Dementia and Alzheimer’s touch the lives of millions around the world, but so much is still unknown. As first-generation Canadians, we didn’t recognize the early warning signs. We didn’t know the differences between regular aging and the early stages of dementia. We’ve made mistakes but we’ve learned a lot. DANCING WITH DEMENTIA will help you: • Identify those early warning signs • Use visuals to improve communication • Choose your words wisely • Redirect and reassure • Stay calm and cope with your own emotions • Consider nursing home options • Improve caregiver self-care We’ve learned to dance the early steps of the disease with our love and laughter intact. If you are looking for help recognizing early signposts along with practical ways to cope with early Dementia and Alzheimer’s, this book is for you.
This moment of hope for those who must accept and embrace a new version of Mom or Dad . . . shows us that while we lament what we are loving, there are endless possibilities for enjoying the moments that remain (Fawn Germer, author of Hard Won Wisdom).
A guide to dealing with a diagnosis of Alezheimer's: coping with the diagnosis, managing symptoms, plannig for the future, keeping hope and humor, participating in research, and more.
Practical Management of Dementia, Second Edition remains a comprehensive guide to identifying the challenges faced in caring for patients with dementia. Integrating new research into the diagnosis, detection and management of dementia, this book brings together a wealth of extensive practical experience and knowledge. It answers questions on medical, psychological and social management in an informative, evidence-based manner. Emphasising the need for a variety of pharmacological, psychological and social approaches that can be adapted for individual patients, it also encourages an understanding of the patients' spiritual needs. Reviews of the First Edition: 'This is a highly readable and useful resource.' NURSING STANDARD 'Comprehensive and valuable. Of merit to all healthcare team members from all care setting perspectives.' GERIATRICS TODAY 'Consistent and clear, well written and edited.' THE JOURNAL OF DEMENTIA CARE
"How useful is this book? I have referred to it often, and found myself quoting information and models of care from it. I lent it to a colleague to prepare a presentation on 'challenging behaviour' to our local carers' group and he thought it was an excellent resource. It is key reading for any mental health professional with an interest in improving the quality of life of people with dementia. I would recommend that all community teams have a copy." Dementia "Overall, this book is useful. It is well-indexed and has helpful summaries and sections on lessons for practice. It is to be hoped that the title will not deter clinicians other than nurses from reading it, as it will be of interest and of use to them too." mentalhealth today "This is an excellent reader aimed at a wide readership. I believe it is particularly appropriate for qualified staff in CMHTs, but also for mental health, occupational therapy and social work students as a comprehensive introductory text for mental health for older people in community settings." Mark Vincent, University of Northampton, UK "A very useful foundation book for those wishing to understand the challenges of dementia care. " Anthony Fraher, University of the West of England, UK What is the role of the community mental health nurse (CMHN) in dementia care? What knowledge and frameworks influence the way CMHNs practice in dementia care? How will community mental health nursing be driven forward in the future? This exciting and long-awaited new book is a companion volume to the respected Community Mental Health Nursing and Dementia Care: Practice Perspectives (Open University Press, 2003, edited by Keady, Clarke and Adams). The book enhances the link between theory and practice, providing a rounded and evidence-based account of the complexity, breadth and diversity of community mental health nursing practice in dementia care. The text is divided into three distinct sections: Models of community support and practice values Professional roles and clinical work Moving forward: Changing and developing CMHN practice The book includes coverage of key contemporary issues such as service user involvement, nurse prescribing, younger people with dementia, social exclusion and vulnerability.Partnerships in Community Mental Health Nursing and Dementia Care: Practice Perspectives is key reading for students of dementia care at all levels. It is also of relevance to professionals within the field of community mental health nursing and all other mental health or gerontology related areas. Contributions to this book are drawn from practising CMHNs in dementia care, researchers and commentators who are working at the forefront of their respective fields. Contributors: Trevor Adams, Susan Ashcroft-Simpson, Caroline Baker, Diane Beavis, Catherine Brannan, Dawn Brooker, Shane Burke, Suzanne Cahill, Caroline Cantley, Peter Caswell, Charlotte L. Clarke, Vivienne Davies-Quarrell, Kenneth Day, Kay de Vries, Aine Farrell, Paula Gardiner, Sue Gunstone, Philip Hardman, Steve Iliffe, Dee Jones, Gary and Linda Jones, John Keady, Cordelia Man-yuk Kwok, Jenny Mackenzie, Mike Nolan, Simon O’Donovan, Sean Page, Emma Pritchard, Jan Reed, Jeannie Robinson, David Stanley, Fiona Wilkie, Heather Wilkinson, Kevin G. Wood
Person-centered care for persons with dementia has been developed and expanded over the last few decades. Speech-language pathologists are uniquely positioned to understand the striking impact that communication challenges have on persons with dementia and their caregivers, and can lead the charge to improve access to communication and participation. This volume serves as a starting point and reference manual for those who want to provide person-centered and life-enhancing services to persons with dementia, and to inspire the continued generation of quality research to demonstrate the value of cognitive-communication, behavioral, and caregiver interventions. It serves as a call to action for an interprofessional team of healthcare providers across healthcare settings to promote meaningful life engagement in persons with dementia using evidence-based assessment and intervention approaches. This volume provides background on the evolution of caring for persons with dementia, as well as a description of the diagnostic process for dementia syndromes and the cognitive and communication characteristics of dementias with an emphasis on Alzheimer’s dementia. Its chapters cover the person-centered assessment process for persons with cognitive and communicative disorders of dementias; intervention approaches for the wide variety of cognitive, communicative, eating/swallowing, and behavioral symptoms and consequences of dementia syndromes; reimbursement and documentation issues for various settings in which persons with dementia are seen; and issues and challenges of quality of life and end-of-life care.
A groundbreaking exploration of the sociology of dementia — with contributions from distinguished international scholars and practitioners. Organised around the four themes of personhood, care, social representations and social differentiation Provides a critical look at dementia and demonstrates how sociology and other disciplines can help us understand its social context as well as the challenges it poses Contributing authors explore the social terrain, responding in part, to Paul Higgs’ and Chris Gilleard’s highly influential work on ageing Breaks new ground in giving specific attention to the social and cultural dimensions of responses to dementia
What happens to faith when Christians get dementia? Here, the unique voices of Christians who live with this illness bring insight and prompt theological reflection on the profound questions that dementia asks of faith. Within the boundaries of a biblical agenda, these questions are explored using a model of orientation, disorientation, and reorientation (reminiscent of Brueggemann’s scheme), to seek deeper understanding of faith experience and practice. Arising from the research, fresh theological insights and challenges for the church call for new, creative practices to enable the faith nurture of disciples of Jesus living with this disease. Counterintuitively, the study reveals a growing, positive experience of faith in the light of dementia highlighting the significance of Christian hope. Faith does not end with diagnosis of this illness.
A New York Times Bestseller Emmy-award winning broadcast journalist and leading Alzheimer’s advocate Meryl Comer’s Slow Dancing With a Stranger is a profoundly personal, unflinching account of her husband’s battle with Alzheimer’s disease that serves as a much-needed wake-up call to better understand and address a progressive and deadly affliction. When Meryl Comer’s husband Harvey Gralnick was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease in 1996, she watched as the man who headed hematology and oncology research at the National Institutes of Health started to misplace important documents and forget clinical details that had once been cataloged encyclopedically in his mind. With harrowing honesty, she brings readers face to face with this devastating condition and its effects on its victims and those who care for them. Detailing the daily realities and overwhelming responsibilities of caregiving, Comer sheds intensive light on this national health crisis, using her personal experiences—the mistakes and the breakthroughs—to put a face to a misunderstood disease, while revealing the facts everyone needs to know. Pragmatic and relentless, Meryl has dedicated herself to fighting Alzheimer’s and raising public awareness. “Nothing I do is really about me; it’s all about making sure no one ends up like me,” she writes. Deeply personal and illuminating, Slow Dancing With a Stranger offers insight and guidance for navigating Alzheimer’s challenges. It is also an urgent call to action for intensive research and a warning that we must prepare for the future, instead of being controlled by a disease and a healthcare system unable to fight it.
