All Home Care Matters

Imagine that you were scrolling through a social media site and someone you worked with or one of your family members posted an image or video of you that was less than flattering. Everyone not only saw it but started commenting on it and sharing it. How would this make you feel?

Now consider a person who not only never sees something like this posted about them but doesn’t even understand that they are being ridiculed or exploited. This is what it is like for someone living with dementia. They don’t have the ability to approve or consent to have images, videos and other identifying posts to be shared in this social media-crazed world. These people need to be protected.

It could be you. Every 3 seconds a new case of dementia is diagnosed somewhere in the world, joining the already more than 55 million people living with the disease. Dementia, a general term for a group of similar diseases including Alzheimer’s, is a progressive disease that destroys memory and other important mental functions. While there is no cure, medications and management strategies may temporarily improve symptoms.

We live in a world now where anyone can take a photo or record a video of someone and put it out on social media. But I am capable of making that decision because I understand what is being posted and shared and I understand what social media is. A person suffering with dementia does not and they need to be protected. We need to remember that every person with dementia is still a person and deserves and is entitled to respect and dignity. 

This topic will be the subject of an upcoming “Ethics of Dementia and Social Media” forum featuring nine of the world’s leading dementia experts on the ethics of dementia and social media and will air on YouTube and other podcast providers worldwide on Feb. 14.  

All Home Care Matters was honored to welcome, Dr. Buffy Lloyd-Krejci as a guest to the show.

Dr. Buffy Lloyd-Krejci, president and founder of IPCWell, has always had a passion for mitigating infectious diseases through a data-driven approach. Even before the pandemic, Buffy realized how serious infections disproportionately impact vulnerable populations. COVID-19, in her view, merely sheds light on the systemic challenge of infection prevention and control and its adverse impact on patient care.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, IPCWell has taken a “boots on the ground” approach to support healthcare facilities such as nursing homes across the nation, doing in-person, deep-dive assessments to offer immediate support to healthcare workers on the frontlines. Dr. Lloyd-Krejci travels the country to long-term care facilities to assess, train, and educate with humor, vigor, and empathy. She has developed practical tools, led trainings and “train the trainer” programs, provided ongoing support to IPC teams, and created the “LTC playbook” for Doctors Without Borders infection control support for early use in hard hit areas of Detroit and Houston.

Recently, she published her first book, BROKEN: How the Global Pandemic Uncovered a Nursing Home System in Need of Repair and the Heroic Staff Fighting for Change, a novel which exposes the dire need of a massive policy overhaul within the nursing home industry.

All Home Care Matters was honored to welcome the founders of Prairie Elder Care & Connectivities as guests to the show to share how they are helping to support, stimulate, and care for loved ones with dementia.

Michala Gibson is a Registered Nurse with over 20 years of experience in the senior care industry. She has served as Director of Nursing and Director of Staff Development in local care communities. She is the co-founder of Prairie Elder Care and the Prairie Farmstead where residents live in small group homes on a small farm setting. As a Certified Trainer for Teepa Snow’s Positive Approach to Care, Michala works continuously to ensure that the elders in her care have the best opportunities for quality of life. Michala is co-author of the book, Now is Found, highlighting steps to giving back Community, Connection and Control to those living with dementia.

Mandy Shoemaker brings 20 years of experience in education prior to her career in dementia care, Mandy has a deep passion for creating programs that spark meaningful engagement. As an elementary school principal, she focused on supporting her families’ children. As co-founder of Prairie Elder Care and Connectivities, she has shifted her focus to ensuring a better quality of life for people living with dementia. Through co-authoring the book, Now is Found, Mandy has worked to minimize the stigma of dementia and help people understand how Community, Connection and Control can improve quality of life for those dealing with the effects of dementia.

All Home Care Matters was honored to welcome Beverley Glazer as a guest to the show to discuss tips, resources, and support for caregivers and their loved ones.

Beverley Glazer MA., CCC., ICCAC, is a Psychotherapist, Internationally Certified Addiction Specialist, Coach and Founder of Reinvent Impossible Inc; a personal development company that educates, coaches, and empowers adults 50+ who’ve experienced life transitions that left them feeling powerless, to get grounded and focused, and create new possibilities built on their strengths.

After 30 years in private practice, helping people through traditional therapy, she turned her attention to coaching; supporting and creating programs for others, who’ve had an extreme wake-up call, to stay grounded and focused so they can carve a clear path with ease and peace of mind. She’s as a clinician, coach, speaker, educator, writer, entrepreneur, former talk-radio host, and the originator of The Reinvention Formula TM, a surprisingly easy coaching system combining scientific knowledge with down-to-earth wisdom, that gives the tools and support to bounce back with resilience and move forward to new horizons.

Her podcast, “Aging with Purpose and Passion” is aligned with her mission, that it is never too late to reinvent yourself and become who you’ve always imagined.”

All Home Care Matters was honored to welcome the President of Talk About Aging, Janice Goldmintz.

Talk About Aging was founded in 2016. Janice helps children and their aging parents get in sync, any age, any stage. Janice's expertise came through both academic and personal experiences. With her Master's degree in Gerontology she was given wide insight into what can be done to assist our seniors in creating the highest quality of life possible, no matter what the challenges may be.

As a child of older adult parents, she had to sift through many options, changes and emotional situations which allowed her to help bring families together to create peace of mind and accord. What Janice provides is a way to untangle the overwhelm, whether from medical issues, family dynamics or work/life issues.

About 6 Not-So-Secrets to Successful Aging:

Our older adults deserve to live their life with the highest degree of quality. These 6 not so secrets address many of the challenges that face our seniors. They also focus positive light to what can be accomplished to create a meaningful and joyful life at any age. The topics we look at range from attitudes we have about aging to helping others create their best life. These are now no longer secret-and now we can have our older adults move forward and plan for a very positive future.

All Home Care Matters was honored to welcome the Co-Founder of AlzAuthors as a guest to the show, Jean Lee.

Jean Lee worked full time teaching elementary school while she was thrust into a caregiving role for her mom and dad when they were dually diagnosed.

Her memoir, Alzheimer’s Daughter, follows two sisters–– Jean living a mile from her parents, and her sister living 1,000 miles away––through a near-decade journey as they work together to move their parents out of their life-long home, and eventually to a locked memory care facility. At the end of this hand in hand decline, the sisters are honored to be together as their parents breathe their last breath. Sadness and loss contrast with tenderness and devotion as Jean uses the elderly couple’s WWII love letters, found during the final cleanout, as chapter beginnings.

After the publication of Alzheimer’s Daughter, Jean connected with other authors of Alzheimer’s books, to co-found AlzAuthors.com with the goal of eliminating the stigma and silence often accompanying a diagnosis. AlzAuthors enables caregivers and those living with memory impairment to find written resources – memoirs, novels, nonfiction, children’s books and caregiver guides – which educate and enlighten. AlzAuthors, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, is managed by six daughters of dementia and has posted weekly essays from over 300 authors with direct links to their books, all written from personal experience with Alzheimer’s and dementia.

Three years ago, they launched an award-winning podcast entitled Untangling Alzheimer’s and Dementia: An AlzAuthors Podcast. Their newest initiative brings real books to real people in real places through Custom Caregiver Collections, placing handcrafted, table-top lending libraries in locations where people whose lives have been impacted by Alzheimer’s and dementia gather.

All Home Care Matters was honored to welcome a good friend, board member, and founder of The Whole Care Network, Christopher MacLellan. However, you may know Christopher as the "Bow Tie Guy". When people ask him "why did you create the Whole Care Network"... he always come back to his caregiving experience and how fortunate he was to find resources that helped him and his partner Richard Schiffer manage their caregiving journey. Every caregiver has a story and through their stories, they find validation, resources and respite to help manage their caregiving day. Christopher feels fortunate to have had their story chronicled in a 2015 Pulitzer Prize-nominated 3-part story “In Sickness and In Health: A Couple’s Final Journey” which told their journey of caregiving. The story told of the challenges LGBT partners have in dealing with the medical and legal system, but it also told of the love and joy of his partner Richard's last years had on their relationship. Their story has been read by over 500,000 people worldwide since it was published in April of 2014. One of the reasons their story was so successful was because readers could place themselves in their shoes; dealing with the healthcare system, the legal system, balancing work and life, while facing the reality their time together was short. It was an afterthought that the story just happened to be about two men. When it comes to caregiving, there are no economic boundaries, no racial boundaries, no gender boundaries and no orientation boundaries. Caregiving impacts everyone, and it is through story sharing where diversity meets the road to collaborate on a common cause. And our common cause is to support caregivers before, during and after caregiving has ended.