The Alzheimer's Podcast

In this episode, Christy Turner, the Dementia Sherpa, and I help you better understand what it really means when your loved one develops an intimate relationship with another resident.

We all yearn for companionship and a feeling of love and belonging. When people live in close proximity to one another, such as a memory care community, relationships are bound to occur.

Couple this with the confusion that comes with having dementia, and you may find your loved one holding hands or sharing some popcorn with another person.

As a memory care director, Christy has seen this happen numerous times, and what she shares in this episode may surprise you – it did me.

In case you’re new, Christy Turner, the Dementia Sherpa, joins regularly for a discussion to help empower you to be successful as you care for someone living with dementia.

She is a Certified Dementia Practitioner, Certified Dementia Care Unit Manager, and Cognitive Stimulation Instructor. She has run award-winning memory care communities in assisted living and skilled nursing levels of care.

Using her 16 years of experience in working with over 1,100 people living with dementia and their families, she’s developed a system that helps families move from crisis management to confidence.

I hope you enjoy this episode.

In this episode of Navigating Rough Terrain with The Dementia Sherpa, Christy Turner, the Dementia Sherpa, and I will be introducing you to the concept of Looping.

Looping is very common in dementia care. It can involve the repeating of stories or fixations. How you approach it and/or embrace it makes a world of difference in your interaction with the individual.

Allow it to happen and you can have a deeper, richer interaction with your loved one. Resist it, and you can create a very negative experience for everyone.

In case you’re new, Christy Turner, the Dementia Sherpa, joins me every other Tuesday for a discussion to help empower you to be successful as you care for someone living with dementia.

She is a Certified Dementia Practitioner, Certified Dementia Care Unit Manager, and Cognitive Stimulation Instructor. She has run award-winning memory care communities in assisted living and skilled nursing levels of care.

Using her 16 years of experience in working with over 1,100 people living with dementia and their families, she’s developed a system that helps families move from crisis management to confidence.

I’m joined by Christy Turner, the Dementia Sherpa, to discuss how to use the technique of Addition Before Subtraction to help you make your interactions with those who have Alzheimer’s or another dementia more successful.

By using addition before subtraction in dementia care, you can avoid potential confrontation and negative outcomes, and turn these situations into enriching times together.

In case you’re new, Christy Turner, the Dementia Sherpa, is a regular guest on The Alzheimer’s Podcast.

She is a Certified Dementia Practitioner, Certified Dementia Care Unit Manager, and Cognitive Stimulation Instructor. She has run award-winning memory care communities in assisted living and skilled nursing levels of care.

Using her 16 years of experience in working with over 1,100 people living with dementia and their families, she’s developed a system that helps families move from crisis management to confidence.

I hope you enjoy this episode.

This episode continues our series - Navigating Rough Terrain with the Dementia Sherpa.

In this episode, Christy Turner, the Dementia Sherpa, and I discuss Family Dynamics around the holidays. She share tips and strategies to help you balance the needs and behaviors of family while also maximizing your care for your loved one.

She also provides communication tips and discusses how to set boundaries to help protect your own emotional well-being.

In case you’re new, Christy joins me every other Tuesday for a discussion to help empower you to be successful as you care for someone living with dementia.

She is a Certified Dementia Practitioner, Certified Dementia Care Unit Manager, and Cognitive Stimulation Instructor. She has run award-winning memory care communities in assisted living and skilled nursing levels of care. 

Using her 16 years of experience in working with over 1,100 people living with dementia and their families, she’s developed a system that helps families move from crisis management to confidence.

I hope you enjoy the show.

In this episode, I’m joined by Christy Turner, the Dementia Sherpa, for another episode of Navigating Rough Terrain with the Dementia Sherpa.

Christy and I continue our holiday theme with a discussion on Holiday Shopping when a loved one has dementia.

We discuss tips and strategies to help you include your loved one but to avoid having a meltdown, so that it’s a positive experience for everyone.

In case you’re new, Christy joins me every other Tuesday for a discussion to help empower you to be successful as you care for someone living with dementia.

She is a Certified Dementia Practitioner, Certified Dementia Care Unit Manager, and Cognitive Stimulation Instructor. She has run award-winning memory care communities in assisted living and skilled nursing levels of care.

Using her 16 years of experience in working with over 1,100 people living with dementia and their families, she’s developed a system that helps families move from crisis management to confidence.

In this episode, Dr. Daniel Potts discusses his inspiration for being a dementia care advocate and how he helps others learn to have empathy and compassion for those living with dementia.

Among other things, we discuss Bringing Art to Life, a collaboration between Dr. Potts’ Cognitive Dynamics foundation and the University of Alabama Honors College.

This program unites students with persons with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease. During an eight-week art therapy program, the honors students document life-story elements that are used to create memoirs for the participants.

“Most importantly, students develop empathy for those with dementia, and for their caregivers,” the Bringing Art to Life website says.

Without this bridge, these students may never be aware of the challenges families affected by dementia face. And, as Potts says,

“They learn it is possible for a meaningful relationship with a person with dementia.” Dr. Potts is an attending Neurologist at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; he’s an author, educator, and champion of those with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias and their caregivers.

Dr. Potts is inspired by his father, Lester’s, transformation from saw miller to watercolor artist while in the throes of dementia through person-centered care and the expressive arts.

Dr. Potts seeks to make these therapies more widely available through his foundation, Cognitive Dynamics.

This episode launches a new collaboration between The Alzheimer’s Podcast and The Dementia Sherpa.

Starting today, and every other Tuesday, Christy Turner the founder of dementiasherpa.com will join me for a discussion to help empower you to be successful as you care for someone living with dementia.

We’re calling this series, Navigating Rough Terrain with the Dementia Sherpa.

In this episode, Christy and I talk about Halloween and the things you can do to make this a great time for everyone.

The holidays are quickly approaching, and while this can be a very challenging time, there is also a lot of opportunity to turn these challenges around and create positive times together.

Christy has more than 16 years of experience in working with over 1,100 people living with dementia and their families, and she is an expert in creatively managing “behaviors” without drugs.

She is a Certified Dementia Practitioner, Certified Dementia Care Unit Manager, and Cognitive Stimulation Instructor.

She has run award-winning memory care communities in assisted living and skilled nursing levels of care.

In this episode, I’m joined by Brian LeBlanc.

In 2014, Brian was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease at the young age of 54.

He is an international Dementia Advocate with a mission to advocate, educate, and spread awareness about Alzheimer's and other dementia related illnesses.

In this episode, we talk about how people have misconceptions about what Alzheimer’s disease “looks” like.

“You don’t look like you have Alzheimer’s.”

And while the person may not look and act the way people expect, they do have many struggles and challenges that they tend to conceal from others.

If you’ve listened to my last two episodes, 16 and 17, then you’ve heard me talk about the importance and the value of listening to and learning from people who are living with Alzheimer’s or another dementia.

And with his raw honesty, Brian is someone we should all listen to and learn from.

This is a very misunderstood disease, and people with dementia still matter, can contribute to society, and have a wealth of knowledge to share, but we must listen.

In this replay of my interview from August of 2015, I have a wonderful conversation with Laurie Scherrer where she talk about how she and her husband Roy work 1 day at a time to implement strategies which allow them to stay active and enjoy life.

In August of 2013, Laurie was diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer’s and Frontotemporal Dementia at the early age of 55.

Laurie is an active dementia advocate and runs the website dementiadaze.com.

She’s also staying physically and socially active as her and her husband Roy fight back against dementia. In fact, at the time of this interview they had recently returned from a diving trip to Bonaire which is an island in the southern Caribbean.

It’s extremely important and invaluable that we listen to and learn from those who are living with Alzheimer’s disease or another type of dementia.

People with dementia know what is needed to help them fight back against this cruel disease.

In this replay of my interview with David Kramer from May of 2015, we discuss how David Lives Well with Alzheimer’s.

He shares the strategies that he uses to help him maintain an active lifestyle as he fights back against dementia.

After two years of extensive testing, David was diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer's Disease at the young age of 56. Prior to his diagnosis, David was a physician for more than 30 years during which time he specialized in emergency medicine and was a published author.

Since his diagnosis, he’s been an active advocate for the disease and has been maintaining an active and social life.

People with dementia know what is needed to help them fight back against this cruel disease. They understand how communities should be educated and adapted to help them remain included and engaged.

So it’s extremely important that we listen to and learn from those who are living with Alzheimer’s disease or another type of dementia.

At the time of the interview, I was pretty green when it came to recording quality audio, so I’ve done my best to improve the recording so that you get the best experience possible.

However, there may still be some parts that have less than stellar quality but I truly believe you will find it acceptable and the content invaluable.