Serving Residents With Dementia: Transformative Care Strategies

Care providers in the assisted living setting have historically been governed by disparate regulatory structures and have consequently experienced a dearth of connective care standards. But as the industry continues to grow rapidly, attract the attention of federal regulators, and cater to an ever-expanding population of Americans with dementia, assisted living facilities (ALF) that want to remain competitive must heighten their focus on providing individualized, transformative care using consistent, compliant approaches actions that can often be hard to coordinate if not approached with the proper tools and mindset.

Serving Residents With Dementia: Transformative Care Strategies for Assisted Living Providers is a dynamic and comprehensive manual that addresses these critical considerations. Written in an engaging conversational style and infused with numerous anecdotes from the author s own international experience as a dementia care partner and pioneer, this book empowers key decision-makers across the assisted living sector with the guidance, processes, and tools they need to develop a dementia care program that s robust enough to accommodate the diverse and evolving needs of residents in all stages of disease progression. It accomplishes this by:

• Featuring a library of nearly 20 interactive forms and tools ALF providers can use to kick off and maintain key service and operational processes across their dementia care program. 
• Providing essential background on dementia and its effects on the brain the first step in distinguishing irreversible symptoms from reversible ones and planning care accordingly.
• Educating readers on the various challenges that can arise when caring for a resident with dementia and how these events often differ from ones that occur when providing for individuals without dementia.
• Offering a number of approaches for assessing the specific care needs of residents with dementia and providing the most effective care. These strategies reflect current best practices and incorporate key takeaways from today s leading conversations on ALF memory care, including culture change, person-centered mentalities, and human-based interventions. 
• Arming ALF leaders with the guidance they need to train and retain staff members who provide quality direct dementia care, including specific service strategies and methods for supporting the families of residents.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction: Scope and Purpose of the Text
1. The Brain: How It Works and What Symptoms Occur When It Becomes Impaired
2. Dementia: Where It Comes From and How We Treat It 
3. Setting the Stones: Creating a Strong Foundation for a Successful Dementia Care Program
4. Fostering Success from the First Phone Call to the Last Day of Residence
5. Leading Your Entire Care Team
6. Recruiting, Retaining, and Enjoying Your Direct Care Team 
7. The Central Role of Family in the Care Team 
8. Designing Your Environment 
9. Seeing Is Believing: Earning Staff Buy-In on Culture Change Initiatives 
10. Implementing Effective Policies and Procedures 
11. Delivering Quality Dementia Care in the Traditional Assisted Living Setting
Glossary
Appendix: A Library of Interactive Forms & Tools for the ALFPD Professional Community

2015, HCPro