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what to expect

On-line Dementia Care Training For Family Caregivers

Aspen Senior Care is excited to share some great on-line dementia care help for family caregivers!

With all of the information about dementia care out there, it can be an overwhelming task to sort through and figure out just what information is best and how it applies to your situation.

At Aspen, we understand the difficulties family members face while caring for loved ones with dementia and our goal is to be a source of support, education, and information to which family members may turn as they cope with the daily challenges of caregiving.

Learning from the best and looking for the positive

Because there is so much material on dementia care out there, we have looked long and hard to find up-to-date, quality information that is both useful and practical for families to implement, and we believe we have found this resource in Teepa Snow, a dementia care education specialist with over 30 years of experience in this field.

 

Teepa Snow,
Dementia Care Specialist

She has developed The Positive Approach to Care training series to help professional and family caregivers better understand the physical changes that happen with dementia, and develop skills to understand and care for people with dementia

Our professional caregivers use Teepa Snow’s Positive Approach to Care training series to better understand memory loss and how using this approach improves the quality of life for both the caregiver and the person receiving care.

The positive approach focuses on what individuals with dementia CAN do at each stage of the disease instead of focusing on the skills they have lost.

 

Online Caregiving Tips

With this in mind, we have put together a list of short video clips taken from Teepa Snow’s training DVDs. More can be found at Teepa’s YouTube channel and The Pines of Sarasota YouTube channel.

These are just a few of the on-line dementia care help available for family caregivers.  Aspen Senior Care has some of the full-length DVDs from which the above clips are taken. Family caregivers are welcome to come and watch the entire DVD if they would like. Just give us a call at 801-224-5910 to check on availability and schedule a time to come in.

Aspen Senior Care is here to help families meet the caregiving challenges they face. We want families to feel they aren’t alone, that there is hope and help available. Please visit our website at aspenseniorcare.com and call us at 801-224-5910 for more information. We’re here to help.

What a Caregiver Can Expect During the Final Act of Living

Caregiver

The topic of death and losing a loved one, for many, is a difficult topic to address and understand. Every individual will go through a different process and each caregiver will experience different emotions. There is no right or wrong way to feel when the one you love is reaching the final act of living.

“I truly believe it’s all about the living. We are born and we die and everything in between is living, clear until our last breath.” – Diana Cazier

For our in-service for the month of February, Aspen Senior Care had the wonderful opportunity to have Diana Cazier from Elevation Home Health and Hospice teach our team about the sensitive topic of recognizing the signs to look for when your loved one is in the final act of living. She referred to the booklet by Barbara Karnes, RN, titled, “The Final Act of Living: Reflections of a Long-Time Hospice Nurse”.  

The final act of living is a challenge.  This is a flexible guideline for what caregivers can watch for because no one knows the exact date that someone will pass.

Signs to look for in the Final Act of Living

One to three months before death:

  • Withdrawal from world and people
  • Decreased food intake
  • Increase in sleep
  • Going inside self
  • Less communication

One to two weeks before death:

Mental Changes

  • Disorientation
  • Agitation
  • Talking with the unseen
  • Confusion
  • Picking at clothes

Physical Changes

  • Decreased blood pressure
  • Pulse increase or decrease
  • Skin color changes; pale, bluish
  • Increased perspiration
  • Respiration irregularities
  • Congestion
  • Sleeping but responding
  • Complaints of body tired and heavy
  • Not eating, taking little fluids
  • Body temperature: hot, cold

 

 

Days or hours before death:

  • Intensification of one to two week’s signs
  • Surge of energy
  • Decrease in blood pressure
  • Eyes glassy, tearing, half open
  • Irregular breathing: stop, start
  • Restlessness or no activity
  • Purplish, blotchy knees, feet, hands
  • Pulse weak and hard to find
  • Decreased urine outlet
  • May wet or stool the bed
  • Acetone breath

Minutes before death:

  • “Fish out of water” breathing
  • Cannot be awakened

Through this presentation, we were taught how to be more aware and understanding of the different signs we may observe as one approaches death from disease or old age. We are so grateful to Diana for her presentation as it will continue to help us be more supportive and observant as professional in-home caregivers.

“At Aspen Senior Care, we like to align ourselves with the finest Home Health and Hospice agencies in Utah. We appreciate their willingness to present at our in-service training and reach us about important topics.  We are better because of it.”

Gary Staples, Owner and Administrator

 

If you have any questions, or if you need further support, contact us today at 801-224-5910. You can also refer to “The Final Act of Living: Reflections of a Long-Time Hospice Nurse” by Barbara Karnes, RN.

For more information and topics about in-home care, visit aspenseniorcare.com