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Splaine Consulting December 2022 Newsletter
Montessori for Elder and Dementia Care
International Montessori and dementia expert Jennifer Brush shows care communities how to create and sustain a team that integrates the Montessori philosophy throughout daily life, greatly enhancing person-centered care.
Based on her years as a researcher, clinician, and educator, Brush clearly explains the concepts behind this revolutionary approach, how to create a prepared environment, and how to increase levels of life engagement for older adults. Access the Ebook here.
Webinar on Illegal Nursing Home Debt Collection Practices: Protecting Residents and Families
Join this webinar with the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, with a special guest from the National Consumer Law Center,
where unscrupulous practices will be discussed as well as resident and family rights. Strategies for assisting residents and families will be offered. Register for the webinar here.
Dementia Resources for American Indians & Alaska Natives
The Urban Indian Health Institute just published this new Clinical Trial Guide on clinical trial participation for American Indians and Alaska Natives. Download the guide to learn more here.
We have several consulting engagements with American Indian organizations on dementia issues. Splaine Consulting advocates for resources like this to be accessible to American Indian and Alaska Native communities. Splaine Consulting is a consultant to IA2 (International Association for Indigenous Aging) and was a key consultant on the publication of the Healthy Brain Initiative Roadmap for Indian Country. The Road Map is designed to raise awareness of dementia within tribal communities. More information on the Roadmap is available here.
Musical on Alzheimer’s and Caregiving
Wordsworth, the Musical,” a musical fantasy about a poet mouse, is an unlikely resource that tackles life issues such as Alzheimer’s and caregiving, based on poet Frances H.
Kakugawa’s two books popular among school children and family audiences faced with dilemmas and seeking comfort and support to turn frowns upside down. The show premiered at the Performing Arts Center at the University of Hawaii Hilo campus. Learn more here.
Award Winning Film on Alzheimer’s
The award-winning dementia-focused short film “How You Are to Me” has been released on YouTube for free. The film, along with a dementia communication skills follow-along material, can be found on the film’s website.
Producer’s Statement: This film is more than a film, it is a quest to change a perspective — that Alzheimer’s is not a disease that makes an individual disappear, it is a disease which requires a change in the way we communicate. The film integrates caregiving techniques (cultivated in the Scripted-IMPROV Project) throughout to exemplify proper care for maximizing communication while still maintaining a grounded story and realistic interactions that caregivers will be able to relate to. No one is the perfect caregiver, but how we react changes the nature of how our relationships flourish.
Gen X and Boomers Age, They Confront Living Alone
More older Americans are living by themselves than ever before. That shift presents issues on housing, health care and personal finance. Approximately 6.6% of US adults ages 55 and older have no living spouse or biological children and 1% also lack biological siblings, which raises issues of how these people will receive care since the responsibility for such care has typically fallen upon family members. Sociologist and researcher Deborah Carr says that shared housing, co-housing and the “village” movement can help provide a safety net for kinless older adults, as well as revised family leave policies that cover friends, neighbors or more distant relatives. Learn more here.
Profile of Older Americans Living Alone
The Administration for Community Living has released the annual summary of statistics on older adults. The Profile of Older Americans is an annual summary of critical statistics related to the older population in the United States relying primarily on data offered by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Highlights from the Profile:
- People 65+ are expected to represent 22% of the population by 2040.
- Of older adults living in the community, 60% lived with their spouse/partner in 2021. About 27% lived alone.
- About 27% (15.2 million) of all older adults living in the community in 2021 lived alone (5.2 million men, 10.1 million women). They represented 21% of older men and 33% of older women. The proportion living alone increases with advanced age for both men and women. Among women age 75 and older, for example, 43% lived alone.
Supporting persons living alone with dementia is a strong area of expertise for our firm and we offer a direct service for those living alone with dementia – a private Facebook group called Living Alone and Connected.
Living Alone and Connected!
Living Alone and Connected! is an online community for persons living alone with Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia. Living Alone and Connected! hosts events from happy hours and virtual museum tours to educational programs on brain healthy activities and dementia friendly homes. Living Alone and Connected! was created to lessen the effects of the existing social isolation many people with Alzheimer’s already faced, isolation that was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. You might live alone, but you don’t have to feel alone.
If you have Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia and live in a single person household or if you care for someone that does, please join or share the Living Alone and Connected Facebook group today!
Living Alone and Connected! is hosted and moderated by Cognitive Solutions, LLC. Living Alone and Connected! is supported in part by a cooperative agreement #90ADPI0067-01-00 from the Administration on Aging (AoA), Alzheimer’s Disease Program Initiative (ADPI) and cooperative agreement NVADPI0082 from the Neighbor Network of Northern Nevada.
