Get trained in dementia basics

Activities directors and other healthcare professionals here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professionals.


Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be


Here is a way for nurses administrators, social workers and other health care  professionals to get an easyceu or two


Follow alzheimersideas on twitter

The Dementia Caregiver's Little Book of Hope [Kindle Edition]

Alzheimer's Association

Do you provide care for someone with dementia or Alzheimer's?

The Alzheimer’s Association^® essentiALZ™ certification program is a convenient way for individuals to be recognized for learning quality dementia care practices.

About essentiALZ

The essentiALZ program combines selectHealthCare Interactive^® CARES^® onlinedementia care training with Alzheimer’s Association^® online certification exams. The essentiALZ program was developed to recognize the knowledge of any caregiver who fulfills the certification requirements, regardless of whether they are paid or unpaid for their care of people with dementia.

training topic areas

EssentiALZ offers two levels of certification for individuals— essentiALZ and essentiALZ advanced. Topics covered in the exams are as follows:

• Alzheimer’s and Dementia
• Understanding Behavior
• Communication
• Person-centered Care

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• Alzheimer’s and Dementia
• Understanding Behavior
• Communication
• Person-centered Care
• Making a Connection

• Eating Well
• Recognizing Pain
• Minimizing Falls
• Rethinking Wandering
• Minimizing Restraints

sign up for essentialz

Cognitive reserve and dementia

Activities directors and other healthcare professionals here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professionals.

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Here is a way for nurses administrators, social workers and other health care  professionals to get an easyceu or two

Alzheimer's Caregivers Guide

Bruce Miller, director of the Memory and Aging Center at the University of California, San Francisco, and a leading memory loss researcher.

The work is based on research showing that people with dementia who participate in cognitively stimulating activities and are socially engaged have a better quality of life and suffer less depression.

At the same time, patients build up what is called "cognitive reserve," a resilience in the brain that seems to slow down or stop the disease's onset. said Joe Verghese, a leading neurology researcher at Yeshiva University's Albert Einstein School of Medicine in New York. So, for instance, people with large amounts of cognitive reserve might begin showing symptoms of Alzheimer's at 75, instead of at 70, he said.

The most common form of dementia, Alzheimer's is believed to be caused by abnormal deposits of proteins, called plaques and tangles, that may damage and destroy cells and nerves inside the brain. These deposits usually start in the part of the brain that plays an important role in memory and then affect the lobe responsible for planning, ordering and thinking. Eventually, they spread to the parts of the brain that regulate bodily functions, Verghese said.

Patients in the early and middle stages of the disease probably still have the brain plasticity to create new neurons and synaptic connections that might provide something of a bulwark against the disease or might shift functioning to areas of the brain that are unaffected or less affected, Verghese said.

Participants in Northwestern's eight-week project reported feeling more confident and able to cope with their diagnoses, as well as less isolated and depressed, according to Darby Morhardt, an associate professor and director of education at the medical school, who co-founded the project with Christine Mary Dunworth of Lookingglass.

"Alzheimer's disease doesn't completely eradicate the ability to think, create, form friendships and have fun," Morhardt said. "The images people have of Alzheimer's is devastating, but that's not how it starts."

This fall, Morhardt and Dunworth hope to write a curriculum manual so the improv program can be replicated across the country.

Therapies involving the creative arts might be especially effective because they infuse mentally challenging activities with meaning, emotion and a social connection, said Helga Noice, a psychology professor at Elmhurst College,

Noice and her husband, Tony Noice, an actor and adjunct faculty member at Elmhurst, recently received a $1.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to use functioning magnetic resonance imaging, or FMRI, to measure whether classes in the theater arts cause measurable changes to seniors' brains.

It is the first such study to look at the physical impact of the arts, and it builds on previous work they have done that shows acting classes improve cognitive functioning in the elderly, many of whom have memory loss.

"Theater is an especially powerful medium of expression for people with Alzheimer's, because it enables them to stand up in front of an audience and tell the people, both who care for them and who love them, how they feel," said Anne Basting, executive director of the Center for Aging and the Community at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee.

Basting, who has a doctoral degree in theater, looked into using the arts to help Alzheimer's sufferers as far back as 1996, when, she said, researchers were focusing on improving memory through reminiscence.

"I said forget memory and go to the imagination," Basting said. "It's about making it up in the moment, not about remembering the chronology of a life."

Basting created TimeSlips, a collaborative, improvisational storytelling process that emphasizes imagination over memory or logic. Even if a person in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's has just a syllable or a gesture left, that can be woven into the story, enabling him or her to contribute and bond with the group, she said.

"You can feel the connection, the sense of accomplishment and fun," Basting said. "For people with dementia living in nursing homes, that doesn't often happen."

At House of Welcome Adult Day Services in Northfield, where the staff is trained in the TimeSlips method, a book of stories recently was compiled and published with help from participants with memory loss.

"It validated them as people, their thoughts and feelings and their ability to be creative," said facility director Julie Lamberti.

Free fall prevention seminar

Activities directors, caregivers, and healthcare professionals,here is some great information

Here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professionals,

Your residents will love the Amazon Kindle Fire

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Here is a way for nurses administrators, social workers and other health care professionals to get an easyceu or two

Follow alzheimersideas on twitter

The Dementia Caregiver's Little Book of Hope [Kindle Edition]

This Thursday, July 10th, at 11 am (PT) / 2 pm (ET) we will be hosting a free webinar for in-home care agencies and assisted living managers.
Register FREE here:  http://www.ipced.com/webinars/preventing-falls-readmissions/
Preventing Falls and Re-Admissions

Listed as a "Preventable Condition" and "Never Event" by CMS, financial penalties for fall related hospital re-admissions continue to rise along with the aging population.

In this webinar Executive Director of Fall Prevention Clinics of America, Michael Bearce, will show you how to reduce your client's/patient's risk of injury from falls.

You will learn:
How falls happen and why falls injury re-admissions persist
Medical interventions that can reverse the trend
How you can assist in identifying and managing the fall risk patient
How Home Health providers can improve their patient outcomes
How Home Care providers can avoid losing customers to preventable injuries
Register FREE here:   http://www.ipced.com/webinars/preventing-falls-readmissions/



Sharon K. Brothers, MSW
CEO
Institute for Professional Care Education
8740 SE Sunnybrook Blvd, Suite 300
Clackamas, OR  97015

 

Alzheimer's Care: How Copper Ridge Nursing Home Gets It Right

Your residents will love the Amazon Kindle Fire

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be


Here is a way for nurses administrators, social workers and other health care  professionals to get an easyceu or two


Follow alzheimersideas on twitter

The Dementia Caregiver's Little Book of Hope [Kindle Edition]

Activities directors, other healthcare professionals and caregivers, here is a story of interest:
aUS NEWS AND WORLD REPORT

At the Johns Hopkins-affiliated facility, residents with dementia get attention and social interaction
By Kerry Hannon
The Hopkins collaboration ensures that staff training is continuous and well above par. Maryland state law calls for 12 hours of ongoing education each year for certified nursing assistants, for example, and Copper Ridge more than doubles that quota. Nurse specialists, neuropsychologists, and neuropsychiatrists from Johns Hopkins teach and brainstorm with staff to assess the right solution for every challenge. "For this population, you need to have a training program that is ongoing and very topic specific to what they are dealing with," Koenig says. "Our staff tells us what most of our training topics should be based on what they are dealing with on a daily basis."

While there are other facilities around the country aiming to provide top-level dementia care similar to Copper Ridge's, they are far from the norm. The most obvious similarity, though, is found in the living quarters and resident-centered care. A growing number of assisted living and nursing homes are offering a homelike environment and are stressing activities and physical stimulation. Few, however, have the extra benefit of working in tandem with a world-class medical team each day.

Not surprisingly, the educated care doesn't come cheap. Copper Ridge costs as much as $113,515 a year for assisted living (from $205 to $311 per day, depending on the level of care) and up to $140,525 a year for nursing home care ($385 a day). Although the facility's nursing home unit accepts people on Medicaid, the assisted living component is strictly private pay. (Some residents have long-term care policies that help foot the bill.) Even at this price, at times there's a waiting period of a few weeks for a bed. In the nation's 100 largest metropolitan areas, dementia care in assisted living averages $56,316 a year for a private bedroom, or about $154 a day, according to the......read the whole story

CEUs

Activities directors, caregivers, and healthcare professionals,here is some great information

Here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professionals,

Your residents will love the Amazon Kindle Fire

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Here is a way for nurses administrators, social workers and other health care professionals to get an easyceu or two

Follow alzheimersideas on twitter

The Dementia Caregiver's Little Book of Hope [Kindle Edition]

Do you need a few more CEUs for your upcoming license renewal? Do you know anyone else who might?   This week we're offering 1 free CEU online with the purchase of any other course on  your trusted source for NAB approved continuing education.   Get your FREE CEU    Click this link, easyceu -     Checkout using promo code: SUMMERCEU    Please feel free to forward this offer to your colleagues, social worker, and any other licensed professional who may need NAB approved continuing education.

Sharon K. Brothers, MSW CEO Institute for Professional Care Education 8740 SE Sunnybrook Blvd, Suite 300 Clackamas, OR  97015 877-843-8374 | www.ipced

What's My Line?

Activities directors, caregivers, and healthcare professionals,here is a game for those with dementia and other long term care residents

Here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professionals,



Your residents will love the Amazon Kindle Fire

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Here is a way for nurses administrators, social workers and other health care  professionals to get an easyceu or two


Follow alzheimersideas on twitter

The Dementia Caregiver's Little Book of Hope [Kindle Edition]

The first Monday in September is Labor Day, a perfect time to talk about former jobs of residents. You can play a game called “What My Line?”

First discuss former occupations of the audience members. Include answers to the following questions in your discussion of each job.
For lower functioning groups, discuss one or two occupations. Then have the audience guess the occupation of the mystery guest.
What’s My Line?
Suggested questions
Do you work inside?
Do you provide a service?
Do you wear a uniform?
Do you sit while you work?
Do you travel when you work?
Do you use your hands while you work?
Do you use tools while you work?
Do you entertain people while you work?
Do you work with other people?
Do you take care of other people?

Review the answers with the audience for a more successful outcome.

You can play this game many different ways depending on the abilities of your audience.
If you have any questions, please leave them in the comment section.