The obvious answer to “what are the benefits of patients, care partners and healthcare providers working together?” is that collaboration produces better care.
What is required for good collaboration between those who care and those who are being cared for ? I believe open minds, curiosity and humility are the cornerstones for creating a good care experience for all concerned.
More in the video below on my answer to the fifth question in the project aimed at developing educational materials for students enrolled in the healthcare faculty at a local university.
How would you have answered?
In a nutshell, I think it’s critical that patients and care partners participate in all aspects of healthcare in Canada – from education to delivery. Click on the questions below to get to the videos with the answers to the other questions:
I learned a lot during the time I was a care partner to my mom who lived with dementia at the end of her life. I share many of the things I learned on this blog. I’ve also done workshops and webinars to help care workers and students better understand the nature of dementia and the people who live with it.
When I was interviewed with respect to the development of educational materials for students enrolled in the healthcare faculty at a local university, I shared my experience about sharing my experience!
When the interviewer asked if I had been involved in educating healthcare providers (the fourth question in the interview), I told her of my experience as well as what has worked for me:
How would you have answered?
In a nutshell, I think it’s critical that patients and care partners participate in all aspects of healthcare in Canada – from education to delivery. Click on the questions below to get to the videos with my answers to the other questions:
Both healthcare providers and patients must participate in the care process to make the system work well. Achieving participation and collaboration from both “sides” requires an adjustment in the mindsets of all involved.
This is the essence of my answer to the third question I was asked when I was interviewed with respect to the development of educational materials for students enrolled in the healthcare faculty at a local university.
When the interviewer asked “What do you think healthcare providers think about including patients in healthcare education?” I answered frankly that everybody needs to take a different tack if we are to achieve success:
How would you have answered?
In a nutshell, I think it’s critical that patients and care partners participate in all aspects of healthcare in Canada – from education to delivery. Click on the questions below to get to the videos with my answers to the other questions:
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When I was invited to contribute to the development of educational materials for students enrolled in the healthcare faculty at a local university in 2019, I jumped at the opportunity.
As part of the project, I was interviewed about my views on including patients and care partners in the education of healthcare providers.
I answer the second question “How should we involve patients in the education of healthcare providers?” below.
How would you have answered?
In a nutshell, I think it’s critical that patients and care partners participate in all aspects of healthcare in Canada – from education to delivery. Click on the questions below to get to the videos with the rest of my answers:
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When I was invited to contribute to the development of educational materials for students enrolled in the healthcare faculty at a local university in 2019, I jumped at the opportunity.
As part of the project, I was interviewed about my views on including patients and care partners in the education of healthcare providers.
The answer to the first question “Why should we involve patients in healthcare education?” is self evident in my opinion. The short answer is to enable providers to deliver better care. Listen to the two-minute answer in this video:
How would you have answered?
In a nutshell, I think it’s critical that patients and care partners participate in all aspects of healthcare in Canada – from education to delivery. Click on the questions below to get to the videos with the rest of my answers:
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People living with dementia are LIVING. They are not dead, or gone or empty shells.
They are people with abilities, skills, wants, needs, feelings, and if we help them, purpose! It’s time to recognize that, and provide PLWD the support they need – not just in a few exceptional long-term care facilities, but everywhere. We need to ditch the medical model that’s been proven to be broken and replace it with dementia care that works.
Revolutionizing Dementia Care is all about doing that. It’s full of concrete examples of the kinds of things that create positive change.
Here’s the trailer:
More important, here’s the full meal deal (I strongly encourage you to watch it in its entirety):
This is not “pie in the sky,” nor is it rocket science (as I keep saying over and over and over again). Some long-term care facilities are able to provide the kind of care that allows people living with dementia to engage life until the very end. They help PLWD to find purpose, to enjoy life, to contribute to their communities, to love, to laugh and to live fully and meaningful lives.
A real-life interaction at Landermeads care home. Not staged, not stock, not faked.
It can be done, and it is being done right now in various places around the world including in Canada. We can use this life-changing model (and others that produce the same kind of results) to transform our broken eldercare system. EVERYONE benefits. Let’s do it!
Here are some great quotes from the video below to whet your appetite:
1 ) “What great dementia care is about is saying this isn’t rocket science to create, because I believe every human being knows what it is to be human. They know when they’re walking in somewhere: Does it feel right? Does it sound right? But what happens is we get told to be ‘professional,’ we get told to have distance and to be detached. But this constrains us and limits us as human beings in the care sector.” ~ Dr. David Sheard, creator of the Butterfly Model
2 ) “I can’t really think of caring any other way apart from how I’ve learned here. Which is by caring for the family members in a way that suits them more than it suits us.” ~ Alex King, Support Worker, Landermeads
3 ) “We don’t have an activities coordinator because activities aren’t something we’d bolt on at certain times during the day. We call it ‘occupation’ because people need to feel self-worth, they need to feel involved, and included in what we do, and the best way to do that is to occupy them every day with things that are going on as we would if we were at home.” ~ Ros Heath, Co-Founder and Director, Landermeads
4 ) “People who work in traditional care don’t really understand how to interact with people on a level where they’re emotionally attached to them. I think people here get very emotionally attached, and that’s something that brings out the best in the people who live here.” ~ Jay Heath Finance Director, Landermeads
5 ) “If you can make their lives happy, and have a good time, it doesn’t need to be a bad ending where you’re sitting in a corner, and you’re sad and you’re lonely and nobody’s talking to you. We’re about having fun and having a good time right until the end.” ~ Lisa Bishop, Nurse, Landermeads
6 ) “We absolutely live and breathe what we do, we believe in it, [because of] the evidence we have from the people that we look after. It’s just a joy to see how well people can live who have a dementia.” ~ Ros Heath, Co-Founder and Director, Landermeads
7 ) “This is controversial because in a care sector that’s largely driven by business, driven by models that have been taken from the healthcare systems of hospitals, in terms of clinical efficiency or in terms of what four-star hotel care looks like. But we know [from] our own lives that the greatest thing that helps us survive, that gives us a sense of well being is being loved. And I think [it’s] a huge threat to a professional sector to say that’s what transforms lives. That’s what creates staff who want to be [here]. That’s what reduces staff sickness [and] creates staff retention. That’s what stops people falling in the care home, that’s what stops infection rates – people can’t get their head around it. [The] care sector seems so scared to embrace that as the very core, and then build a business on it.” ~ Dr. David Sheard, creator of the Butterfly Model
Take a look at what is at the core of great dementia care (tissues recommended if you’re sensitive like me!):
The state of our elder care health system (worldwide!) is atrocious. And many care workers within it are as neglected and abused as the people they are supposed to be taking care of. After former care worker Heather Reece read bullied and banned: rachel’s story, she wrote:
“Having been a carer of people with dementia, [I can tell you] it’s as frustrating for the carers as it is for the family. Understaffing is the biggest issue; the amount of people you are expected to assist to wash and dress per carer is ridiculous. It’s like a factory conveyor belt, and it shouldn’t be like that. You’re not given the time to let “Margaret” or whoever brush her own hair even though she’s more than capable of doing it but it takes her 20 mins! You’re not given 20 mins to assist to wash and dress one person let alone to help Margaret just brush her hair. It’s sad and wrong that you’re classed as not pulling your weight as a carer if you do your job properly.”
You said it Heather Reece! We need more trained, qualified and compassionate care workers who have more time to do their job properly instead of being rushed because the ratio of residents to workers is completely out of whack.
#FightTheGoodFight #WeCanCareBetter
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When I shared this post about wandering for the umpteenth time on the MyAlzheimersStory.com Facebook page, daughter and care partner Miriam Oltrogge made a comment that brought tears to my eyes:
“My father is known as a wanderer, exit seeking and as having behaviour issues at his long term care home. So now he spends his days in the locked unit with just a half floor where he walks back and forth like a prisoner. His active lifestyle kept him out of a wheelchair, and he still enjoys being up and about. Little did he know where he would end up at 88 years old because he staying so active and physically healthy. These homes could find a better way to handle this but they choose the easiest and most cost efficient for them.I am sure that some of the people on his floor go for weeks without getting any sunshine and fresh air. This wouldn’t be acceptable for children or prisoners. Why is it ok to do this to seniors? We don’t know who to complain to. Nobody seems to care.”
You said it Miriam Oltroggem, and you are so right, it does often seem like no one cares.
#FightTheGoodFight #WeCanCareBetter
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“Would you want to be confined to a chair for hours every day at someone else’s whim?”
Canadian personal support worker (PSW) Paula Littzen answered in no uncertain terms. She wrote:
“No, and it is abuse to make anyone do so! It is unacceptable for this practice, and many more, to be allowed to occur in long-term care (LTC) facilities. The Government and Ministers of Health and LTC, Canada wide, need to open their eyes and ears, face the FACT that the current LTC system is abusive, extremely inadequate, often neglectful, and is not even meeting the basic human rights, and needs, of the people living there.
Our most vulnerable people are not being afforded the care they deserve and need. We know what is needed and must be implemented in LTC facilities to ensure our most vulnerable live their last few years well, happy, and properly cared for. We must hold our leaders accountable, and demand what needs to be done, be done! The current system is disgraceful to anyone with a brain, sight and hearing.”
You said it Paula! And thanks for caring for others the way that you would want to be cared for.
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My Alzheimer's Story 