Splaine Consulting

Splaine Consulting December 2019 Newsletter

What we’re doing, what we’re reading, and where we’ve been: it’s all here. Follow our Facebook & LinkedIn pages for updates, and forward this newsletter to friends and colleagues interested in all things Alzheimer’s. Thanks for keeping us in your inbox!

Splaine Consulting December 2019 Newsletter

Splaine Consulting Highlights

Our team’s advocacy work, here & abroad

Splaine Consulting Introduces APPLAWD

Splaine Consulting has introduced APPLAWD: Action Planning with and for Persons Living Alone with Dementia, a four-session learning and planning exercise guided by content matter experts and facilitators with a track record of leading processes that create engagement and action.

More than 1 million people with Alzheimer’s or a related dementia live alone. APPLAWD is the next logical step for community agencies that have identified the issue of persons living alone with dementia as an area of focus, allowing them to take leadership and move toward solutions that will improve the lives of these individuals.

The program includes the following components:

Session 1

  • Lead agency begins mapping the community and its unique assets as well as challenges, and then the team will plan to convene an initial stakeholder meeting.
  • Assistance is provided in identifying invitees and with boilerplate invitation materials and an online registration serviceā€”with a special focus on recruiting persons living with dementia.

Session 2

  • Stakeholders meet to create a collaborative care map for persons living alone with dementia in the early and then later stages of the disease.
  • Stakeholders identify care and support models that might fit in the community, drawing from our knowledge base and in-place community service models.

Session 3

  • This session involves action planning and identifying long-term goals and initial steps in a strategy that is developed with transparency and a consensus approach.

Session 4

  • Public is involved in a part-launch/part-celebration event; includes a convening of additional stakeholders beyond the initial core group to inform and energize the broader community.

Follow-Up

  • APPLAWD facilitators remain available by conference call for check-in meetings on the strategy for the next eight months.

Contact us at the link below to learn how to schedule an APPLAWD program in your community.

Learn more about APPLAWD


Register Now for Alzheimer’s Advocacy Certificate Course

Registration is now open for the next session of the Alzheimer’s Disease Public Policy Certificate course. Once again, Mike Splaine and Kate Gordon will lead the coursework, offered in conjunction with the Gerontology Institute,

McCormack Graduate School of Policy & Global Studies at UMass Boston.

This certificate will allow participants to identify the key physical and psychosocial aspects of Alzheimer’s and related disorders (ADRD); describe the basic identification and diagnostic process for ADRD; explain the need for a global/national/subnational action plan with a public health response to dementia; develop effective communication with policy makers; and more.
Class meets two hours per week online on Thursdays, Jan. 9 through Feb. 13. The fee is $250. The professional training certificate awards 1 CEU (Continuing Education Unit). Click the button below for more information and to register.

Register for AD Advocacy Certificate Program


GSA 2019 Annual Scientific Meeting

Kate Gordon and Mike Splaine (pictured above) were among those who gathered for the annual Gerontological Society of America meeting, Nov. 13-17 in Austin, Texas.
The theme of the meeting was “Strength in Age: Harnessing the Power of Networks.” While at the meeting, Mike presented on the Road Map for Indian Country.


Alzheimer’s Around the World

The latest policy, advocacy & research events and news

WHO Initiative Promotes Quality Mental Health Care, Human Rights

A project of the World Health Organization (WHO) is pushing for global change in the way people with psychosocial, intellectual and cognitive disabilities are treated.

Called the Quality Rights Initiative, the project seeks to improve the quality of mental health care services around the world and to promote the human rights of people in need of that careā€”by working at the ground level to change attitudes and practices and through policy-making to create sustainable change.

WHO notes that available mental health care in many places not only is of poor quality but often violates human rights and hinders recovery. Additionally, people with mental health disabilities often are denied opportunities to live where they choose, marry, have families, attend school and hold jobs. As a result, ā€œa new paradigm is required,ā€ WHO states.

On the Quality Rights Initiative website, WHO outlines a series of objectives
designed to create this new paradigm. For each objective, the initiative spells out corresponding action plans that range from providing training on human rights and recovery for mental health staffs to providing technical support for advocacy groups trying to influence policy-making.

For more details on the initiative or to find a way to participate, visit the Quality Rights website or contact the Quality Rights Team directly at this link.


Managing the Holidays with Alzheimer’s

The Alzheimerā€™s Association reminds us that the holidays can be stressful for those with Alzheimerā€™s as well as for their caregivers. The association’s website lists suggestions for managing the holidays more successfully. Here are a few:

  1. Do check-ins: Itā€™s important for family and friends to regularly check in with persons with Alzheimerā€™sā€”and with each otherā€”to make sure everyone is doing well during the holidays.
  1. Familiarize others with the situation: Before holiday visitors arrive, inform them of any changes in the person with the disease. To help start the conversation, the AA website offers dialogue examples.
  2. Adjust expectations: AA notes that ā€œthe stress of caregiving layered with holiday traditions can take a toll.ā€ Caregivers should adjust their expectations
    by downsizing guest lists or rethinking elaborate traditions.
  3. Involvement: Include the person with dementia in safe, manageable holiday preparationsā€”but try to maintain their normal routines as much as possible.
  4. Adjust gift giving: Provide people with gift ideas for the person with
    Alzheimerā€™s that are safe, useful and something the person would enjoy.
  5. Celebrate in a care facility: If the person is in a care facility, there are still ways to celebrate! Join in facility-planned activities, bring a meal to share, sing songs or read a favorite poem.

2020 Rose Parade to Celebrate #HopesHeroes

The SCAN Foundation is celebrating family caregivers with a float at the 2020 Rose ParadeĀ® presented by Honda. The theme of the float is Hope’s Heroes: Honoring Caregivers of All Generations.

Tune in Jan. 1 at 8 a.m. PT/11 a.m. ET for the 131st Rose Parade, televised live from Pasadena, California. (Check local listings for the station in your area.)

In the meantime, the SCAN Foundation invites you to honor a caregiver you know on social media by sharing your story of #HopesHeroes. Also, visit The SCAN Foundation on Vimeo to watch inspiring caregiving stories. Click this link to watch the caregiving story of our colleague and longtime friend Susan Desmarois.


Campaign Targets Misuse of Chemical Restraints

The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care (Consumer Voice), in partnership with AARP Foundation, has launched a national consumer education campaign to reduce the misuse of dangerous antipsychotic drugs in residents of long-term care facilities.

The new campaign, entitled Avoiding the Use of Chemical Restraints in Long-Term Care, is designed to raise public awareness about the dangers of antipsychotic drug use, especially for people with dementia. It will also offer strategies and solutions for exercising individual rights and obtaining quality care plus equip consumers and advocates for good care without the use of these drugs.

Currently in the U.S., nearly 179,000 residents of nursing homes, many with
dementia, are given antipsychotic drugs, despite not having a clinical diagnosis warranting their use. Often these drugs are administered without informed consent of the resident or their legal representative.

Visit Consumer Voice’s website for more information.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *