal grandmother Ruth began to display symptoms of dementia.  Her memory

July 22, 2020
#dementia and COVID-19

Recommendations to Improve the Quality of your Day during Social Isolation

Are you a care partner for your loved one who has dementia?  This is an incredibly difficult time for all of us, but only you know how challenging this time of social distancing has been for you and your loved one.  Adult Day programs are closed, and we do not know when they will open.  Although there are home care agencies who are equipped and educated to provide care in the home, you may resist having anyone enter your home.  This is due to fear of exposing you and your loved one to COVID-19.  This crisis has spawned increased fear,

May 21, 2020
#caregiving

Holding the Person with Dementia to a Higher Emotional Standard

All human beings share emotion.  We freely feel sad, happy, angry, excited, frustrated, proud, frightened, relieved, anxious, affectionate, embarrassed, satisfied, guilty, confident; and I could go on and on to list all the positive and negative feelings we experience. In a recent blog by Dr. G. Allen Power, he expresses a very powerful thought process and how people view a person living with dementia.  Although he focusses on the research on ECT (Electroconvulsive Therapy) used for dementia symptoms, this paragraph struck me as completely valid in my experience. “We get angry, sad, frustrated or anxious, but people with dementia have

February 12, 2020
Are You Prepared When Your Loved One Gets Lost
#Alzheimer's

Are You Prepared When Your Loved One Gets Lost?

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, the statistic is that 6 in 10 people who live with Alzheimer’s or other dementia, will wander from the safety of their familiar home environment.  In my experience, the risk is closer to 8 in 10 people.  A common factor in not preparing, is the caregiver rejecting the idea that his or her loved one is capable of leaving; nor, has the desire to leave.  No one can predict when, where, or how, so why not take steps to prevent it?  The person living with dementia always has a goal which drives them from the

April 28, 2019
#Alzheimer's

Reality Orientation… Good or Bad?

When researching reality orientation therapy, there is plenty out there to support that there is benefit to the therapy. Reality orientation is providing the person living with dementia reminders, tools, and constant correction to reorient to the reality that we live in.  If it’s Wednesday, and the person living with dementia believes it is Sunday, reality orientation would include correcting the person, showing them a calendar, and other devices to prove that it is Wednesday. Some believe reality orientation will improve a person’s cognitive functioning, jog the memory, and stunt cognitive decline. The alternative to reality orientation therapy is validation

March 7, 2019

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