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It was an honor to be a speaker for the Alzheimer’s Association Caregiver Summit last week. The group had great questions and showed why this information is so important to understanding and developing better communication, connection and engagement with a person who is living with dementia.

2023 has started feeling like we are finding ways to live with COVID. Some adaptations may be with us forever in healthcare and travel- but at least we can be together in person again.
I started 2023 by participating in the Caregiver Symposium presented by the Alzheimer’s Association of Delaware Valley. I was delighted to be joined on the panel by Carol Amos, Denise Woods and Amie Baker.

I was fortunate to be interviewed for the Healthcare Education Transformation Podcast that is now being aired! I get to talk about positive ageing and promoting ageing as a positive event, as well as my work to improve how promote well-being for people with dementia.

Thank you to HET Podcast for the opportunity! Listen here:

Recognizing the value of #elderhood and the 5 P’s for focusing on the needs to promote well-being in aging. A Doctor Speaks Out About Ageism In Medicine https://khn.org/OTU0OTE2 via @khnews

My background is in phyical therapy- so it has been fun to contribute to an education document for PT’s and PTA’s who practice in home health to help them understand and better recognize the presence and unique aspects of dementia, delirium and depression. They can look alike in older adults but even more challenging is that they can co-exist!

In particular it was exciting to work on this for the Home Health Section of APTA since so many people who receive home health services may not be getting out to see a physician as often. This means PT’s are going to need to be acutely aware of subtle changes that may indicate a dementia, or new onset/worsening depression. Similarly, if another medical condition is exacerbated, identifying a new onset of delirium is critical to getting appropriate medical attention quickly.

To learn more there a several options. The Home Health Section has made this resource free for download. You can find it here: https://www.homehealthsection.org/store/ViewProduct.aspx?id=12263190 You can listen to a podcast on the subject that they produced here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/home-health-minute-home-health-physical-therapy-geriatrics/id1180988754?mt=2&i=1000421835408     or you can join me and my co-authors Ken Miller and Sean Hagey at APTA Combined Sections Meeting (CSM) in Washington, DC on Friday January 25th at 3pm for our 2 hour educational session about the 3 D’s https://apta.expoplanner.com/index.cfm?do=expomap.sess&event_id=29&session_id=15197

Excited to be a guest on Alzheimer’s Speaks Radio with Lori La Bey who is an amazing host. We talked about how physical therapy for people with dementia is important, as well as issues around pain, sleep and falls. Listen here:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/alzheimersspeaks/2018/12/20/how-pain-falls-sleep-can-effect-dementia

I’m excited to be a speaker for the Alzheimer’s Association Annual Conference in Southern NJ in June! They include a 1 page information sheet about the different talks going on during the conference and I wanted to share a color version of what I am submitting. It is in infographic form to provide a few key pieces of information and the talk will go into more detail. Let me know what you think! They can be found at: https://livingwellwithdementiallc.com/resources-2/

What is well-being? Dr. Al Power who authored “Dementia Beyond Disease- Enhancing Well-being” includes 7 components: Identity, Connectedness, Security, Autonomy, Meaning, Growth and Joy. If you assess the expressions (often referred to as behaviors but that is a negative description, so we will avoid that here whenever possible) of people with dementia- they are trying to communicate to the best of their abilities. They may not be able to access their previously extensive vocabulary and some of the brain changes likely means that how they interpret the sensory information from their environment is different than you and I do. We need to be better detectives to see/hear/feel the messages – because being understood is a basic human need.

Over the next few blog posts I’ll be exploring the categories of well-being and how to utilize each person’s retained abilities, skills and interests to ultimately creating and sharing joy whenever possible.

In the meantime- here is a link to the book for those interested: https://www.amazon.com/Dementia-Beyond-Disease-Enhancing-Well-Being/dp/1938870131