Anticipating Needs Family members aren’t alone in needing to learn how to anticipate the needs of demen- tia patients. The staff members who care for patients need to learn too. As people living with dementia lose the
ability to communicate their needs through words, Smith explains that they learn to communicate their needs through behav- ioral expressions. “Teaching associates and families how to anticipate needs and respond to the behavioral expressions takes away frustration and allows for us to meet our residents’ needs faster, with more kind- ness and compassion,” he said. Every caregiver working in dementia care
is effectively working with new residents every day, Smith points out. “Short-term memory is gone. Every day you're showing up and meeting this person where they are,” he said. “It's our job to catch up and learn their language, and each language is going to be unique and different because
each person is going to express their unmet needs differently.”
Tech Tools Beyond training and education tools, emerg- ing technologies are upending nearly every aspect of senior living. As they do, Smith is most excited about technologies that can save caregivers time or make residents safer. Technologies that promise to create
new efficiencies for caregivers could be a game-changer, according to Smith. These tools could make it possible for staff to spend more time fully engaged with residents. Technologies that prevent unnecessary
emergency room visits — such as systems that can detect when a resident’s fall risk is climbing — can also make a difference in memory care, said Smith. However, he’s cautious about the execu-
tion. Technology “can have a detrimental impact on people living with dementia,” especially when it looks like technology
instead of a more familiar object. On the clinical front, technology also
is changing how dementia is diagnosed, staged, and treated. These are advances Smith says he grapples with. “I understand the need. I would love for
us to get closer to identifying the type of de- mentia people have. Learning those things will allow us to add interventions, activities, programs that will meet their needs better.” But, he says, there’s also a lot not to love too. “My ultimate goal for anybody that I
encounter is to meet them where they are. In that moment, we’ve got to step back and say, how can I meet their needs now?” On balance, Smith says advances in di- agnostic medicine and staging are welcome and exciting developments. “But all of that should really inform how we provide per- son-centered care, how we deliver and meet people where they are,” he says. “Hopefully we’ll have a cure one day,” Smith concludes.
PROMOTING TRUST VIA THE ARGENTUM ROUNDTABLE ON MEMORY CARE
As co-chairs of the Argentum Roundtable on Memory Care, Cole Smith, corporate director of dementia care at Brightview Senior Living and his counterpart, AJ Cipperly, vice president of memory care at The Arbor Company, want Argentum to be a trusted resource for information that other care providers, families and prospective residents need about senior living.
The group is developing resources to inform these audiences about senior living. The material will explain the differences between assisted living, independent living and secured dementia neighborhoods and address other questions.
The Roundtable is also developing a resource to address some of the most frequently asked questions and to dispel common misconceptions of people who are just beginning the journey of caring for someone living with dementia.
The initiative directly supports a theme of the new Argentum Strategic Plan (2023-2025) — trust. The theme, among other things, is about communicating with family members, communicating to provide a supportive environment where team members can grow in a career and be successful, and to build trust with media, lawmakers, regulators, and capital partners.
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