All Home Care Matters

All Home Care Matters was honored to sit down with Teepa Snow one of the world’s leading advocates and educators for anyone living with dementia or other forms of brain change to learn more about her story and to help provide tips and resources for families facing dementia.

 

Teepa is an Occupational Therapist with over forty years of rich and varied clinical and academic experience. Her philosophy is reflective of her education, work experience, medical research, and first-hand caregiving experiences. Her advocacy efforts led her to the development of the GEMS® State Model for understanding the progression of dementia and changes in abilities. She also created the Positive Approach to Care® training strategies, which are effective techniques for anyone seeking to optimize care and support for those living with brain change. As the Education Director of Eastern North Carolina’s Alzheimer’s Association, she also helped to create the nation’s award-winning DVD entitled Accepting the Challenge: Providing the Best Care for People with Dementia. Her user- friendly approaches provide guidance and leadership to national efforts to promote best practices in care.

 

Teepa’s company, Positive Approach to Care (PAC), was founded in 2006 and is now collaborating to improve dementia care in over thirty countries worldwide. PAC provides online and in-person services, training, and products to professionals, family members, the lay public, and people living with brain change. Please visit www.teepasnow.com for educational video clips, DVDs, books, information on individual certifications, online support groups, virtual and onsite trainings, or to subscribe to a free monthly newsletter. Teepa presents with extraordinary expertise and humor to audiences large and small throughout the world. Please join in her mission to improve the culture of dementia care, one mind at a time.

All Home Care Matters welcomes Dr. Smink for the second part of his three part mini-series on The Soul of Caregiving. In part 2 we explore the importance of caregivers being heard and the importance of being able to share and tell their story.   In part 1 of the mini-series, Dr. Smink explored the tension that most caregivers experience between service to others and self-care which he calls Soul-Care. Being heard implies an understanding of one’s story and the trust needed to communicate it. Navigating through the three cultural taboos challenges the caregiver to explore their interior strengths and values that is the ground or base of one’s being. Smink calls this Soul, the center of one’s being where body and the spirit meet. It is here that we are most human. Like a gem radiating different hues, Soul is multifaceted with unique characteristics and meanings.   There are archetypal underpinnings to soul that Dr. Smink calls the principle of life. Caregivers struggle to listen so as to hear those they serve. These same skills of listening can be applied to being open and welcoming to hearing what is stirring within one’s Soul. There is a logos, or rational aspect to caregiving and also a creative aspect called mythos to caregiving. Just as Soul-Care is the antidote to compassion fatigue, Smink argues, so too is the ability to reflect on one’s experience the key to healing and transformation. Developing attitudes of hospitality and understanding oneself as a wounded healer assist in this process.

All Home Care Matters is honored to welcome, Sarah Palya the founder and CEO of Gus Gear. During the interview we learn about her journey from caring for her son Gus to the creation of Gus Gear a company that is helping families and their loved ones with products that are making a difference in their lives.   Gus Gear’s story began more than a decade ago when its founder and CEO, Sarah Palya, sought to find a way to respond to the ongoing medical journey of Gus, her son, who faced a myriad of medical challenges, including autism and dysmotility, that led to intestinal failure. Sarah felt overwhelmed and wanted to find a way for Gus to live a more “normal” life. Her biggest obstacle was protecting, securing, and taking care of his central line.   Out of this challenge came our flagship product, the Central Line Vest. Since then, we’ve increased our product line and created a community for support to help those who are feeling as overwhelmed as Sarah was in the beginning.

All Home Care Matters is honored to welcome Dr. Edward Smink the author of The Soul of Caregiving, A Caregiver's Guide to Healing and Transformation to share with our viewers and listeners the tips and support that will help caregivers as they embark on their caregiving.

This will be the first installment of a special 3-part Series with Dr. Smink.

Dr. Smink address what Dr. Michael Kearney calls Soul Pain which is one’s interior conscience or soul screaming out for attention. He expands the definition of caregiving. “Who are the caregivers?’ Smink asks. “We all are for at the heart of being human is the capacity to reach out to others and explore the relationships we build.” The strengths and pitfalls of caregiving from an archetypal perspective are highlighted to enhance the caregiver to access these strengths for recovery and healing.

All Home Care Matters was honored to welcome Dani Waxman, the founder and creator of RecallCue a dementia day clock that helps to support families and their loved ones with dementia.

For the past 20 years, Dani Waxman has worked with leading Israeli high tech companies. In these roles he has served as a senior member of the product team defining product strategy, UX/UI, and managing development teams. In 2007 he Co-Founded and served as CEO of TriviaFix which quickly grew to one of the leading online sports trivia sites on the Internet. In 2017 he began work on RecallCue to help care for family members living with dementia and now focuses on creating innovative digital solutions for people living with dementia, their families and caregivers.

RecallCue’s Day Clock, an app used by thousands of families across the world, provides all the features of a traditional Day Clock with the added value of allowing family members and caregivers to be actively in touch with a loved one even from remote locations. RecallCue includes the ability to set reminders, send messages, share photos, display daily schedules and even have 2 way video calls - all on a standard tablet. Family members of all ages, can use their phones to easily manage the Day Clock and show loving care from near and far.

All Home Care Matters was honored to welcome three remarkable guests that all specialize in the field and study of dementia. Each of these guest are Master's trained and educated in dementia.   The first guest, Bettina Morrow obtained a BA of Social Work from Deakin University, Australia, and a Masters in Dementia at the University of Tasmania, Australia. Bettina possesses experience with intellectual and developmental disabilities, child protection, hospital social work and over 16 years in adult protection services with the past seven years as a APS supervisor in Colorado. Bettina has worked in a professional capacity in Australia, England, and USA.   Our second guest, Sarah-Kaye Page is currently inciting change within the aged care industry. She has worked within the aged care industry for the past 9 years in different roles including personal carer, lifestyle coordinator, and dementia consultant. She has also spent almost 20 years in the hospitality industry. She has helped to create face-to-face dementia-specific staff training programs and is currently undertaking her own research. As a qualified trainer and assessor, Sarah-Kaye also holds a Diploma in leisure and health, a Bachelor's degree in Dementia Care, and has recently completed the Masters of Dementia, the first of its kind in the world. Sarah-Kaye's road to her current position has not been straightforward or easy, and she has a passion for ensuring people living within long-term aged care are provided enough stimulating and engaging activities to feel useful, happy, and wanted during their final years. She is about to embark on her P.h.D specialising in lifestyle and recreation programs within aged care systems to provide engaging individualised activities for clients. It is her hope to offer this to the World Health Organisation and Alzheimer's Disease International for inclusion as part of their National Dementia Plan framework.   The final guest, Tim England has been a guest previously and we are always honored to welcome him back to share his knowledge and expertise in the field of dementia. Tim demystifies and destigmatized dementia in the community and advocates for people living with dementia and their families to live well. Being a Dementia Care Specialist, an experienced Educator, an effective Consultant and an Advance Care Planner he encourages others to make a positive difference to people living with dementia in their community. Tim achieves this by sharing information about dementias pathology, the personal impact of dementia, and what can be done to help.

All Home Care Matters welcomed Patti LaFleur as a guest to the show to share her and her mother's story of love and mixed dementia. During this interview Patti shares the incredible bond that her and her mother shared and her story of being a care partner with her mother.     Patti had the ultimate opportunity to be the care partner for her Mom, Linda. They were meant to be. Linda adopted Patti when she was a baby and Patti had the amazing opportunity to care for her as she lived (and thrived!) with dementia and type 1 diabetes. Patti cared for her full time for about three years and her goal was to find joy every day as her care partner. It was a true partnership between them and you could always find them creating, singing, laughing and loving together every day!     Patti's background is in Elementary Education and she was a Kindergarten teacher for the last 9 years. Patti had a true understanding that behavior is communication allowed her to maintain patience and love with her mom as they navigated this disease. Patti has recently started volunteering for the Alzheimer’s association and Dementia friends doing community outreach. Patti also runs a monthly informal support group for Young Caregivers of Loved Ones with dementia on Facebook and enjoy connecting with other care partners.

All Home Care Matters welcomes Author and Director of AlzAuthors, Ann Campanella to the show.

Ann is the author of the book, "Motherhood: Lost and Found" and share her story of caring for her mother who was diagnosed with dementia. This remarkable story takes the reader through Ann and her mother's caregiving journey. Through Ann's journey and story she authored "Motherhood: Lost and Found" which would go on to be named one of the best Alzheimer's books ever.

All Home Care Matters was honored to welcome a remarkable guest, Katherine Klimitas. Katherine is an artist, public speaker, author, designer, and an inspiration.

Katherine is a New Orleans-based artist and designer who sold her first watercolor at age 10. As the daughter of veterinarians, Katherine expresses her family’s life-long love of animals through her meticulous life-like paintings. She earned a B.A. from Loyola University in 2011, and today at age 33, runs her multifaceted business KAK ART & Designs from home.

When clients learn that Katherine has Osteogenesis Imperfecta, also known as brittle bone disease, they are captivated by her unique perspective. She and her parents stopped counting her broken bones at 500 at age 10. She’s 2 feet 7 inches tall, gets around in an electric wheelchair, and creates all of her art, jewelry and commercial graphic design while lying on her side.

All Home Care Matters was honored to welcome two executive directors from the California Caregiver Resource Centers to share and discuss the tremendous work that the California Caregiver Resource Centers are doing to help support families and caregivers.

The California Caregiver Resource Centers (CRCs) are a network of 11 centers throughout California which annually serve over 18,000 family caregivers, who are caring for adults affected by chronic and debilitating health conditions, degenerative diseases, or traumatic brain injury. Combined, the CRCs serve every county in California. Each CRC tailors its services to its geographic area, and offers family caregivers a range of core programs from counseling and care planning, to legal/financial consulting and respite, at low to no cost.

John Beleutz, Executive Director of Del Mar Caregiver Resource Center and Michelle DiBuduo, Executive Director of Valley Caregiver Resource Center, are here to represent the CRCs.

John, Executive Director of Del Mar CRC since 2006, has dedicated his career to delivering quality health and social services for vulnerable people. His work experience includes: Director of the Health Education and Training Center for the Community Health Partnership, Director of US Programs and Romania Country Representative for Population Services International, and Executive Director of the Pitt County AIDS Service Organization.

Michelle, Executive Director of Valley CRC since 2011, has been involved with Valley CRC in many various capacities. In 2000, Michelle was introduced to Valley CRC through her mother’s illness, and then she became a volunteer. From 2000-2011 she was involved in caregiver education, outreach and fundraising. Her background includes accounting for her families’ companies for over 35 years.