When a loved one receives an Alzheimer's diagnosis, families often feel overwhelmed and uncertain where to turn. For home care agencies serving these families, having the right resources and training can make all the difference in providing compassionate, effective care. That's where the Alzheimer's Association comes in.
In this enlightening conversation with Claire Corwin, Program Director of the Alzheimer's Association, we uncover the wealth of free resources available to both home care agencies and the families they serve. Claire, whose journey began while caring for her own grandmother, shares her expertise on everything from specialized dementia training programs to emotional support services.
"We want to make sure we're maximizing quality care and support for people living with dementia," Claire explains, highlighting the Association's mission to accelerate research while supporting those affected today. Home care agencies can access free educational programs covering critical topics like effective communication strategies, managing challenging behaviors, navigating end-of-life care, and understanding the diagnostic process. The "Essentials" certification program offers professional credentials for caregivers who want to specialize in dementia care.
Perhaps most valuable is learning how these resources can be integrated into your agency operations. The 24/7 helpline (1-800-272-3900) provides not only support for families but also guidance for professional caregivers facing difficult situations. Community engagement opportunities like the Walk to End Alzheimer's help agencies build relationships while demonstrating their commitment to quality dementia care.
Whether you're looking to enhance your caregivers' skills, provide emotional support for your staff, or connect clients with valuable community resources, this episode outlines concrete steps to establish a productive partnership with your local Alzheimer's Association chapter. By leveraging these connections, you'll not only improve the quality of care you provide but also position your agency as a specialized resource for families navigating the dementia journey.
Reach out to your local Alzheimer's Association chapter today to explore how they can help strengthen your dementia care services while supporting the families who need you most.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome everybody.
It's so nice to have you.
We have special guest ClaireCorwin here today from the
Alzheimer's Association.
She's going to teach us a lotabout what they do and how you
can work with them, help youwith some training, some really
good information.
Again, I'm Dawn Fiella.
I have been with the ProSeniorNetwork for about three years.
I have a very long backgroundin home care.
(00:21):
I like to say I've been in thetrenches of home care, because
that's how it feels sometimes,right, I've done everything from
sales to recruiting, retention,operations manager, and so I
understand your day-to-day.
I love the mission that you'reon and thank you for being here
today, annette.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Okay, hi everybody.
I'm Annette Ziegler.
I have been with ASN for a yearand I teach the home care sales
training classes.
I too, I've had a lot ofexperience in home care 20 plus
years in CCRC, then home careagency so I love doing what I do
teaching everybody how to getthose private pay referrals and
(00:59):
be successful in their marketing.
And I'm really glad, claire,that you're here because I think
it's going to be veryinformative.
When I was in home care, myagency worked very closely with
the Alzheimer's Association andI think a lot of people do not
realize how much that you can doto help the training and
there's so many avenues that youguys can help the agencies with
(01:20):
.
Welcome.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Thank you.
Thank you, I'm excited to talkabout it with.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
Welcome, thank you.
Thank you, I'm excited to talkabout it.
And, valerie, am I unmuted?
Yes, I am.
I'm Valerie Van Boeven.
I'm a registered nurse and theco-owner of Approved Senior
Network, and I'm glad to be heretoday.
Thank you, claire, for speakingto us and educating us, and
we're looking forward to it.
(01:45):
Housekeeping I'll keep going.
Okay, housekeeping is linesmuted unless you're speaking,
please, if you know that you're.
If you're unmuted, we can heareverything that's going on in
your life.
Share stories, experiences,tips, ask questions, make
recommendations and tell us whatyou want to really do.
Take your recommendationsseriously and try to address any
(02:07):
subject matter that you mightwant to hear.
Yeah, next slide, go ahead.
You want to do the agenda?
Yeah, I'll do it.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Okay.
So today, as I said, thespecial guest, claire Corwin, is
here.
She's the program director ofthe Alzheimer's Association in
Rochester.
Did I get that right?
Yay, okay.
Today we're going to talk aboutresources for home care
agencies and families, educationand training opportunities for
your caregivers, collaboratingwith your local Alzheimer's
(02:37):
Association, increasing yourcommunity outreach and
engagement.
We'll have some time for someQ&A and then Annette is going to
go over the leave behinds forJune, july, august Also.
Notice your chat.
It's lighting up here in thechat feature.
Go ahead and enter anyquestions you might have in the
chat, and, should we go aheadand do the leave behind thing
(02:59):
quickly, if you guys areinterested in winning a free
month of leave-behinds for Ithink we're going to probably do
August this time we will createthose for you If you say yes in
the chat.
This way, everyone will findthe chat and we will get those
created for you with your logo,your contact information, your
colors.
You have to promise, though,that you're going to send
(03:21):
pictures of what you did withthe leave-behinds for the month
that you get.
So go ahead and use that chatfeature.
You can type yes anytime.
Annette will keep track and wewill draw a name after the
meeting.
All right, let's get going.
So again, this is Claire.
Here is her experience.
She comes with a background.
You can see it all her programdirector responsibilities, her
(03:44):
personal connection.
She had a personal experiencecaring for her grandmother.
I don't know.
If you want to talk about thata little bit too.
That would be great, claire, totell us what led you into this
role and kind of your day-to-dayand how it might relate to what
the health care owners andworkers do.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Oh boy, I hope we have time.
But I've always known that Iwanted to be a social worker
when I have two younger sisters,and when I was about 12, my mom
sat us all down and she saidyou're going to be a social
worker.
She looked at my other sister.
She said you're going to be anurse, and the other one, you're
going to be a physicaltherapist just based on our
personalities, and she wasabsolutely correct.
(04:24):
So we have a full care team inour home, oh my goodness.
And it worked out really wellbecause we cared for my
grandmother and we were able togain a lot of experience from
that.
We were able to be helped by ahome care agency actually to
come in.
Both my parents worked fulltime Watching them juggle.
That is what led me to mycareer, and I've been with the
(04:46):
association my entireprofessional life.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Wow, that's wonderful Making a difference.
Claire's work as a programdirector of the Alzheimer's
Association.
Can you briefly describe yourrole as a program director in
your position right now, likeyour day-to-day, and what that
looks like?
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Oh gosh, yeah.
In your position right now,like your day-to-day and what
that looks like oh gosh, yeah.
So being a program director atthe association it's I like to
say that I wear many hats.
Across my work across New Yorkstate I've held pretty much
every programmatic role that weoffer.
So early stage socialengagement, which is where we
have the folks who are livingwith dementia find spaces to
engage without any judgment.
I've done care consultations,which is our version of
(05:27):
non-clinical counseling forpeople.
I've provided lots ofeducational trainings to
long-term care facilities andcaregivers alike, to home care
agencies, and have a reallystrong background in community
connections.
As a program director, Ioversee all of that and my role
is to make really strategiccommunity connections, to find
the folks who are providing theservices, to connect with them,
(05:49):
to bring them into everythingthat we do, but also have that
reciprocal partnership.
Partnering with us means thatyou get the benefits of what we
offer, but also we get to putout what everyone else does.
So making it, making therelationships.
I love being a program directorbecause I get to do whatever I
want in that regard.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
That's wonderful and that's a powerful thing too, to
have those partnerships acrossthe community.
What is the mission of theAlzheimer's Association and how
does it support people livingwith Alzheimer's or other
dementias?
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Oh gosh, it's a long one, but our mission is really
to, in theory, end Alzheimer'sdisease and all other dementias.
Our goal is to put ourselvesout of work.
We are the largest funder ofresearch in the world largest
private funder so we make surethat we're accelerating research
, that we're accelerating globalawareness, that we're
accelerating early detection andrisk reduction for folks.
(06:42):
That's a big part of ourmission and really a lot of what
we do is maximizing the qualitycare and support that people
receive who are living withdementia and who are care
partners and who are communitymembers and people who just want
to do the right thing.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Great, and what kind of educational resources do you
have for family caregivers?
So I'm at home.
Like you, you had your grandmaand your family.
Your parents are working fulltime and they're overwhelmed,
and I'm sure that you have lotsof resources for that.
Educational resources, and whatdoes that look like?
Do they come in for meetings,are they?
(07:19):
Do you have some kind of onlinetraining?
How does all of that work forthose?
Cause?
This helps us too, right?
We're home care agencies and wehave clients that have
Alzheimer's, and so it wouldhelp us to know those things so
we can send them out.
And do you ever get to a placewhere you're doing this and
providing support and they'refeeling stretched, and maybe you
(07:40):
do send them some home carecompanies or resources?
How does that?
What does that look like?
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Yes to all of the above.
So we will come in for meetings, we will do a virtual training
for folks, we will sit down withcaregivers and families, we'll
go to a library and just offer acommunity class.
We try to be as out there aspossible through every avenue,
but the educational resourcesfor family caregivers are really
what I like best about our work, because it's from start to
(08:07):
finish.
It is understanding Alzheimer'sand dementia.
That's usually where I startpeople and we dive into the
specifics of what causesAlzheimer's.
What types of dementia are outthere, advocate for a diagnosis
for my loved one.
How might I consider treatment?
How might I think aboutstepping into my community and
(08:27):
asking others for help?
And then it moves on toeffective communication
strategies.
Right, how do I talk to someonewith dementia?
I think it's an interestingphenomenon, we'll say, in
society, where we don'tunderstand how to talk to
someone who has Alzheimer's.
We think collectively that it'slike talking to a child and if
you're 80 years old and I starttalking to you like this it's so
(08:49):
good to see you, you're goingto hit me.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
You're not going to like me.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
I need to come at you with respect and dignity and
remind myself that you are aperson deserving of all of those
things and who has lived morelife than I have.
So that class really dives intonot only the ways that we
communicate and how we need tobring dignity and respect to the
table, but then strategies foreach stage of the disease.
So in the early stages, how doI set my person up for success?
(09:14):
In the late stages, how do Iconnect with them when they're
no longer able to expressverbally what they want?
We do a lot with behaviors,decoding and figuring out, maybe
, why someone is presenting acertain behavior.
How do I nip that suspicion inthe bud?
How do I make sure that someone, if they're getting physically
agitated, how do I make surethat doesn't rise to aggression?
(09:38):
So tons of differentprogramming for support for
folks.
And if anyone ever wants tojoin, they are more than welcome
.
They're always free.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
That's wonderful that they can be provided for free,
because I know the familymembers are really at their
wit's end and don't know whereto turn, and if it were a cost
basis kind of thing that couldreally alleviate some wouldn't
be able to come, so that'sawesome.
Are there support groups forcaregivers, and how do they join
?
Speaker 3 (10:03):
There are absolutely support groups for caregivers.
There's all different types.
They are in person andvirtually hosted.
So one of the things that Ialways tell people is try it
once.
If you don't like the idea of acaregiver support group, you
never have to go again.
But it's not just sitting in acircle and saying, hi, my name
is Claire and I'm a caregiver.
It's so much more than that.
(10:23):
So I tell people, go once, callin once, zoom in once, try it,
listen.
If you don't like it, I willnot come find you.
It's okay, it's not foreverybody, but we'd be surprised
how many people it really isfor.
So people can call their localchapter.
They can call our helplinenumber, which will be in a
couple of slides and I can putthat in the chat as well, and
(10:44):
they can also visit our website.
We have a really interestinggeo-based, like location
services based website.
It's at alzorg slash, crf andyou can find services via zip
code.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Okay, that's great.
And what types of emotional ormental health support are
available to families copingwith a dementia diagnosis?
Speaker 3 (11:06):
So one of my favorite things that we offer it's
called a care consultation andit's provided either by our
1-800 number, which is staffedby master's level clinicians
like myself, or they have theoption to, in some chapter areas
, to meet with an associationstaff person in person to get
what we call this careconsultation.
So we want to make sure thatwe're helping people, answer the
(11:28):
questions, we're being thatemotional shoulder for them,
we're guiding them through someof the more complex motions that
come along with this.
So that's a really big one andI would say, in that same vein,
support groups serve thatpurpose as well.
Right, it's not always justmeeting with someone from the
association, it's meeting withsomeone who's in the thick of it
.
Right now.
(11:48):
My grandma passed before COVIDhad ever happened, and I know
she'll be okay with me sayingthat I'm so grateful that she
passed before it, because thisworld is completely different.
While it's helpful to get myperspective on caregiving, it's
even more helpful to get someoneelse's perspective who's living
in this admittedly verydifferent world, right?
(12:09):
So those two things really playoff of one another.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Yeah, I imagine the support groups are very helpful
to see and be sitting in thesame room, or even virtually,
with someone who's going throughthe same thing, who really
understands what that feels likeand emotionally what they're
going through.
The same thing, who reallyunderstands what that feels like
and emotionally what they'regoing through Exactly.
That's probably very valuable.
Supporterships with home careagencies how can a home care
agency collaborate with theAlzheimer's Association?
Speaker 3 (12:35):
There are so many ways.
The first thing that we alwayswant to tell people is let us
just come in and tell you aboutwhat we offer.
You can't partner with us and Ican't partner with you if I
don't know the ins and outs ofwhat you do.
So, at the very least, I alwaysencourage any home care agency
really anyone who's interestedin getting involved with us to
give us a call.
Have us come in, do a quicklunch and learn, or a whole hour
(12:58):
presentation and let people askquestions.
It's up to you and how muchtime you have, of course.
Hour presentation and letpeople ask questions.
It's up to you and how muchtime you have, of course, but
see what works.
A lot of what we do iscommunity-based right.
I want people to be out.
I want people to see thedifferent organizations and
partners that we have and howthey can be best served.
So I would encourage folks tocall their local chapter, see
how they can get involved,whether it's a wellness fair or
(13:21):
coming to one of our events andbeing able to be present in the
community.
That's a really huge way, Ithink, for our constituents to
say oh okay, I know Claire, I'vedone care consultations with
her, and if she trusts them, Itrust them right.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Yeah, and Annette, would you want to speak to how
you collaborated with theAlzheimer's Association there in
Rochester?
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Sure.
So one thing that I did Iworked for 13 years in a CCRC
and I dealt with a lot of thefamilies coming in, moving their
families into memory care.
So I ended up becoming asupport facilitator for the
Alzheimer's Association.
I did that for eight years.
That's a volunteer position,but I loved it.
(14:01):
And I did it for eight years.
That's a volunteer position,but I loved it and I did it.
When I moved into working athome care, I also did that.
It was a volunteer position andI did it once a month and I was
a support facilitator.
My meeting was at a memory carein the community and it was
families.
Some of the family members thatlived their mom or dad lived in
(14:23):
the memory care.
But there were also people thatcame from the area to these
meetings and they were small butjust like Claire said.
So before COVID, that's when Iwas really doing it every month,
and then COVID hit and theneverything went virtual.
All the in-person meetingsended.
So then after COVID, it slowlygot back to normal I guess if we
(14:45):
can call it normal.
But I started doing thein-person support groups again
and it's just so valuable.
It's really a place wherepeople just talk to each other
and give ideas that work forthem.
It's family members, spouses,anybody can be there, and there
was always somebody from theAlzheimer's Association that was
(15:06):
with me.
But I have to say, if anybody'slooking for a volunteer
position, I loved that.
I just really loved doing that.
As an agency, we would use theAlzheimer's Association to do
training.
We had in-service trainings forour caregivers, so we would
have different topics of eitherdementia behaviors Claire in a
(15:30):
little bit is going to go overall the different topics that
she can do speaking engagementsfor but we used to use them for
our in-services and training forour caregivers.
We also participated in theAlzheimer's walk every year.
So, yeah, and their office wasright down the street from my
the home care agency and I wouldpop in there and get brochures.
They have tons of brochuresthat we would give to our
(15:52):
different family members.
You have a brochure, I think,claire, on everything, like it's
probably what?
Three different brochures, yeah, and they're free.
So I highly recommendcollaborating with them.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
That's great and they're free, so I highly
recommend collaborating withthem.
That's great.
And, claire, are there trainingprograms or certification
opportunities that help homecare aides work more effectively
with dementia clients?
So Annette is saying she did anin-service where you guys came
in and did either behavior oryour other topics.
Does that certify thosecaregivers in that topic?
Or do you have somecertifications that they could
send their caregivers throughtopic?
Or if you have somecertifications that they could
send their caregivers through,making them maybe dementia
(16:26):
certified or some kind ofcertificate, because from the
home care angle, that helps uswith people with dementia.
It helps us with those familiesif we have caregivers that have
some sort of certification.
Or is it more kind of anin-service?
Come in and everybody learnshow to handle behavior.
What does that look like?
Speaker 3 (16:44):
That's a really good question.
So it's actually both the onethat would be certifying someone
.
It's called Essentials and it'sactually an online-based
program.
So obviously we have people ondifferent shifts and on
different schedules anddifferent things going on in
life, so it's a lot easier touse for folks.
But that would certify anemployee essentially in dementia
(17:06):
care best practices, if youwill.
Is there a cost for that?
There is.
So to the agency, there is acost per person.
Off the top of my head I don'tremember what it is.
It's, I think, a very good valuefor the information that we're
getting, especially if someoneis really new to the whole side
of dementia caregiving.
(17:27):
Maybe they have a wonderfulheart and they're a great person
.
We just got to get them thatknowledge, that background, and
really hone that skill.
I've gone through it.
I've given the training.
I think it's very helpful,especially when you have someone
who's really willing to learnand who this type of work
resonates with.
The other option that we offeris coming in and doing those
(17:47):
programs like understandingdementia-related behaviors.
We can run through and sit withthe staff and really brainstorm
certain things to make surethat they feel comfortable
understanding dementia-relatedbehaviors, intervening,
empowering families with thatsame education A lot of the time
.
It's almost.
I almost prefer sometimes goingthrough home care agencies and
(18:10):
imparting this information,because you all see those people
every single day.
You see the family you'rebuilding rapport.
I am not, so sometimes it'smore valuable to me to come in
and talk to the staff and letthem disseminate that
information, to use theirrapport, to improve someone's
caregiving toolkit, if you will,rather than me, this person who
(18:31):
they've never met, come in andsay, oh, you're doing this and
this wrong.
Let this caregiver who theytrust and have led into their
home kind of help a little bit.
So it's two sides.
It's nice to have thatcertification and it's nice to
have that informal connection aswell.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Sure, and for the certification.
Can you spell that what that'scalled, did you say?
Speaker 3 (18:50):
essential Essentials.
It's really.
It's cute how they did it, butit's hard when I'm speaking it,
so I'll type it in the chat here.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
Okay, there it is, and is there a link that you
could or do we have?
Maybe we have a link later onin the slides.
I know Annette put thesetogether, I don't think.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
I don't know if we have that link, claire, do we?
I don't think so.
I think we have the.
I can't remember.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Okay, but we can get that for everyone.
And the pricing Is it differentper state or is it all the same
?
Do you know?
I believe it's called Blanket.
Okay, oh, it looks like MatthewHardy put it here in a link
here.
All right, matthew, thank you,matt.
Okay, so that's great.
So we can do both levels.
We can have them come in and,from what I've understood with
my caregivers, most of themreally loved getting trained.
(19:36):
They felt good about beingtrained.
They felt like you were puttingsomething into them, that you
valued them and that you weretraining them.
So in-service, or having themget online and be certified I
have 10, 15 caregivers that havethat certification could do
really well for your businesstoo, and just treat your clients
, the ones that are strugglingwith this and the family members
(19:58):
.
This is all really greatinformation, and so what
Alzheimer's resources or toolscan agencies incorporate into
their care plans when they'reputting their care plans
together?
Speaker 3 (20:08):
So I would definitely consider training and having
that essential certification,making sure that we feel
comfortable with the amount ofstaff who have gone through or
have that level of information.
But the other thing that Ithink is really interesting when
we're talking about careplanning is bringing us in to
fill the gap.
Sometimes you guys are busy.
You don't have time to providea care, consultation and always
(20:29):
be that emotional support forsomebody.
But that's my whole job, right?
So we have a referral sheetthat I always tell people.
If you want to talk about it,I'll give you a call, otherwise
don't worry about it.
But the one thing that I thinkis really helpful from an agency
perspective when we're thinkingabout everything that people
need to do is again thatcommunity resource finder, and
(20:51):
I'll put the link in the chatALCorg, slash, crf, and that is
that zip code based.
It's like a caregiver centricsearch engine.
It's really interesting becauseit's everything that you could
think of that you would need.
So I would really suggest thatan agency use that.
It's a self-powered listing, soyou have to list yourself.
(21:12):
There's no database throughwhich I go in and say, oh okay,
this agency isn't on there, letme add them in.
So whenever I meet withsomebody new, that's my first
thing I say you should reallyput yourself on this, because I
give this to every single one ofmy caregivers that I meet, so
that's a big one.
But when we're talking aboutcare planning making sure, truly
, that if someone needs us, thatwe're utilizing the services
(21:36):
that are available, they're freefor everyone.
So even if it's just putting inour helpline number as a little
magnet, your local office willsend that to you to make sure
that you have a stack as well.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Oh, that's such great information.
Okay, Education and training.
So please explain more aboutthe free education and training
that's available.
So these are your topics, socan you just give us a one-liner
of what the training is foreach one?
You know what is, I knowdementia behaviors, but what
specifically?
If you were to like summarizeeach one, what would that be
(22:10):
like?
Speaker 3 (22:11):
Oh gosh, okay.
So dementia is our high levelview of all things dementia
related.
Right, it's that cause, thatunderlying medical condition
that is causing these behaviorsSenility is not a real thing.
So when we say, oh, aunt Sallyis just a little bit senile,
that's not right and we'reexcusing what is an underlying
medical condition.
So that is a very high-levelview of all the different types
(22:34):
of dementia and what treatmentsmay or may not be available.
Behaviors is what we talkedabout.
It's looking deeply into whythat person may be exhibiting
this behavior and what I can doas a caregiver to or a care
partner or community member,whomever.
It is what I can do to makethat person feel more
comfortable so that behavior ismitigated.
(22:54):
To make that person feel morecomfortable so that behavior is
mitigated.
End of life is a really toughone to get folks to, but every
single time it is really helpfuland they walk away feeling so
much more prepared.
So we walk through all of thedifferent services that are
available to folks.
What is palliative care?
What is hospice?
When should I consider this?
How do I know that the time isright?
Who do I ask?
So one of the things that we dois make sure that people have
(23:18):
that basic information and thatthey're comfortable much earlier
on saying the word hospice,using the term palliative care.
It's something that we verymuch shy away from and I want
people to think about this.
Right, I want them to beprepared.
The later stages happen veryquickly, so I want people to
know what to do.
I don't want you to wait.
Use your time to be a familymember, not a nurse and it's
(23:41):
great if you are a nurse but Iwant you to have this time.
That's end of life.
Communication is those effectivecommunication strategies.
Right, it's tone of voice, it'swatching your body language,
your eye contact, making surethat you're addressing someone
respectfully in the middlestages, making sure that you're
not filling things in forsomebody, that you're treating
them with respect, continuing toengage them in the conversation
(24:03):
.
It's all of those things andhow to successfully communicate
throughout each stage of thedisease.
Right, it's progressive, sothings will change, but I want
to give you the tools to A knowwhat to expect and, b know how
to respond.
And then diagnosis of a personis really.
(24:24):
We call it the 10 warning signsof dementia, but it's really
more about looking at thosesigns and saying, okay, where do
I go from here?
It's not something that'snormal.
It's not normal aging.
No, memory loss is normal aging.
So how do I get a diagnosis?
Can I rule everything else out?
What is the right doctor to goto?
What tests are they doing?
What things are they lookingfor?
So we really try to get peoplefrom start to finish with the
(24:45):
education.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
That's wonderful, and these are the ones where you
would come in and do thein-service.
These are the topics.
Perfect, those are all, really,and there's quite a bit of them
.
You could do two a year withyour caregivers and it'd take a
while to get through them alland then just rotate.
That's a really good list oftopics.
I love that.
Community outreach programs Canyou talk about your 24-7
helpline and how home careproviders can share this with?
Speaker 3 (25:08):
families 24-7 helpline, mostly because I've
had people call me at 3 am and Itruly I was very worried.
It turned out to not beanything too serious, but it did
wake me up out of a very deepsleep.
So I prefer that people callour 24-7 helpline because
someone else is awake and readyto take your call and ready to
(25:29):
walk you through that question.
That you woke up in the middleof the night and said I wonder
if this is true or I wonder ifthis is the best thing I could
be doing.
It's wonderful for emotionalsupport.
If mom is having a really toughtime and she's exhibiting some
tough behaviors, you can callthem and troubleshoot with them.
Right.
They can give you differentapproaches to behavioral issues.
They can give you differentstrategies as a professional to
(25:51):
intervene in certain situationsand to mitigate behaviors, to
make ourselves better caregiverspersonally, professionally.
So I always encourage home careproviders to not only share
this with families so that thefamily has an outlet if they
need to just vent right.
This is not something that isalways the most fun experience.
There's certainly joys that wecan find, but it's a tough thing
(26:13):
to go through.
That's anticipatory grief fromstart to finish.
So I always encourage them touse this as an outlet for
emotions and to find support.
But also home care employees,people who are providing that
direct care you guys have atough job.
I also want them to use thisfor support, right?
It's not always the easiestthing to leave a shift and just
(26:37):
shut it all down and go back tomy day-to-day life.
It's really hard.
You see, a lot of stuff that isdifficult.
So one of the things that Iencourage folks to do is,
without using any personalidentifying information, call in
and say, hey, this is what I'mexperiencing and it's really
hard on me, or I'm reallystruggling with X, y and Z.
What do you suggest?
So it's a personal andprofessional resource.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Yeah, I hadn't thought about it for the
caregivers, but that's a reallygreat idea and they do get very
emotionally involved with someof their clients.
But there's, there should be alimit.
But with someone withAlzheimer's, for sure, you know,
it's probably very difficult todo that for eight hours and
then just okay, I'm going tojust leave.
That's not going to happen.
They're going to still feel itand own it and worry and wonder
(27:20):
about them when they're notthere.
So I never thought about thehelpline for the caregivers.
That's awesome.
Are there any community-basedprograms or events that the
Alzheimer's Association hoststhat home care agencies should
know about?
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Goodness gracious, yes, we do quite a bit in
community.
We want to be thatcommunity-facing organization.
When someone says Alzheimer'sor dementia, I want them to
think of us, as well as theirneurologist or their PCP, as
their kind of first step to getthat information.
So we try really hard to becommunity-based across the
nation.
So one of the things that weoffer Annette touched on it a
(27:54):
little bit is our Walk to EndAlzheimer's.
That's always a huge event.
It's in so many differentregions, so many different
communities.
Sometimes they're huge,sometimes they're small, but
they're always impactful.
So I would encourage agencieseven to just make a team right.
You can wear matching t-shirtswith the logo and people see you
out there.
You can have an informationaltable.
You, you out there.
(28:17):
You can have an informationaltable, you can sponsor.
If you so choose, you canattend what we call a community
forum.
So these are really interesting.
They are places for thecommunity to say, hey, I don't
know much about this, can youtell me?
And also, this is what thecommunity needs.
I love working here because weare open to changing things for
what our community needs.
I live in Buffalo but I work inRochester and they're two
wildly different places withwildly different needs, so
(28:40):
that's always helpful.
Agencies are always more thanwelcome to attend those.
Any education programs that wehave, I would encourage even if
you want to reach out to yourlocal chapter to offer a
presentation in partnership.
We have two different spheresof influence.
If we bring those together,that's pretty big for both of us
.
So anything like that, I wouldsuggest reaching out.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
That's great and we at my company too, we used to do
the walk to end Alzheimer's andwe would invite our referral
sources to walk with us.
So the social workers at theskilled nursing facilities,
people working in memory care,we would invite them to come and
be on our team.
It was a pretty powerful thing.
It really changed ourrelationship with them as well.
That's wonderful.
(29:22):
So how do I think this is theone that you were talking about?
So how to register your agencywith Alzheimer's Association?
So you're saying, if weregister our agency, when
someone's looking for home carein that area will show up.
That's a pretty good thing todo.
Then I think everybody getsthat link.
It'll be in the slides too.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
And it's free.
It's free to list yourself, sowhy not right?
I want my resources to be asrobust as possible.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Absolutely, that's really good.
And local internal listings ofchapter offices Okay, oops,
great.
Do we have any questions so far, annette, anything in the chat.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
I do not see any questions, but feel free, claire
is here to answer.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
She's very thorough so I can see where there may not
be many questions.
So tell us more about theAlzheimer's Message Board.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
Oh, I love this.
I read it all the time.
I think it's a really wonderfulresource to not only educate
ourselves either as caregiversor people living with dementia,
but also as community membersand providers.
I always like to know whatpeople are talking about, right?
What's the common themes thatpeople are seeing?
Is there any outlier?
Is there anything reallydifferent?
So these are really cool.
(30:37):
There's two sides to it.
There's the discussion forpeople living with dementia and
then there's also discussionsfor caregivers.
So as a caregiver, maybe I dowork a full-time job and I have
children and I'm caring for mom.
I don't have time to go to asupport group, but I do have
time to read these messageboards and to see what knowledge
other people have shared, toask a question and say, hey, is
this behavior normal or should Ibe concerned?
(31:01):
So it's a really wonderfulplace for people to come
together and share thatknowledge from across the world.
Right, it doesn't have to bejust Buffalo, New York, it could
be all over the place.
And it's really lovely, too, tosee the support that people
living with dementia give oneanother, the questions that they
ask, the openness that theyhave.
The people are able to findthat emotional outlet.
So one of the things as aprovider that I do is I just
(31:25):
poke my head in see if there'sanything different every once in
a while that people are talkingabout for my own education and
I share that with folks asneeded.
That's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
What a great.
That's really a great service.
I love that and this could bethe home care agency caregiver
also.
Go to view discussion forcaregivers.
Yeah, absolutely, that could behelpful for them as well.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
Oh, just as long as there's no PII, we're all good.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Yes, exactly how to connect with Alzheimer's in your
area.
So these are the ways to dothat.
So you have your chapter officelocator page.
I'll go and let you explainthem, Claire, rather than me
trying to.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
They're pretty straightforward.
I have full confidence in you.
But the chapter office locatorpage is exactly that.
You type in your zip code.
So for Buffalo, 14221, andit'll show you the area of
service and the chapter thatcovers that area.
So that would be Western NewYork and it would cover the
eight traditional counties ofWestern New York.
If I wanted to plug inCalifornia, I could plug in
(32:30):
California and be connected tothat chapter.
So it really is lovely to beable to find resources
nationwide.
And if you're not quite surewhat chapter serves what area,
just plug in your zip code.
It takes the work out of it.
All's Talks is reallyinteresting.
These are kind of bite-sizeddiscussions that we host, just
(32:51):
with different information,different topics, to see what
might interest folks.
It's not a heavy level ofcommitment of time at all.
I would say maybe 15 to 30minutes, but it's a really
beautiful way for people toeducate themselves with the time
that they have.
We all have the same 24 hoursin a day, but it's nice to be
able to fill my drive withsomething that educates me.
(33:12):
So if that's your cup of tea,go for it.
And then this 24-7 helplinenumber that I've been just
shoving down your throats isreally wonderful, but this is
the number, so 1-800-272-3900.
It's 24 hours a day, seven daysa week, 365 days a year.
If it's 3am on Christmasmorning and you are feeling some
(33:33):
type of way about something, asa caregiver or as a person
living with dementia, someonewho's concerned about someone,
you can call them and they willpick up.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
That's wonderful.
We do have a couple of comments.
This is so informational.
I will definitely be reachingout to the Rochester New York
chapter.
Jessica says Claire, thank you.
I was just researching how toeducate, certify my caregiver on
dementia.
I appreciate the informationthat you all provided today.
Wonderful.
And here's the walk to anAlzheimer's, how to have your
(34:02):
home care agency participate.
So this is the link Find yourwalk is here.
I love the colors and theshirts and all of it.
It's really a good time.
We had so much fun at thesewalks.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
Good, it's always a powerful day, so I'm glad you've
I'm glad you've experienced it.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
Yes, Okay, anybody have any questions for Claire
before we move into the next andit looks like Annette has
something to say.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
Well, I was just going to say no questions, we're
here.
She's going to ask us.
Oops, I think we have one now.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
This is wonderful.
We had our local chapter comein for a Q&A with our staff.
We have a team I'm sorry thisis cutting out a team and well,
and this year I joined.
We have a team as well, andthis time here, I joined the
committee.
Thanks again for the info.
That's fabulous.
All right, thank you so much,claire, for being here with us
(34:54):
today.
We've really been veryinformative.
I learned a lot, thank you, andlots of resources.
Thank you all.
All right, so our home care,sales and marketing training and
the live Zoom training.
We have a few spots left forJune 17th and June 26th.
The people in this class guys,it's 12 weeks by week.
(35:14):
Six.
They're getting referrals fromskilled nursing facilities.
I can't speak highly enough ofthis program and it does such a
good job.
And if you want to learn moreabout it, we've got the
registration link down here.
It's on our website and youjust won't believe all the
things that you will learn inthis class.
We have testimonials.
How many testimonials are onthe website now?
(35:36):
Valerie, 50.
50.
All happy people that this haschanged their marketing
trajectory and they're justdoing so much better.
They didn't know what theydidn't know.
So if you have any interest inthis.
This is the registration link.
We can talk to you after.
Thank you everyone.
Thanks for coming.
I'll see you in a couple ofweeks.
Bye-bye, bye, everybody.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
Take care.
Welcome everybody.
It's so nice to have you.
We have special guest ClaireCorwin here today from the
Alzheimer's Association.
She's going to teach us a lotabout what they do and how you
can work with them, help youwith some training, some really
good information.
Again, I'm Dawn Fiella.
I have been with the ProSeniorNetwork for about three years.
I have a very long backgroundin home care.
(00:21):
I like to say I've been in thetrenches of home care, because
that's how it feels sometimes,right, I've done everything from
sales to recruiting, retention,operations manager, and so I
understand your day-to-day.
I love the mission that you'reon and thank you for being here
today, annette.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Okay, hi everybody.
I'm Annette Ziegler.
I have been with ASN for a yearand I teach the home care sales
training classes.
I too, I've had a lot ofexperience in home care 20 plus
years in CCRC, then home careagency so I love doing what I do
teaching everybody how to getthose private pay referrals and
(00:59):
be successful in their marketing.
And I'm really glad, claire,that you're here because I think
it's going to be veryinformative.
When I was in home care, myagency worked very closely with
the Alzheimer's Association andI think a lot of people do not
realize how much that you can doto help the training and
there's so many avenues that youguys can help the agencies with
(01:20):
.
Welcome.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Thank you.
Thank you, I'm excited to talkabout it with.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
Welcome, thank you.
Thank you, I'm excited to talkabout it.
And, valerie, am I unmuted?
Yes, I am.
I'm Valerie Van Boeven.
I'm a registered nurse and theco-owner of Approved Senior
Network, and I'm glad to be heretoday.
Thank you, claire, for speakingto us and educating us, and
we're looking forward to it.
(01:45):
Housekeeping I'll keep going.
Okay, housekeeping is linesmuted unless you're speaking,
please, if you know that you're.
If you're unmuted, we can heareverything that's going on in
your life.
Share stories, experiences,tips, ask questions, make
recommendations and tell us whatyou want to really do.
Take your recommendationsseriously and try to address any
(02:07):
subject matter that you mightwant to hear.
Yeah, next slide, go ahead.
You want to do the agenda?
Yeah, I'll do it.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Okay.
So today, as I said, thespecial guest, claire Corwin, is
here.
She's the program director ofthe Alzheimer's Association in
Rochester.
Did I get that right?
Yay, okay.
Today we're going to talk aboutresources for home care
agencies and families, educationand training opportunities for
your caregivers, collaboratingwith your local Alzheimer's
(02:37):
Association, increasing yourcommunity outreach and
engagement.
We'll have some time for someQ&A and then Annette is going to
go over the leave behinds forJune, july, august Also.
Notice your chat.
It's lighting up here in thechat feature.
Go ahead and enter anyquestions you might have in the
chat, and, should we go aheadand do the leave behind thing
(02:59):
quickly, if you guys areinterested in winning a free
month of leave-behinds for Ithink we're going to probably do
August this time we will createthose for you If you say yes in
the chat.
This way, everyone will findthe chat and we will get those
created for you with your logo,your contact information, your
colors.
You have to promise, though,that you're going to send
(03:21):
pictures of what you did withthe leave-behinds for the month
that you get.
So go ahead and use that chatfeature.
You can type yes anytime.
Annette will keep track and wewill draw a name after the
meeting.
All right, let's get going.
So again, this is Claire.
Here is her experience.
She comes with a background.
You can see it all her programdirector responsibilities, her
(03:44):
personal connection.
She had a personal experiencecaring for her grandmother.
I don't know.
If you want to talk about thata little bit too.
That would be great, claire, totell us what led you into this
role and kind of your day-to-dayand how it might relate to what
the health care owners andworkers do.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Oh boy, I hope we have time.
But I've always known that Iwanted to be a social worker
when I have two younger sisters,and when I was about 12, my mom
sat us all down and she saidyou're going to be a social
worker.
She looked at my other sister.
She said you're going to be anurse, and the other one, you're
going to be a physicaltherapist just based on our
personalities, and she wasabsolutely correct.
(04:24):
So we have a full care team inour home, oh my goodness.
And it worked out really wellbecause we cared for my
grandmother and we were able togain a lot of experience from
that.
We were able to be helped by ahome care agency actually to
come in.
Both my parents worked fulltime Watching them juggle.
That is what led me to mycareer, and I've been with the
(04:46):
association my entireprofessional life.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Wow, that's wonderful Making a difference.
Claire's work as a programdirector of the Alzheimer's
Association.
Can you briefly describe yourrole as a program director in
your position right now, likeyour day-to-day, and what that
looks like?
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Oh gosh, yeah.
In your position right now,like your day-to-day and what
that looks like oh gosh, yeah.
So being a program director atthe association it's I like to
say that I wear many hats.
Across my work across New Yorkstate I've held pretty much
every programmatic role that weoffer.
So early stage socialengagement, which is where we
have the folks who are livingwith dementia find spaces to
engage without any judgment.
I've done care consultations,which is our version of
(05:27):
non-clinical counseling forpeople.
I've provided lots ofeducational trainings to
long-term care facilities andcaregivers alike, to home care
agencies, and have a reallystrong background in community
connections.
As a program director, Ioversee all of that and my role
is to make really strategiccommunity connections, to find
the folks who are providing theservices, to connect with them,
(05:49):
to bring them into everythingthat we do, but also have that
reciprocal partnership.
Partnering with us means thatyou get the benefits of what we
offer, but also we get to putout what everyone else does.
So making it, making therelationships.
I love being a program directorbecause I get to do whatever I
want in that regard.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
That's wonderful and that's a powerful thing too, to
have those partnerships acrossthe community.
What is the mission of theAlzheimer's Association and how
does it support people livingwith Alzheimer's or other
dementias?
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Oh gosh, it's a long one, but our mission is really
to, in theory, end Alzheimer'sdisease and all other dementias.
Our goal is to put ourselvesout of work.
We are the largest funder ofresearch in the world largest
private funder so we make surethat we're accelerating research
, that we're accelerating globalawareness, that we're
accelerating early detection andrisk reduction for folks.
(06:42):
That's a big part of ourmission and really a lot of what
we do is maximizing the qualitycare and support that people
receive who are living withdementia and who are care
partners and who are communitymembers and people who just want
to do the right thing.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Great, and what kind of educational resources do you
have for family caregivers?
So I'm at home.
Like you, you had your grandmaand your family.
Your parents are working fulltime and they're overwhelmed,
and I'm sure that you have lotsof resources for that.
Educational resources, and whatdoes that look like?
Do they come in for meetings,are they?
(07:19):
Do you have some kind of onlinetraining?
How does all of that work forthose?
Cause?
This helps us too, right?
We're home care agencies and wehave clients that have
Alzheimer's, and so it wouldhelp us to know those things so
we can send them out.
And do you ever get to a placewhere you're doing this and
providing support and they'refeeling stretched, and maybe you
(07:40):
do send them some home carecompanies or resources?
How does that?
What does that look like?
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Yes to all of the above.
So we will come in for meetings, we will do a virtual training
for folks, we will sit down withcaregivers and families, we'll
go to a library and just offer acommunity class.
We try to be as out there aspossible through every avenue,
but the educational resourcesfor family caregivers are really
what I like best about our work, because it's from start to
(08:07):
finish.
It is understanding Alzheimer'sand dementia.
That's usually where I startpeople and we dive into the
specifics of what causesAlzheimer's.
What types of dementia are outthere, advocate for a diagnosis
for my loved one.
How might I consider treatment?
How might I think aboutstepping into my community and
(08:27):
asking others for help?
And then it moves on toeffective communication
strategies.
Right, how do I talk to someonewith dementia?
I think it's an interestingphenomenon, we'll say, in
society, where we don'tunderstand how to talk to
someone who has Alzheimer's.
We think collectively that it'slike talking to a child and if
you're 80 years old and I starttalking to you like this it's so
(08:49):
good to see you, you're goingto hit me.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
You're not going to like me.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
I need to come at you with respect and dignity and
remind myself that you are aperson deserving of all of those
things and who has lived morelife than I have.
So that class really dives intonot only the ways that we
communicate and how we need tobring dignity and respect to the
table, but then strategies foreach stage of the disease.
So in the early stages, how doI set my person up for success?
(09:14):
In the late stages, how do Iconnect with them when they're
no longer able to expressverbally what they want?
We do a lot with behaviors,decoding and figuring out, maybe
, why someone is presenting acertain behavior.
How do I nip that suspicion inthe bud?
How do I make sure that someone, if they're getting physically
agitated, how do I make surethat doesn't rise to aggression?
(09:38):
So tons of differentprogramming for support for
folks.
And if anyone ever wants tojoin, they are more than welcome
.
They're always free.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
That's wonderful that they can be provided for free,
because I know the familymembers are really at their
wit's end and don't know whereto turn, and if it were a cost
basis kind of thing that couldreally alleviate some wouldn't
be able to come, so that'sawesome.
Are there support groups forcaregivers, and how do they join
?
Speaker 3 (10:03):
There are absolutely support groups for caregivers.
There's all different types.
They are in person andvirtually hosted.
So one of the things that Ialways tell people is try it
once.
If you don't like the idea of acaregiver support group, you
never have to go again.
But it's not just sitting in acircle and saying, hi, my name
is Claire and I'm a caregiver.
It's so much more than that.
(10:23):
So I tell people, go once, callin once, zoom in once, try it,
listen.
If you don't like it, I willnot come find you.
It's okay, it's not foreverybody, but we'd be surprised
how many people it really isfor.
So people can call their localchapter.
They can call our helplinenumber, which will be in a
couple of slides and I can putthat in the chat as well, and
(10:44):
they can also visit our website.
We have a really interestinggeo-based, like location
services based website.
It's at alzorg slash, crf andyou can find services via zip
code.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Okay, that's great.
And what types of emotional ormental health support are
available to families copingwith a dementia diagnosis?
Speaker 3 (11:06):
So one of my favorite things that we offer it's
called a care consultation andit's provided either by our
1-800 number, which is staffedby master's level clinicians
like myself, or they have theoption to, in some chapter areas
, to meet with an associationstaff person in person to get
what we call this careconsultation.
So we want to make sure thatwe're helping people, answer the
(11:28):
questions, we're being thatemotional shoulder for them,
we're guiding them through someof the more complex motions that
come along with this.
So that's a really big one andI would say, in that same vein,
support groups serve thatpurpose as well.
Right, it's not always justmeeting with someone from the
association, it's meeting withsomeone who's in the thick of it
.
Right now.
(11:48):
My grandma passed before COVIDhad ever happened, and I know
she'll be okay with me sayingthat I'm so grateful that she
passed before it, because thisworld is completely different.
While it's helpful to get myperspective on caregiving, it's
even more helpful to get someoneelse's perspective who's living
in this admittedly verydifferent world, right?
(12:09):
So those two things really playoff of one another.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Yeah, I imagine the support groups are very helpful
to see and be sitting in thesame room, or even virtually,
with someone who's going throughthe same thing, who really
understands what that feels likeand emotionally what they're
going through.
The same thing, who reallyunderstands what that feels like
and emotionally what they'regoing through Exactly.
That's probably very valuable.
Supporterships with home careagencies how can a home care
agency collaborate with theAlzheimer's Association?
Speaker 3 (12:35):
There are so many ways.
The first thing that we alwayswant to tell people is let us
just come in and tell you aboutwhat we offer.
You can't partner with us and Ican't partner with you if I
don't know the ins and outs ofwhat you do.
So, at the very least, I alwaysencourage any home care agency
really anyone who's interestedin getting involved with us to
give us a call.
Have us come in, do a quicklunch and learn, or a whole hour
(12:58):
presentation and let people askquestions.
It's up to you and how muchtime you have, of course.
Hour presentation and letpeople ask questions.
It's up to you and how muchtime you have, of course, but
see what works.
A lot of what we do iscommunity-based right.
I want people to be out.
I want people to see thedifferent organizations and
partners that we have and howthey can be best served.
So I would encourage folks tocall their local chapter, see
how they can get involved,whether it's a wellness fair or
(13:21):
coming to one of our events andbeing able to be present in the
community.
That's a really huge way, Ithink, for our constituents to
say oh okay, I know Claire, I'vedone care consultations with
her, and if she trusts them, Itrust them right.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Yeah, and Annette, would you want to speak to how
you collaborated with theAlzheimer's Association there in
Rochester?
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Sure.
So one thing that I did Iworked for 13 years in a CCRC
and I dealt with a lot of thefamilies coming in, moving their
families into memory care.
So I ended up becoming asupport facilitator for the
Alzheimer's Association.
I did that for eight years.
That's a volunteer position,but I loved it.
(14:01):
And I did it for eight years.
That's a volunteer position,but I loved it and I did it.
When I moved into working athome care, I also did that.
It was a volunteer position andI did it once a month and I was
a support facilitator.
My meeting was at a memory carein the community and it was
families.
Some of the family members thatlived their mom or dad lived in
(14:23):
the memory care.
But there were also people thatcame from the area to these
meetings and they were small butjust like Claire said.
So before COVID, that's when Iwas really doing it every month,
and then COVID hit and theneverything went virtual.
All the in-person meetingsended.
So then after COVID, it slowlygot back to normal I guess if we
(14:45):
can call it normal.
But I started doing thein-person support groups again
and it's just so valuable.
It's really a place wherepeople just talk to each other
and give ideas that work forthem.
It's family members, spouses,anybody can be there, and there
was always somebody from theAlzheimer's Association that was
(15:06):
with me.
But I have to say, if anybody'slooking for a volunteer
position, I loved that.
I just really loved doing that.
As an agency, we would use theAlzheimer's Association to do
training.
We had in-service trainings forour caregivers, so we would
have different topics of eitherdementia behaviors Claire in a
(15:30):
little bit is going to go overall the different topics that
she can do speaking engagementsfor but we used to use them for
our in-services and training forour caregivers.
We also participated in theAlzheimer's walk every year.
So, yeah, and their office wasright down the street from my
the home care agency and I wouldpop in there and get brochures.
They have tons of brochuresthat we would give to our
(15:52):
different family members.
You have a brochure, I think,claire, on everything, like it's
probably what?
Three different brochures, yeah, and they're free.
So I highly recommendcollaborating with them.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
That's great and they're free, so I highly
recommend collaborating withthem.
That's great.
And, claire, are there trainingprograms or certification
opportunities that help homecare aides work more effectively
with dementia clients?
So Annette is saying she did anin-service where you guys came
in and did either behavior oryour other topics.
Does that certify thosecaregivers in that topic?
Or do you have somecertifications that they could
send their caregivers throughtopic?
Or if you have somecertifications that they could
send their caregivers through,making them maybe dementia
(16:26):
certified or some kind ofcertificate, because from the
home care angle, that helps uswith people with dementia.
It helps us with those familiesif we have caregivers that have
some sort of certification.
Or is it more kind of anin-service?
Come in and everybody learnshow to handle behavior.
What does that look like?
Speaker 3 (16:44):
That's a really good question.
So it's actually both the onethat would be certifying someone
.
It's called Essentials and it'sactually an online-based
program.
So obviously we have people ondifferent shifts and on
different schedules anddifferent things going on in
life, so it's a lot easier touse for folks.
But that would certify anemployee essentially in dementia
(17:06):
care best practices, if youwill.
Is there a cost for that?
There is.
So to the agency, there is acost per person.
Off the top of my head I don'tremember what it is.
It's, I think, a very good valuefor the information that we're
getting, especially if someoneis really new to the whole side
of dementia caregiving.
(17:27):
Maybe they have a wonderfulheart and they're a great person
.
We just got to get them thatknowledge, that background, and
really hone that skill.
I've gone through it.
I've given the training.
I think it's very helpful,especially when you have someone
who's really willing to learnand who this type of work
resonates with.
The other option that we offeris coming in and doing those
(17:47):
programs like understandingdementia-related behaviors.
We can run through and sit withthe staff and really brainstorm
certain things to make surethat they feel comfortable
understanding dementia-relatedbehaviors, intervening,
empowering families with thatsame education A lot of the time
.
It's almost.
I almost prefer sometimes goingthrough home care agencies and
(18:10):
imparting this information,because you all see those people
every single day.
You see the family you'rebuilding rapport.
I am not, so sometimes it'smore valuable to me to come in
and talk to the staff and letthem disseminate that
information, to use theirrapport, to improve someone's
caregiving toolkit, if you will,rather than me, this person who
(18:31):
they've never met, come in andsay, oh, you're doing this and
this wrong.
Let this caregiver who theytrust and have led into their
home kind of help a little bit.
So it's two sides.
It's nice to have thatcertification and it's nice to
have that informal connection aswell.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Sure, and for the certification.
Can you spell that what that'scalled, did you say?
Speaker 3 (18:50):
essential Essentials.
It's really.
It's cute how they did it, butit's hard when I'm speaking it,
so I'll type it in the chat here.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
Okay, there it is, and is there a link that you
could or do we have?
Maybe we have a link later onin the slides.
I know Annette put thesetogether, I don't think.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
I don't know if we have that link, claire, do we?
I don't think so.
I think we have the.
I can't remember.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Okay, but we can get that for everyone.
And the pricing Is it differentper state or is it all the same
?
Do you know?
I believe it's called Blanket.
Okay, oh, it looks like MatthewHardy put it here in a link
here.
All right, matthew, thank you,matt.
Okay, so that's great.
So we can do both levels.
We can have them come in and,from what I've understood with
my caregivers, most of themreally loved getting trained.
(19:36):
They felt good about beingtrained.
They felt like you were puttingsomething into them, that you
valued them and that you weretraining them.
So in-service, or having themget online and be certified I
have 10, 15 caregivers that havethat certification could do
really well for your businesstoo, and just treat your clients
, the ones that are strugglingwith this and the family members
(19:58):
.
This is all really greatinformation, and so what
Alzheimer's resources or toolscan agencies incorporate into
their care plans when they'reputting their care plans
together?
Speaker 3 (20:08):
So I would definitely consider training and having
that essential certification,making sure that we feel
comfortable with the amount ofstaff who have gone through or
have that level of information.
But the other thing that Ithink is really interesting when
we're talking about careplanning is bringing us in to
fill the gap.
Sometimes you guys are busy.
You don't have time to providea care, consultation and always
(20:29):
be that emotional support forsomebody.
But that's my whole job, right?
So we have a referral sheetthat I always tell people.
If you want to talk about it,I'll give you a call, otherwise
don't worry about it.
But the one thing that I thinkis really helpful from an agency
perspective when we're thinkingabout everything that people
need to do is again thatcommunity resource finder, and
(20:51):
I'll put the link in the chatALCorg, slash, crf, and that is
that zip code based.
It's like a caregiver centricsearch engine.
It's really interesting becauseit's everything that you could
think of that you would need.
So I would really suggest thatan agency use that.
It's a self-powered listing, soyou have to list yourself.
(21:12):
There's no database throughwhich I go in and say, oh okay,
this agency isn't on there, letme add them in.
So whenever I meet withsomebody new, that's my first
thing I say you should reallyput yourself on this, because I
give this to every single one ofmy caregivers that I meet, so
that's a big one.
But when we're talking aboutcare planning making sure, truly
, that if someone needs us, thatwe're utilizing the services
(21:36):
that are available, they're freefor everyone.
So even if it's just putting inour helpline number as a little
magnet, your local office willsend that to you to make sure
that you have a stack as well.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Oh, that's such great information.
Okay, Education and training.
So please explain more aboutthe free education and training
that's available.
So these are your topics, socan you just give us a one-liner
of what the training is foreach one?
You know what is, I knowdementia behaviors, but what
specifically?
If you were to like summarizeeach one, what would that be
(22:10):
like?
Speaker 3 (22:11):
Oh gosh, okay.
So dementia is our high levelview of all things dementia
related.
Right, it's that cause, thatunderlying medical condition
that is causing these behaviorsSenility is not a real thing.
So when we say, oh, aunt Sallyis just a little bit senile,
that's not right and we'reexcusing what is an underlying
medical condition.
So that is a very high-levelview of all the different types
(22:34):
of dementia and what treatmentsmay or may not be available.
Behaviors is what we talkedabout.
It's looking deeply into whythat person may be exhibiting
this behavior and what I can doas a caregiver to or a care
partner or community member,whomever.
It is what I can do to makethat person feel more
comfortable so that behavior ismitigated.
(22:54):
To make that person feel morecomfortable so that behavior is
mitigated.
End of life is a really toughone to get folks to, but every
single time it is really helpfuland they walk away feeling so
much more prepared.
So we walk through all of thedifferent services that are
available to folks.
What is palliative care?
What is hospice?
When should I consider this?
How do I know that the time isright?
Who do I ask?
So one of the things that we dois make sure that people have
(23:18):
that basic information and thatthey're comfortable much earlier
on saying the word hospice,using the term palliative care.
It's something that we verymuch shy away from and I want
people to think about this.
Right, I want them to beprepared.
The later stages happen veryquickly, so I want people to
know what to do.
I don't want you to wait.
Use your time to be a familymember, not a nurse and it's
(23:41):
great if you are a nurse but Iwant you to have this time.
That's end of life.
Communication is those effectivecommunication strategies.
Right, it's tone of voice, it'swatching your body language,
your eye contact, making surethat you're addressing someone
respectfully in the middlestages, making sure that you're
not filling things in forsomebody, that you're treating
them with respect, continuing toengage them in the conversation
(24:03):
.
It's all of those things andhow to successfully communicate
throughout each stage of thedisease.
Right, it's progressive, sothings will change, but I want
to give you the tools to A knowwhat to expect and, b know how
to respond.
And then diagnosis of a personis really.
(24:24):
We call it the 10 warning signsof dementia, but it's really
more about looking at thosesigns and saying, okay, where do
I go from here?
It's not something that'snormal.
It's not normal aging.
No, memory loss is normal aging.
So how do I get a diagnosis?
Can I rule everything else out?
What is the right doctor to goto?
What tests are they doing?
What things are they lookingfor?
So we really try to get peoplefrom start to finish with the
(24:45):
education.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
That's wonderful, and these are the ones where you
would come in and do thein-service.
These are the topics.
Perfect, those are all, really,and there's quite a bit of them
.
You could do two a year withyour caregivers and it'd take a
while to get through them alland then just rotate.
That's a really good list oftopics.
I love that.
Community outreach programs Canyou talk about your 24-7
helpline and how home careproviders can share this with?
Speaker 3 (25:08):
families 24-7 helpline, mostly because I've
had people call me at 3 am and Itruly I was very worried.
It turned out to not beanything too serious, but it did
wake me up out of a very deepsleep.
So I prefer that people callour 24-7 helpline because
someone else is awake and readyto take your call and ready to
(25:29):
walk you through that question.
That you woke up in the middleof the night and said I wonder
if this is true or I wonder ifthis is the best thing I could
be doing.
It's wonderful for emotionalsupport.
If mom is having a really toughtime and she's exhibiting some
tough behaviors, you can callthem and troubleshoot with them.
Right.
They can give you differentapproaches to behavioral issues.
They can give you differentstrategies as a professional to
(25:51):
intervene in certain situationsand to mitigate behaviors, to
make ourselves better caregiverspersonally, professionally.
So I always encourage home careproviders to not only share
this with families so that thefamily has an outlet if they
need to just vent right.
This is not something that isalways the most fun experience.
There's certainly joys that wecan find, but it's a tough thing
(26:13):
to go through.
That's anticipatory grief fromstart to finish.
So I always encourage them touse this as an outlet for
emotions and to find support.
But also home care employees,people who are providing that
direct care you guys have atough job.
I also want them to use thisfor support, right?
It's not always the easiestthing to leave a shift and just
(26:37):
shut it all down and go back tomy day-to-day life.
It's really hard.
You see, a lot of stuff that isdifficult.
So one of the things that Iencourage folks to do is,
without using any personalidentifying information, call in
and say, hey, this is what I'mexperiencing and it's really
hard on me, or I'm reallystruggling with X, y and Z.
What do you suggest?
So it's a personal andprofessional resource.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Yeah, I hadn't thought about it for the
caregivers, but that's a reallygreat idea and they do get very
emotionally involved with someof their clients.
But there's, there should be alimit.
But with someone withAlzheimer's, for sure, you know,
it's probably very difficult todo that for eight hours and
then just okay, I'm going tojust leave.
That's not going to happen.
They're going to still feel itand own it and worry and wonder
(27:20):
about them when they're notthere.
So I never thought about thehelpline for the caregivers.
That's awesome.
Are there any community-basedprograms or events that the
Alzheimer's Association hoststhat home care agencies should
know about?
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Goodness gracious, yes, we do quite a bit in
community.
We want to be thatcommunity-facing organization.
When someone says Alzheimer'sor dementia, I want them to
think of us, as well as theirneurologist or their PCP, as
their kind of first step to getthat information.
So we try really hard to becommunity-based across the
nation.
So one of the things that weoffer Annette touched on it a
(27:54):
little bit is our Walk to EndAlzheimer's.
That's always a huge event.
It's in so many differentregions, so many different
communities.
Sometimes they're huge,sometimes they're small, but
they're always impactful.
So I would encourage agencieseven to just make a team right.
You can wear matching t-shirtswith the logo and people see you
out there.
You can have an informationaltable.
You, you out there.
(28:17):
You can have an informationaltable, you can sponsor.
If you so choose, you canattend what we call a community
forum.
So these are really interesting.
They are places for thecommunity to say, hey, I don't
know much about this, can youtell me?
And also, this is what thecommunity needs.
I love working here because weare open to changing things for
what our community needs.
I live in Buffalo but I work inRochester and they're two
wildly different places withwildly different needs, so
(28:40):
that's always helpful.
Agencies are always more thanwelcome to attend those.
Any education programs that wehave, I would encourage even if
you want to reach out to yourlocal chapter to offer a
presentation in partnership.
We have two different spheresof influence.
If we bring those together,that's pretty big for both of us
.
So anything like that, I wouldsuggest reaching out.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
That's great and we at my company too, we used to do
the walk to end Alzheimer's andwe would invite our referral
sources to walk with us.
So the social workers at theskilled nursing facilities,
people working in memory care,we would invite them to come and
be on our team.
It was a pretty powerful thing.
It really changed ourrelationship with them as well.
That's wonderful.
(29:22):
So how do I think this is theone that you were talking about?
So how to register your agencywith Alzheimer's Association?
So you're saying, if weregister our agency, when
someone's looking for home carein that area will show up.
That's a pretty good thing todo.
Then I think everybody getsthat link.
It'll be in the slides too.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
And it's free.
It's free to list yourself, sowhy not right?
I want my resources to be asrobust as possible.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Absolutely, that's really good.
And local internal listings ofchapter offices Okay, oops,
great.
Do we have any questions so far, annette, anything in the chat.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
I do not see any questions, but feel free, claire
is here to answer.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
She's very thorough so I can see where there may not
be many questions.
So tell us more about theAlzheimer's Message Board.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
Oh, I love this.
I read it all the time.
I think it's a really wonderfulresource to not only educate
ourselves either as caregiversor people living with dementia,
but also as community membersand providers.
I always like to know whatpeople are talking about, right?
What's the common themes thatpeople are seeing?
Is there any outlier?
Is there anything reallydifferent?
So these are really cool.
(30:37):
There's two sides to it.
There's the discussion forpeople living with dementia and
then there's also discussionsfor caregivers.
So as a caregiver, maybe I dowork a full-time job and I have
children and I'm caring for mom.
I don't have time to go to asupport group, but I do have
time to read these messageboards and to see what knowledge
other people have shared, toask a question and say, hey, is
this behavior normal or should Ibe concerned?
(31:01):
So it's a really wonderfulplace for people to come
together and share thatknowledge from across the world.
Right, it doesn't have to bejust Buffalo, New York, it could
be all over the place.
And it's really lovely, too, tosee the support that people
living with dementia give oneanother, the questions that they
ask, the openness that theyhave.
The people are able to findthat emotional outlet.
So one of the things as aprovider that I do is I just
(31:25):
poke my head in see if there'sanything different every once in
a while that people are talkingabout for my own education and
I share that with folks asneeded.
That's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
What a great.
That's really a great service.
I love that and this could bethe home care agency caregiver
also.
Go to view discussion forcaregivers.
Yeah, absolutely, that could behelpful for them as well.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
Oh, just as long as there's no PII, we're all good.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Yes, exactly how to connect with Alzheimer's in your
area.
So these are the ways to dothat.
So you have your chapter officelocator page.
I'll go and let you explainthem, Claire, rather than me
trying to.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
They're pretty straightforward.
I have full confidence in you.
But the chapter office locatorpage is exactly that.
You type in your zip code.
So for Buffalo, 14221, andit'll show you the area of
service and the chapter thatcovers that area.
So that would be Western NewYork and it would cover the
eight traditional counties ofWestern New York.
If I wanted to plug inCalifornia, I could plug in
(32:30):
California and be connected tothat chapter.
So it really is lovely to beable to find resources
nationwide.
And if you're not quite surewhat chapter serves what area,
just plug in your zip code.
It takes the work out of it.
All's Talks is reallyinteresting.
These are kind of bite-sizeddiscussions that we host, just
(32:51):
with different information,different topics, to see what
might interest folks.
It's not a heavy level ofcommitment of time at all.
I would say maybe 15 to 30minutes, but it's a really
beautiful way for people toeducate themselves with the time
that they have.
We all have the same 24 hoursin a day, but it's nice to be
able to fill my drive withsomething that educates me.
(33:12):
So if that's your cup of tea,go for it.
And then this 24-7 helplinenumber that I've been just
shoving down your throats isreally wonderful, but this is
the number, so 1-800-272-3900.
It's 24 hours a day, seven daysa week, 365 days a year.
If it's 3am on Christmasmorning and you are feeling some
(33:33):
type of way about something, asa caregiver or as a person
living with dementia, someonewho's concerned about someone,
you can call them and they willpick up.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
That's wonderful.
We do have a couple of comments.
This is so informational.
I will definitely be reachingout to the Rochester New York
chapter.
Jessica says Claire, thank you.
I was just researching how toeducate, certify my caregiver on
dementia.
I appreciate the informationthat you all provided today.
Wonderful.
And here's the walk to anAlzheimer's, how to have your
(34:02):
home care agency participate.
So this is the link Find yourwalk is here.
I love the colors and theshirts and all of it.
It's really a good time.
We had so much fun at thesewalks.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
Good, it's always a powerful day, so I'm glad you've
I'm glad you've experienced it.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
Yes, Okay, anybody have any questions for Claire
before we move into the next andit looks like Annette has
something to say.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
Well, I was just going to say no questions, we're
here.
She's going to ask us.
Oops, I think we have one now.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
This is wonderful.
We had our local chapter comein for a Q&A with our staff.
We have a team I'm sorry thisis cutting out a team and well,
and this year I joined.
We have a team as well, andthis time here, I joined the
committee.
Thanks again for the info.
That's fabulous.
All right, thank you so much,claire, for being here with us
(34:54):
today.
We've really been veryinformative.
I learned a lot, thank you, andlots of resources.
Thank you all.
All right, so our home care,sales and marketing training and
the live Zoom training.
We have a few spots left forJune 17th and June 26th.
The people in this class guys,it's 12 weeks by week.
(35:14):
Six.
They're getting referrals fromskilled nursing facilities.
I can't speak highly enough ofthis program and it does such a
good job.
And if you want to learn moreabout it, we've got the
registration link down here.
It's on our website and youjust won't believe all the
things that you will learn inthis class.
We have testimonials.
How many testimonials are onthe website now?
(35:36):
Valerie, 50.
50.
All happy people that this haschanged their marketing
trajectory and they're justdoing so much better.
They didn't know what theydidn't know.
So if you have any interest inthis.
This is the registration link.
We can talk to you after.
Thank you everyone.
Thanks for coming.
I'll see you in a couple ofweeks.
Bye-bye, bye, everybody.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
Take care.
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