Archive for the ‘dementia care’ Category

An Alzheimer’s Family Support Group will meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 16, at The Birches Assisted Living, 215 55th St., Clarendon Hills. Part 4 of the HBO series titled “The Alzheimer’s Project” will be shown and discussed.

Titled “Grampa, Do You Know Who I am?” with Maria Shriver, directed and produced by Eamon Harrington and John Watkin; based on the book “What’s Happening to Grandpa?” by Maria Shriver.

This film tells five stories of children, ages 6-15, who are coping with grandfathers or grandmothers suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Maria Shriver provides commentary and delivers valuable “lessons” for the kids, urging them not to blame themselves for what their grandparents do or say. “We are all children of Alzheimer’s,” says Shriver, making it clear that “if it’s too painful to visit, you don’t have to go.”

Shriver’s own father, Sargent Shriver, suffers from the disease; comparing his earlier vitality to his present condition is hard, but it is offset by good memories and an unexpected “gift”: bonds between generations that may not have been made otherwise.

Ultimately, the film offers a variety of perspectives on how kids can handle a grandparent’s loss of memory through kindness, patience and compassion.

HBO’s “The Alzheimer’s Project” takes a look at the faces behind the disease and the efforts to find a cure. The multi-platform series reveals groundbreaking Alzheimer discoveries and the effects this debilitating and fatal disease has on those with Alzheimer’s and their families.

A support group will follow, led by Jackie Raschke, director of Encore and Dementia Services at The Birches, who received specialized training in support group leadership from the Alzheimer’s Association.

“Participants give and receive support with others who are sharing similar situations in their caregiving experiences,” Raschke said. ”Here, in a confidential environment, participants can discuss their concerns.”

More than 5.3 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease, and that number is expected to grow to more than 15 million by the middle of the 21st century. No two people experience Alzheimer’s disease in the same way. As a result, there’s no one approach to caregiving. Responsibilities can range from making financial decisions, managing changes in behavior, to helping a loved one get dressed in the morning. Handling these duties is hard work. But by learning skills, a caregiver can make certain the loved one feels supported and is living as full a life as possible. A caregiver also needs to preserve well-being for her or himself.

The public is invited to attend this free program, space permitting, and registration is required. Call Jackie Raschke at 630-570-6175 or visit http://www.birches.net.

The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (AFA) awarded its “Excellence in Care Dementia Program of Distinction” status to Encore, part of The Birches Assisted Living located at 215 55^th St., Clarendon Hills. Nationally, only a select number of assisted living facilities have achieved AFA’s standard of excellence for facilities that provide care to individuals with Alzheimer’s disease or related illnesses. 

The Birches Assisted Living provides care to 32 residents living in its memory care unit which is called Encore. Jackie Raschke of Brookfield is Encore’s director of Encore and Dementia Services.

“It is such an honor to receive this designation,” Raschke said. “We educate ourselves in as many things that are offered out there to create the best place for our residents.”

The Birches Assisted Living utilizes the Montessori Method of engaging individuals with Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia in non-failure activities. Cameron Camp, a senior research scientist at the forefront of examining the usage of the Montessori Method with individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, has found that this philosophy reduces agitation, aimless wandering and loss of attention, and changes the way people with the brain disorder feel about themselves.

“There is no right or wrong in a Montessori activity” Raschke said. “The goal is to engage, not correct. The activities are planned to match the person’s abilities so that the activity is challenging enough to be interesting and straightforward enough to be successful.”

“The Birches Assisted Living, including our Encore program for memory care, is a place to live, not to die,” said James K. Curto, executive director of The Birches Assisted Living. “We strive to lead the way with world-class living for our residents who live with Alzheimer’s disease or related dementias.”

Excellence in Care

Excellence in Care is the first national program involving comprehensive standards, on-site evaluation and consultation to promote continual performance improvement for dementia care settings, such as assisted living and skilled nursing facilities, continuum of care residential communities, and adult day programs.

AFA’s 50 Excellence in Care specialists in various regions of the U.S. conducted on-site evaluations, which assessed a setting’s physical environment, safety procedures, program activities, staff-client interaction, and dementia care training for staff and families.

“Excellence in Care makes a bold statement which reaffirms the quality of care these dementia care settings provide and encourage other settings nationwide to reach for this standard of excellence,” said Eric J. Hall, AFA’s chief executive officer.

The groundbreaking Excellence in Care initiative was designed with input from the Avila Institute of Gerontology, an AFA member organization, as well as other AFA member agencies, national organizations and industry experts.

For more information about Encore at The Birches Assisted Living, visit http://www.birches.net or call 630-789-1135, or for more information about Excellence in Care, visit http://www.excellenceincare.org or call 866-AFA-8484.

Does a person with dementia lose his or her old personality? Sometimes. Does it seem like a different person inside the same familiar body? At times, it can. Do family members sometimes mourn the loss of a parent or brother – even though the person is still clearly with them? Yes, they do.

Dementia can lead to symptoms and behaviors that can seem worse than cancer, heart disease, and other more ‘body-centered’ illnesses, but let’s not lose heart. The person inside that familiar body is still the person we love. That person and, in fact, all of us have common psychological needs.

Tom Kitwood, the late Alzheimer’s researcher, suggests that people with dementia, like all people, have six psychological needs and that as we care for people with dementia, we should strive to fulfill those needs every day.

As you care for someone with dementia – whether it’s caused by Alzheimer’s or another disease or condition, consider finding ways to fulfill these six psychological needs – every day:

1. Attachment – We need to feel attached to another person or to a group. We want to feel connected to someone or something.
2. Love – Everybody needs it. To love someone; to be loved and accepted; to love an activity, a food; to love God, self-love/self-respect.
3. Comfort – We all need to feel comfort. We need to be warm, dry, and clean; to have a full-stomach and not be thirsty; to have quiet when we want it; to have our anxiety calmed; to have a sense of tenderness, closeness, and bonding with others.
4. Identity – We need to have others know who I am or who I was. We want to be individual, to be special, to have our own identity. We want our individuality to be recognized in our food preferences, our clothing, our activities and recreation. (Tell and re-tell your loved one his or her own ‘life-story.’ It may prompt something good.
5. Inclusion – We want to feel we are a part of something, to belong to a group, to be a member, to not feel left-out.
6. Occupation – We want to be occupied (to have something to do); to help others; to occupy ourselves with ‘work’ that, if at all possible, has meaning and purpose. (Give your loved one ‘jobs’ like folding laundry, setting the table, help with dinner, etc.)

Visit The Birches Assisted Living web site to learn more about dementia care.