we need a paradigm shift

Retired medical writer turned care partner and blogger Lorrie Beauchamp was clearly impacted by Dr. Allen Power’s excellent post Living Well with Dementia: What it Means and What it Doesn’t Mean on Dr. Bill Thomas’s blog Changing Aging. She commented:

“As a retired medical writer and care partner for my parents (both with dementia/Alzheimer’s), I am relieved to see a growing number of health care professionals who have stopped focusing on the cure and ineffective treatment options. Throwing Big Money at Big Pharma is a Big Mistake.

Concurrent to understanding the underlying physiological causes of dementia, we need to immediately address the emotional and psychological symptoms and fallout of living with it, for both the people who have it, and those who are their companions and carers. This aspect of living with dementia is largely ignored at the moment.

We also need financial assistance to help people living with dementia (PLWD) stay in their homes, given the atrocities committed in residences and long-term care facilities. Healthcare systems throughout North America and elsewhere in the world (e.g. the UK) are in crisis and are ill-equipped to do what is required; they are too big to shift quickly enough to meet the needs.

We need open-minded entrepreneurs to step up and use innovative resources to ensure a good quality of life for PLWD. People living with dementia are angry and restless and with good reason; they need to be heard, not shut up, put away and restrained. And antipsychotics? No way. We need a paradigm shift, and it’s not going to happen until more people like you, Dr. Power, with your credentials and credibility, step up and speak the plain truth. Thank you.“

Read more of Lorrie Beauchamp’s insightful thoughts on ADRD and being a care partner on her blog Unforgettable. Follow her on twitter here.

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“you said it!” is a place to discover informed comments, inspiring thoughts, short stories, good ideas, provocative opinions, quotable quotes and noteworthy snippets from across my worldwide network.

https://myalzheimersstory.com/2018/04/20/whos-in-charge-where-are-they-and-do-they-care-2/

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