Person-Centered Care During COVID-19

Hello everyone, Our thoughts are with all of you, your residents, and staff during this stressful time of dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak. You and your staff are likely busy reassuring the nervous loved ones of your residents, reminding staff of infection prevention protocols, and cancelling group outings and activities. With so many changes to […]

Therapeutic Fibbing

Hello everyone, Since we were children, we’ve been taught not to lie to people. But sometimes there are exceptions to this rule. One of them is when we are working with a person who has dementia. In some cases, telling “white lies” helps them to preserve their dignity, allay their fears, and make them feel […]

What To Do When Nothing Else Works

Hello everyone, You’ve tried distractions, music, walking, going outside, changing caregivers and adjusting schedules. Nothing seems to work with this resident who consistently has challenging behaviors related to dementia. Some caregivers may even tell you that they can’t handle the person anymore. What do you do? The answer may just be—YOU. You may be the […]

Tips for Integrating Person-centered Approaches into Care Plans

Hello everyone, Many of you are working on integrating more person-centered approaches into your care plans, and looking for ways that GNAs and other staff can easily access information about the social histories and preferences of residents, which is critical information when caring for people who have dementia. Those “golden nuggets” of information can help […]

Breaking Down Language Barriers

Hello everyone, If you’ve ever traveled to a foreign country where you don’t speak the language, you know how difficult it can be to get directions to a museum or order a meal.  Imagine how frightening and depressing it would if everyone around you spoke a different language, but instead of being on vacation, you […]

Does One Hand Know What the Other is Doing?

Hello everyone, Last week we highlighted the importance of communication between caregiving staff and people with dementia. We are also learning about another challenge you face: improving communication between your nursing assistants. While nurses have a change of shift report to update the incoming nursing staff about medical issues with residents, CNAs rarely have the […]