Free Alzheimers Training Now Available to Local Families
By: Julie Dolan
Updated: June 25, 2012
Free Alzheimer's Training Now Available
To Local Family
Caregivers
The local Home Instead Senior Care office is offering a unique approach to help
Owensboro area families manage the challenges of Alzheimer's and other
dementias, diseases that eventually rob seniors of their memories and
independence. Free training for families caring for these older adults is now
available through online e-learning modules, available at
HelpForAlzheimersFamilies.com.
The Alzheimer's or Other Dementias CARE: Changing Aging
through Research and EducationSM Training Program offers a
personal approach to help families care for seniors with Alzheimer's disease at
home, where 60 to 70 percent live, according to the Alzheimer's
Association.
"Until there is a cure, we offer an interim solution,"
said Stephen Bryson, owner of the Home Instead Senior Care office serving
Daviess, Hancock, Henderson, Hopkins, Muhlenburg, Ohio and Union
Counties.
The foundation of the Alzheimer's CARE Training Program
is an approach called "Capturing Life's Journey" that involves gathering stories and experiences
about the senior to help caregivers provide comfort while honoring the
individual's past. Because people with Alzheimer's disease have difficulty with
short-term memory, the Capturing Life's Journey approach taps into long-term
memory.
The Home Instead Senior Care network assembled the top
experts in Alzheimer's disease to develop the CARE approach. "The training we're
offering to families is the same kind of training our professional CAREGiversSM receive," he
noted.
The program for family caregivers consists of four
classes: Alzheimer's Disease or Other Dementias Overview; Capturing Life's
Journey; Techniques to Manage Behaviors; and Activities to Encourage Engagement.
Also available is a free guide for those who are caring for a loved one with
Alzheimer's disease or other dementias. Called Helping Families Cope, the
guide includes advice to help families keep their loved ones engaged and manage
behaviors.
"CARE is a wonderful hands-on approach that helps
caregivers deal with the behavioral changes that too often accompany these
disorders - one of the biggest stressors for caregivers," said Dr. Jane F.
Potter, chief of the Division of
Geriatrics and Gerontology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. "There was
previously no good program available using adult education techniques to provide
hands-on practice in learning how best to help people who have dementia. This is
huge," she added.
"The preferred environment for those with dementia is
generally at home," said Potter, who served on the expert panel to help develop
content for the Alzheimer's CARE Training Program.
And yet, families caring for seniors with Alzheimer's at
home are dealing with challenging behaviors such as anger, aggression, wandering
and refusing to eat, according to research conducted for the Home Instead Senior
Care network.
"That makes the Alzheimer's Disease or Other Dementias
CARE Training Program a solution for the many families in our area who are being
impacted each day by devastating side effects of this disease," Bryson said.
For more information about free family caregiver
training or to obtain a free copy of the Helping Families Cope booklet,
contact the local Home Instead Senior Care office at 855-812-home or 270-689-2300 or visit www.homeinstead.com or
www.HelpforAlzheimersFamilies.com.
