Forget-Me-Not Spotlight
“The Art of Caregiving”
With Teepa Snow
DVD from Pines Education Institute of S.W. Florida
A review by Shannon Nosbisch, C.D.P., co-founder of Effingham Area Alzheimer’s Awareness
Teepa Snow, MS, OTR/L, FAOTA, is a nationally acclaimed Alzheimer’s and dementia care trainer. She has a series of DVDs that are designed to educate caregivers about these diseases, explain common symptoms and behavior changes, and support the caregiver. This DVD is only two hours long and gives a basic knowledge of caring tips.
Caring for a person living with dementia can be stressful for many reasons, including:
- Very time intensive (a 24/7 job)
- Challenging and distressing behaviors
- Family and friends provide 70-80% of the care
- Isolating disease, with stigma
Because of these characteristics, it is important for families and caregivers to educate themselves on the type of dementia and how best to care for their loved one.
By watching this DVD, you will learn:
- Hands-on caregiving techniques to ease daily tasks, such as transferring assistance, bathing, eating, and dressing
- How to best approach and interact with someone living with dementia
- Why knowing a person’s life history, personal preferences and personality traits matters
- About stress management and the importance of caring for yourself
- To minimize resistance and increase positive interactions
- About different types of dementia, such as Vascular Dementia, Lewy Body Dementia and Frontotemporal Dementia
Because of the nature of dementia, the caregiver needs to be a detective, to discover why the person living with dementia is doing what they are, what triggered this behavior and/or what the person they are caring for is feeling.
Teepa discusses the unmet needs of the person living with dementia. There are physical and emotional unmet needs that can cause unwanted behaviors. The physical unmet needs are hunger or thirst, tired, elimination (bladder or bowel), temperature (too hot or cold) and pain. The emotional unmet needs are angry, sad, lonely, scared and bored. Many times a person living with dementia cannot make their needs known by verbal communication.
Watching The Art of Caregiving can give families and caregivers a better understanding of the disease, reduce stress, and give the person they are caring for a better quality of life.
This resource is available at the Effingham Public Library, Flora Public Library, Evans Public Library, Newton Public Library, Greenup Township Public Library, Shelbyville Public Library and the Mattoon Public Library in the Forget-Me-Not Resource Center. If you do not have a library card, ask at the main desk how you can check it out.
