Despite the many challenges the industry faces, there is great joy in our long-term care and senior living communities. Residents and staff are finding creative and powerful ways to connect, engage and live life with passion and optimism. It has never been more important to celebrate the positive triumphs happening every day, especially regarding people living with dementia. 

At our fifth #ActivitiesStrong Summit, the joy and passion were palpable. Here are just a few of the insights about turning challenges into solutions, empowering engagement and ensuring inclusivity and person-centered care for our residents living with dementia.

Juggling dementia care and quality of life

It can be challenging to engage or connect with people living with dementia when their moods change rapidly and they suddenly seem irritable or disinterested. At the same time, we know that dementia may cause people to feel insecure and even lose confidence in their abilities. 

It is important, Alisa Tagg, association director of the National Association of Activity Professionals, noted, to consider the needs of individuals living in community settings. These include the need to adjust to illness, disease and/or disability, as well as their new surroundings. 

There are many ways to help people adjust as they develop dementia and their condition advances without resorting to medications. Tagg talked about some efforts that research has shown to help manage behaviors, increase calm and trigger positive memories. These include music engagement, which helps people regain a sense of identity. 

“Music is deeply rooted in our conscience and can awaken the brain as it deteriorates,” she said. 

Elsewhere, exercise may benefit both brain health and functioning; and aromatherapy engagement has proven in some cases to significantly decrease behaviors. However, Tagg stressed, “You can’t just buy some scented lotions and call that aromatherapy.” These interventions should involve essential oils, and someone experienced in aromatherapy.

Of course, any nonpharmacologic interventions require an appreciation of personhood – the person’s values, beliefs, identity, and experiences. 

“You have to have a strong respect for the person, their beliefs, life history, and significant personal experiences,” said Linda Redhead, president of the National Certification Council for Activities Professionals, adding, “This is crucial to ensuring that people with dementia are seen holistically.”

Leading the way

As we move further into the post-pandemic world and value-based models of care, visionary leadership is more important than ever.  That means looking ahead and anticipating trends. 

Chris Clark, CEO of SentryCare, said, “I think expectations are going to be higher than they probably are now. I think that people are going to expect that their loved one has the right to live with purpose. I think that’s where the focus for the future has to be for success in caring for any group of elders those who live with dementia.”

Dina Semones, CEO, English Meadows Senior Living Communities, added, “I think purpose is definitely going to drive a vast foundation for the future of dementia, and it’s exciting to me that more people are coming to the table to discuss these things, and dementia education is at all-time high. COVID has really helped change the way people think and problem-solve. It caused us to begin to look at things in new ways and engage people differently.” 

She stressed, “We want to give our residents a voice, regardless of where they are in their cognitive abilities. We want to make sure we’re hearing them in a manner that allows them to communicate about what they want in their lives.”

Inclusion and fighting the ‘isms’

A diagnosis of dementia often is accompanied by fear and a plethora of negative emotions. While dementia clearly is a devastating illness, it is important to remember that people with dementia have amazing strength and still have a need for purpose and dignity. 

“We need to focus on that,” said Caroline Edasis, assistant vice president of resident engagement at Mather. This needs to be a focus in dementia training, she stressed, “When we train people focusing on the tragedy of dementia, we reinforce the fear.” Instead, she suggested thinking about dementia as a community issue and individual wellbeing as something we all must support. 

A big part of inclusion, said Angie McAllister, Spark Performance League commissioner at LifeSpark, is “embracing and empowering those people who work closest to our elders, including CNAs. Then we need to put decision making in the people who need to make the decisions. Everyone has a favorite something that they’re not getting, and we need to empower them.”

Fear is partly behind ageism and ableism, suggested Kirsten Jacobs, senior director of shared learning initiatives at LeadingAge; said, “If there are fear and stigmas around age and ability, we may inadvertently enforce these and segregate on age or ability, even when we’re well-intentioned. We need to work together to include everyone in the community and break the cycle of fear.” 

Training and an inclusive culture can prepare everyone and make every campus more dementia- and age-friendly, suggested Danielle Weatherholz-Palmer, director of creative arts therapy, Kendal at Oberlin.

Jen Wilson, vice president of well-being Carol Woods Retirement Community, noted that in her community, they have made the outdoors an inclusive safe space where everyone has access and can enjoy nature. 

“That connection to nature is so important, as is the ability to move around freely, feel the breeze, and smell the flowers,” she said. This is essential, regardless of each person’s physical or cognitive abilities. It’s a huge part of “filling the cup of wellbeing.”

As Moira Welsh, author of Happily Ever Older: Revolutionary Approaches to Long-Term Care, said, “Any of us could develop cognitive decline. It will impact so many people, and inclusion is so important…People living with dementia continue to live with great purpose.” 

We need to promote the focus on what abilities people living with dementia have versus what they’ve lost. Our activities and resident engagement professionals are key to these efforts to ensure the best possible quality of life for everyone, regardless of their cognitive status. 

You can listen to the full summit here.

Charles de Vilmorin is the General Manager, Linked Senior with Lifeloop.

The opinions expressed in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News guest submissions are the author’s and are not necessarily those of McKnight’s Long-Term Care News or its editors.

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