Episode Transcript
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Lisa Skinner (00:00):
Hi everybody.
Welcome back to another new
episode of the truth, lies andAlzheimer's show. I'm Lisa
Skinner, your host. I've gotsome pretty profound information
to share with all of you today,and I think it's really
(00:23):
important. I always want to bevery transparent with what I
discover out there in the worldthat's truthful and honest and
really draws a realistic pictureof life out there, especially
when it involves our loved onesand the people that we care for
(00:49):
who live with Alzheimer'sdisease and dementia, we have to
be their advocates, because dueto their cognitive impairment,
they're no longer able to reallydo what needs to happen to
completely protect themselves.It's up to us, so I'm bringing
(01:15):
you this information today thatI think is really, really
important for everybody to know.And once again, I tripped over
another article. This is writtenby Dr Ghomi. He's a
neuropsychiatrist and engineer.He has been a health tech
(01:40):
founder four times in hiscareer, and this guy has
treated, has diagnosed in hiscareers. Medical career, over
1000 dementia cases, and he justis continuously staying on top
of what's current and what'saccurate. And there's so much
(02:05):
misinformation anddisinformation out there that
it's really important to me tofilter all of that stuff out and
bring everybody the truth. So DrGhomi has visited 47 nursing
homes just in the past year, andhe found that almost every
(02:30):
single one of them was failingthe dementia patients. This is
what he found. This is what hesaw. And he said, The problem
starts the moment you walk in.The staff rushing between 30
plus residents, alarms beeping,constantly confused patients
(02:56):
calling for help. That's 20minutes away, but the real
failures are systematic. What'sbroken the dementia training is
virtually non existent. AIDS getas little as one hour training
total on memory care in somestates. I know that the
(03:21):
requirement is, in California ismuch more than that, I think
it's at least eight hours, butI'm also aware that it's as
little as one hour trainingtotal in some states. So this is
very consistent with what I'maware of, that most of the staff
(03:47):
don't understand behavioralsymptoms that show up as a
result of the damage being doneto the brains. That's consistent
with what I have come to realizethat agitation gets treated with
restraints, not based on theroot causes, like what triggers
(04:13):
the agitation? Uh, Number two,what he discovered and observed
was that the way medication ismanaged in these institutional
settings is dangerous. Patientson 15 plus medications with
absolutely no review.Anticholinergic burden is
(04:38):
ignored completely. Thebehavioral issues are resolved
by giving more pills, not lesspills that the environments are
designed for efficiency and notbrain impairment. Fluorescent
lighting disrupts the sleepcycles. Noise levels trigger
(05:03):
anxiety and confusion. Thelayout of these neighborhoods,
of these communities create morewanderings and falls. They're
not designed properly, that thefamilies are kept in the dark.
No communication is transmittedabout cognitive changes that are
(05:29):
observed and recorded betweenthe residents, the patients or
in the family members. Careplans are written and then
forgotten. The quality of themetrics focused on paperwork and
not the outcomes. And thesaddest part that he met
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incredible individual caregiversdoing their best in broken
systems. One aide knew everyresident's favorite song, a
nurse spent her break paintingnails with a woman who'd
forgotten her own name. But thelonger than short here, the
(06:19):
bottom line is that heroicindividuals who do work within
these organizations can't fixthese systemic failures. What
needs to change these are themain things better, staffing
ratios, dementia specific,training, environmental designs
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that support Brain HealthReimbursement, systems that
reward quality of life and thatare not just keeping people
alive. He's adamant, and I feelas strongly about this as he
does our loved ones withdementia deserve better than
(07:08):
just institutional survival. Andhe completes this article by
saying, the average hairstylistgets 1500 hours of training, the
average nursing aide caring fordementia patients as little as
(07:28):
one hour. I'm left speechlesswith these current findings. So
I think it's important foreverybody to be aware of these
things. So if you are looking atan institutional environment for
your loved one living withdementia or skilled nursing, at
(07:54):
least, these are things to beaware of so you can vet the
choice that you're consideringthis other doctor named Dr Lord,
also recently publishedinformation about hospital to
home transitions, and this iswhat she has revealed, hospital
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to home, transitions fail,seniors with dementia and
multiple condition according tothis study that she is talking
about, This is very consistentwith what Dr GOMI just
published. So this is justsupporting they're supporting
(08:44):
each other in their findings.Hospital to home transitions for
older adults with dementia andmultiple chronic conditions face
major challenges due to systemichealth care gaps.
(09:04):
Dr Ghomi just said that,according to a comprehensive
review published in BMCgeriatrics, The study analyzed
70 documents to understand howthese critical transitions work
for patients and multiple longterm conditions and dementia.
(09:26):
Health care professionals,including geriatric specialists,
frequently lack adequatedementia training, and this is
what this research revealed.According to the review, this
knowledge gap affects providersability to identify and diagnose
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dementia, which the review linksto poor discharge planning and
higher readmission risk. Thereview found that limited
dimensional. Knowledge made itdifficult for many providers to
create a hospital to home careplan or manage coexisting
(10:12):
conditions that these patientsmay have. The analysis found no
standardized approach fordocumenting or sharing dementia
diagnosis information betweenhealth care providers different
electronic health record systemsand non standardized terminology
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create these barriers withhealth care professionals
working outside of GeriatricCare, often unaware of patients
dementia diagnosis, and this hasbeen revealed, according to the
findings. Also, the findingsrevealed that family caregivers
(10:59):
face significant challengesduring these transitions. The
research actually showed that82% of unpaid caregivers suffer
mental health challenges. Theyoften assume medical
responsibilities, such asadministering treatments,
(11:20):
monitoring blood sugars, givinginsulin injections without
receiving the proper training.The study associated this
situation with increasedemotional distress for these
caregivers and a higher risk ofhospital readmission for the
(11:42):
patients when care needs wentunmet. According to the
findings, hospital admission anddischarge procedures often
prioritize the primary diagnosisand overlook dementia symptoms
such as cognitive decline andbehavioral issues. The found
(12:05):
care plans been prioritized theadmission diagnosis and failed
to integrate dementia with themanagement of other chronic
conditions. The study emphasizesthat successful transitions
require system level changes,including standardized reporting
(12:28):
single points of contact forcare, coordination, dementia,
specific training for healthcare professionals and tailored
interventions addressing bothpatient and caregiver needs. The
source for this information isbeing credited to Donna Schreier
(12:52):
of McKnight long term news, andthe source is HTTPS l i, n,
k.in, for LinkedIn, forwardslash, G as in girl eight, 3f,
as in Frank, P as in Paul, M asin Mary, R, R. And as all of you
know, I have been working in theelder care industry. I've been
(13:16):
exposed to it. I've been in theweeds of it for 30 years now.
And these are things that I havepersonally observed over the
many decades that I have beeninvolved. These are recent
findings, the publications, thestudies, and it doesn't look
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like to me that things reallyhave changed all that much, and
this is a very sad state ofaffairs, as far as I'm
concerned. And that's the onething that I realized a long
time ago, and why I'm bringingthis information to all of you,
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is these very things that thesetwo doctors have revealed to us
in these posts, in thesearticles, and to remind
everybody that, based on theWorld Health Organization and
all of these Alzheimer'sorganizations, that by the year
(14:23):
2050 that's 25 years From now,it's going to be here before we
blink our eyes, the number ofpeople who are expected to
develop Alzheimer's disease bythat date, by 2050, or between
now and then, is expected totriple if a cure or treatment is
(14:46):
not found. Out, does it soundlike we're prepared for the
number of people who will beliving with Alzheimer's disease
and the other 200 known braindiseases that cause dementia?
Don't forget, these are terminalillnesses. Something has got to
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change. It's increasingawareness and educating people
that I know, but it's nothappening fast enough. So
hopefully any of you listeningto this show, the truth lies and
Alzheimer's show, will be alittle more prepared than people
(15:32):
who don't have access to thisinformation, and that's what I
really want. That's what I'vededicated my life to. I don't
want families to have to becaught completely unprepared for
a dementia diagnosis. Nobodysigns up for that. So being
(15:55):
prepared, being educated, beingwell informed, is going to end
up being giving you a huge legup to people who are completely
blindsided and caught off guardby a dementia diagnosis, or for
those of you who care for peoplewho are living with dementia, as
(16:19):
you heard me say in these twoarticles by two different
doctors, that the findings arethat most people lack serious
training in how to care forpeople Living with a brain
disease. So there you have it,and this will conclude today's
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episode for the truth, lies andAlzheimer's show. I'm Lisa
Skinner, your host. Keep tuningin, because I'm going to be
continuing to bring you thisinformation week after week
after week and keep you up todate on the honest truth and the
(17:04):
the updated most recentfindings, so we all can stay
informed and be more prepared ifit strikes our families. So have
a great rest of your week. Staysafe, stay healthy. Thanks again
for spending part of your dayhere with me, and I look forward
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to you coming back and sharinganother episode with more
information next week. Takecare. Bye, bye.