Keeping dementia patient engaged is key
To provide some insight into the behaviours that come with dementia in an aging population Northern Health staff are being educated through programs like DementiAbility.
As ongoing research is done into dementia, more has been discovered about how a person with the disease may decline over time and awareness of the process helps caregivers, including Northern Health staff, understand it.
DementiAbility focuses on needs, interests, skill and abilities, tackling boredom, isolation, loneliness and trying to keep the person as functionally capable as possible.
“It allows us to modify the environment in a deeper way and in doing so we’re changing the culture,” Brenda Miller, clinical nurse educator, said. “We try to set up activities that are based on a person’s life, they’re likes, dislikes, their roles, the things they used to like to do.”
For example, there are woodworking shops available for residents of long term care facilities, as well as opportunities for people to care for infant dolls.
“Doll therapy can be incredibly effective,” Miller said. “This isn’t something that works for everyone but all human beings have the need to express love.”
The nurturing and caring side can come to the forefront in some dementia patients.
The option is to have a doll that’s obviously a toy and others that are very realistic, depending on the needs of the individual. This is called doll therapy because it’s a therapeutic approach rather than play.
Northern Health staff know that just because a person is holding a doll, it doesn’t mean they’ve reverted to childhood. They are still treated as adults. Dementia can change a person developmentally but they are still treated with dignity, Miller said.
Other aspects to DementiAbility includes signs that help a person with visual cues. There are also illustrations of a person putting on a hat, scarf, gloves, coats and slippers. There can be signs on drawers illustrating what’s inside or where to put things. There’s simple pictures of sitting in a chair or indicating a bathroom and what to do in it. Signage helps people understand where things are and what to do with them because sometimes that’s all a person needs to know to remain independent.
“One of the biggest challenges with dementia is that language changes,” Miller said. Some people may even revert to their mother tongue and sometimes all words in any language can be lost and that’s when signs come in quite handy.
“DementiAbility is really about modifying the environment and the culture,” Miller said.
Recently there’s been an internal learning hub placed online for staff at Northern Health and now there’s a link that’s available for the public to get all the details on how to help a person with dementia as they remain in their home for as long as possible. For more information visit northernhealth.ca and put DementiAbility in the search to see how a long term care facility uses it to help residents and for tips to use at home.
“It’s all about knowing what’s meaningful to that person,” Miller said.