A to Z of Dementia Care
Solving the Puzzle to Deliver Excellent Care to People Living with Dementia
Are you looking after someone living with dementia either personal family members or professionally?
A to Z of Dementia Care offers the latest research and best practice guidelines at your fingertips Information has been gathered by the author from 35 years of experience providing dementia care and education to both families and staff.
Ask yourself “What sort of interactions would I want for my relatives? How would I like them to be cared for?” If your answer is: with compassion, love, understanding, dignity, respect, and recognition. Then this is the book for you.
In this book, you will learn:
What is dementia and the various types and different causes and presentations?
Communication techniques that will enhance the life of the person you care for and yourself.
The importance of maintaining positive emotional connections and the impact of retained emotional memories.
Advantageous activities and ideas to improve the life of your loved ones.
Changed behavior, identification of unmet needs, and other causes of behavioral change in people living with dementia.
This comprehensive reference guide is packed with practical tips and personal stories about the delivery of quality dementia care from an expert. It can be read as a whole or dipped into as required to address issues when they arise.
This book is highly recommended for everyone who is involved in providing care to people living with dementia.
My Story
My philosophy in dementia care has always been to treat the person I am involved with as if they were a close relative of mine. What sort of interactions would I want for my relative? How would I like them to be cared for? The answer that comes to mind is: with compassion, love, understanding, dignity, respect, and recognition. These have been the driving force behind my care of people living with dementia, and the attitudes I hope to impart to my readers.
I began my career as a nurse training at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney followed by Midwifery training at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne. If you had told me then that I would spend the majority of my nursing life looking after people with dementia, I would have laughed at you. That was the furthest thing from my mind.
In the 1980’s, I began looking after confused old men in an open, sixteen-bed ward at Wagga Wagga Base Hospital. There, I first came across the name Alzheimer’s disease when I was reading an article about the Aga Khan’s wife actress Rita Hayward having dementia. I remember thinking sarcastically; “somebody famous gets senile dementia and they give it a fancy name.”
I left the hospital to work as a part-time, night duty Registered Nurse in a new aged care facility, the Mary Potter Nursing Home. There, I encountered more people in end stages of dementia, many calling out during the night, and I observed the use of psychotropic drugs to sedate and calm behaviours.
In 1989, I applied for a job at Baptist Community Services’ (BCS) Caloola Aged Care Hostel in Wagga Wagga. My employment was as a personal care assistant, providing diversional activities for a group of twelve residents living with dementia. This was a new project in an open hostel. There were no locks on the inside of the fifteen exit doors; anyone could walk outside any time of the day or night.
The full-time diversional therapist and I were sent to Sydney for a five-day course on dementia, and so began my dementia education and interest. After a year in the project, the diversional therapist resigned and I filled her full-time position for a year before moving on to become the hostel manager for a further five years.
By the end of that time, nearly half of the residents in the sixty-eight-bed hostel were living with dementia. Numerous changes such as door alarms on the rooms of those likely to wander and the employment of an awake night duty staff member had been implemented.
In 1996, I wanted part-time work, and obtained a position with the Wagga Wagga Aged Care Assessment Team (ACAT) as the Alzheimer’s Dementia Counsellor. I went to Sydney for training with the Alzheimer’s Association, further updating my knowledge.
After 12 months, a new full-time position of psycho-geriatric nurse was created in the ACAT, to which I was appointed.
The local Health Service did not have a psycho-geriatrician in the area and a friend in Sydney suggested that Dr Sid Williams, who was visiting Tamworth as a ‘fly-in’ psycho-geriatrician, may be willing to offer a similar service in Wagga Wagga. So began a very informative working relationship with a wonderful teacher and mentor. Long drives to and from Tumut, Griffith, and other outlying towns provided excellent learning opportunities. To further my knowledge, I completed a Diploma in Psychiatry of Old Age at the NSW Institute of Psychiatry.
In 1999, I was tempted away from the Psychogeriatric Nurse position to set up a new project with Baptist Community Services (BCS), an in-home respite service for carers of people living with dementia. I spent the next four years working in the community, managing the service, training staff and volunteers, assessing people living with dementia, and assisting their carers to obtain respite.
More to come...
Customer Testimonials
My Blog
Interesting news about the author, the book and about dementia in general.
Hi, I am Isabel Baker!
My first Media Interview for A to Z of Dementia Care Solving the Puzzle...
First podcast interview
Lewy Body Dementia and Parkinsons News
Interviewed by author of "Unable to Resist: When You're Suddenly a Caregiver and It's Not Your Gift" re "A to Z of Dementia Care Solving the Puzzle to deliver excellent care to people with dementia.