Best Friends With People with Alzheimers Disease
Posted by Patti on 17th August 2010
“The Best Friends Approach To Alzheimer’s Care” — it is one of the best books out there on caring for people with Alzheimer’s Disease. I have personally read the book many times and continue to read it now and again. It is a set of ideas and practices facilities can adopt to make serious and profound changes in culture. The book is up for review at Provider this month.
Article/PDF
In order to care for their residents, staff members in a dementia wing need to learn and periodically be reminded of the difference between normal aging and dementia-related changes.
Very true, and this book offers lots of educational articles on this subject. In plain language.
One of the things I like most about this book is the chapters on utilizing ALL nursing facility staff to engage residents in activities.
The activity department must be considered a staff group that supplements the activity-focused care provided by other departments.
All team members can be trained in reminiscing techniques using events that happened long ago, sensory stimulation such as massaging the hands or scalp, discussions of smells in their environment, reading a story, or normalization tasks like sorting silverware, folding towels, addressing envelopes, winding yarn, and organizing drawers.
Person centered care is the other hallmark of this book:
The person-centered care approach gives personal attention to the people who live in seniors housing and empowers staff members to be resident advocates. A caregiver’s knowledge of each resident’s pre-dementia story is essential to be able to gain the attention of that resident quickly when his or her behavior needs to be redirected.
Finally, an Alzheimer’s Disease Bill of Rights:
According to “The Best Friends Approach to Alzheimer’s Care,” every person diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or a related disorder deserves the following rights:
■ To be informed of one’s diagnosis;
■ To have appropriate, ongoing medical care;
■ To be productive in work and play for as long as possible;
■ To be treated like an adult, not like a child;
■ To have expressed feelings taken seriously;
■ To be free from psychotropic medications, if possible;
■ To live in a safe, structured, and predictable environment;
■ To enjoy meaningful activities that fill each day;
■ To be outdoors on a regular basis;
■ To have physical contact, including hugging, caressing, and hand-holding;
■ To be with individuals who know one’s life story, including cultural and religious traditions; and
■ To be cared for by individuals who are well trained in dementia care.
Source: “The Best Friends Approach To Alzheimer’s Care,” Virginia Bell and David Troxel, Health Profession Press, 1997, www.bestfriendsapproach.com
I highly recommend the book even if it was published several years ago. Get the book HERE.
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