Click Below To Listen Thursday – Sept. 5th, 2019 – 2pm EST, 1pm CST, 12pm MST, 11am PST & 7pm London and Sept 6th at 6am Australia. All Shows are Archived for Ease of Access.
Watch The Video Interview Below
Click Below To Go To The Radio Show– Audio Only
Alzheimer’s Speaks Radio Host Lori La Bey, interviews Anne and Steve McSweeney, with CEU Creations who are coordinating an amazing event In Atlanta October 4th, featuring Keynote Speaker Eloy Van Hal – Hodeweyk Dementia Village, Scott Tarde – Glenner Town Square and Actress Carolyn Cook who will be performing a one act play on dementia. Listen in to make sure you don’t miss this extraordinary opportunity to hear from those who have designed new models of care for dementia.
CEU”s for the October 4th Event are Available as follows:
Social Work (GSCSW – 6 Clock Hours)
Case Managers (CCMC – 6 Contact Hours)
RN (CA Board of Registered Nursing – 6 Contact Hours)
LPC (Core: 6 NBCC Hours)
Attendance or applied credit certificate available for other credentials
Check Out These Wonderful Videos of
Two Exceptional Programs Being Featured
CCN’s feature on the Dementia Village Click Above to Watch
Nightline’s Coverage of Town Square Click Above to Watch
Also joining Steve and Anne McSweeney will be:
Phyllis Joseph, Supervisor in Care Management, at Piedmont Atlanta Hospital GA
MaryLea Boatwright Quinn, Advocacy and Public Policy for the Alzheimer’s Association – GA Chapter
Cindy Nelson Attorney and Founder of Nelson Elder Care Law in Woodstock, Georgia.
Thank you for joining Alzheimer’s Speaks Radio. We hope you subscribe and share this episode with your family, friends, clients and colleagues.
Alzheimer’s Speaks – Shifting Dementia Care from Crisis around the world one episode at a time by raising all voices and delivering sounds news, not just sound bites.
Take The Dementia Airport Travel Survey Below
What Questions Do You Have For Those Living With Dementia?
“Feedback from the conference planning committee and our leadership team was extremely positive. Many attendees commented that she was one of the best speakers they had heard.”
Pat Sylvia, Director of Education & Member Development LeadingAge WA
Lori La Bey, host of Alzheimer’s Speaks Radio interviews Dr. Paul Nussbaum; Chief Clinical Officer and Stephen Swartz: Chief Operations Officer of WellQor which helps senior live a healthier and happier life. WellQor is a full-service Psychology Practice offering a comprehensive psychological examination to include cognitive, emotional, and psycho-social factors that permit their well trained clinical staff to render an accurate diagnoses along with proper treatment. Their team consists of Licensed Psychologists and Social Workers. We will talk about how their company can assist those diagnosed with or caring for someone with dementia.
June 9th, 2018 – Over 200 people packed the room to hear Cyndy Luzinski and
Lori La Bey speak on living graciously with dementia.
Dementia-Friendly Communities of Northern Colorado is a local nonprofit organization which provides life enrichment opportunities (including memory cafes), care partner support, and dementia-friendly business education. We exist so that no one walking the dementia journey has to walk alone.
Shifting Our Views of “Behaviors” Related to Dementia
Alzheimer’s Speaks Radio
Thursday, November 2nd, 2017
2pm EST, 1pm CST, 12pm MST, 11am PST, 7pm London
Today we had the privilege of having Geert Bettinger, from the Netherlands on the show with us. He is the Author of “Moving on by standing still,” a different view of Problem behaviors. I had two Co-Hosts join me; Harry Urban and Laurie Scherrer who both live with a diagnosis of dementia.
Saying we had an interesting conversation is an understatement. Listen and learn how shifting your perceptions can shift your outcomes.
This is insider information taken from the leading academic journal in the United States called “Generations”. It is produced by the foremost academic and professional organization in America, The American Society on Aging. All content in their journal is researched and documented by the highest credentialed researchers in Aging topics. For more information on “Generations” and the American Society on Aging go to: www.generationsjournal.org and www.asaging.org. All information in quotation marks is directly from the Spring 2016 issue of Generations. (Volume 40 number 1)
Question: How many doctors specialize in diseases of the aging (and therefore know something about dementia)?
Answer:“There have been only 7,000 actively certified geriatricians for more than 10 years.” That’s for 46 million Americans over the age of 65 (as of 2015), never mind older adults with dementia. Geriatricians are doctors specifically trained in diseases in older adults. Not many- huh?Only “about 300 new geriatricians” are trained in medical schools each year. Not many- huh?Worse, “more than 40% “of fellowships for training geriatricians went unfilled for the last 3 years. And some current geriatricians are letting their certifications lapse.
Question: What does that mean? How does that affect me?
Answer:These are the specialists, along with neurologists, for elders with dementia (most people with dementia are elderly). Clearly there are not enough experts for the number of people who need their expertise. And there are less in the pipeline coming up, rather than more. Why? Geriatricians pay is lower than most other doctors, and loans to go to medical school can be well over $100,000! And of course the anti-aging bias we have here in America. Look at old wrinkled bodies? Ugh- I don’t think so!
So, what are you left with? Your regular family doctor, of course, or the local clinic, or the emergency room. In other words, the general healthcare system.
Question: How much training do general healthcare system doctors get in older adult issues including dementia?
Answer: “Less than 3% of medical students choose geriatric electives, meaning most medical professionals will enter the field without any exposure to serving elders.” Also there is currently a “lack of faculty, lack of funding, lack of time in [an] already busy curricula (courses that have to be taken) and the lack of recognition of the importance of geriatric training.” In the past, in most medical schools there weren’t even courses in geriatrics at all, so if your doctor had been practicing for a while, chances are huge that they have no training in geriatrics (or dementia). And currently, there is no requirement to have any training in geriatric conditions to keep up their medical doctor certification, except in California, and that is limited to doctors who have over 25% of their patients are elderly.
Question: What does that mean? How does that affect me?
Answer:
Answer: Chances are high that your family doctor and the doctors in the hospitals don’t have the knowledge that you think they do in relation to your elderly family member (especially one with a dementia). That means that you have to ask them how much actual training they have had over the years to know if you have to question their knowledge/advice for your loved one. Taking their knowledge/advice for gospel could be detrimental to your loved one’s health, if in fact they don’t know the intricacies of good care of elderly people. It can lead to medical mistakes, as they are now known. Things like misdiagnosis’s, nondiagnosis’s, the wrong medications prescribed, medications that react badly with the other medications given, too much medication, not enough medications, surgery advised when not needed, and no surgery prescribed when some is needed. The list of errors can go on and on.
Question: If my doctor doesn’t have the training what can I do?
Answer: Ask them to include a course in geriatric medicine for their next certification for their medical license.
Question: What about other health care personnel who deal with my loved one?
Answer: OK, let’s go through some professions.
Nurse Practitioners and Registered Nurses: In 2014 out of 3.1 million nurses there were “7,874 nurses trained in gerontological nursing”.
Social Workers: There is no formal gerontology certification for social workers, but there is a specialization in aging category.” In 2010 of 19,673 students, 1,318 graduated with a Masters in this category. Less than 4% of social workers have been trained to work with elders, yet 75% report they regularly work with this population”.
There were “2,158 pharmacists in the USA that were certified geriatric pharmacists”. They know the interactions and side effects of drugs that older adults take.
“As of 2015 out of 18,071 physical therapists in the USA, 1936 were certified in physical therapy specifically for older adults”.
In 2015 there were “18 occupational therapists certified in geriatric occupational therapy in the USA”.
As you can see, there is a severe shortage of all types of healthcare professionals trained in providing all types of healthcare to older adults, not to mention the subset of them with a dementia. You could call it a crisis, if you wish. And as more and more people enter the age group of elderly every day, it is reasonable to assume that it is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.
Question: What can I do to try and make things better?
Answer: Get loud and demand action of the right people. Who are the right people? Believe it or not, its Politicians! Generations says (and I agree), that there is “no political will” to do anything to address this crisis. Heck, the crisis isn’t even on anybody’s radar, no matter what political party you are talking about. Yes, you may hear about the Affordable Care Act, but guess what? The Affordable Care Act doesn’t even address the issue of next to no knowledge how to properly care for the elderly or how to get professionals interested in caring for the elderly, or in training others to care for the elderly.
It seems as long as our citizens allow the politicians to define the problem as an “individual family” problem, and not a reason to come up with any answers for the problem, then no headway can be made in getting the resources it would take to increase knowledgeable health care for the elderly. It’s got to become the politician’s problem too.
How to do that? What about starting with a phone call, a text or an email to your local state and federal congressman and senator? Or maybe to your preferred political party candidate? It could be as simple as, “What will you do to address the lack of knowledgeable health care out there for our elderly? I want to know, and I vote.”
Carole Larkin MA, CMC, CAEd, DCP, QDCS, EICS is an expert in Alzheimer’s and related Dementias care. She has a Master’s of Applied Gerontology from the University of North Texas, is a Certified Alzheimer’s Educator, is a Dementia Care Practitioner, is a Qualified Dementia Care Specialist, and an Excellence in Care Specialist at the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, as well as a Certified Trainer/Facilitator of the groundbreaking dementia care training tool, the Virtual Dementia Tour Experience She is a Certified Geriatric Care Manager who specializes in helping families with Alzheimer’s and related dementias issues. She consults with families telephonically nationwide on problems related to the Dementias. Her company, ThirdAge Services LLC, is located in Dallas, TX, and her website is www.thirdageservices.com.
Experience a unique conference for congregation members, nurses, healthcare personnel and other individuals in the healthcare field or who have an interest in senior and disability ministry. Network with industry representatives at the educational sessions, panel discussions, exhibits and an evening celebration with entertainment. Earn 4.5 continuing education (CE) credits targeted for nurses and social workers.
Come Check Out:
Real Hope when Confronted with Dementia
Presenters -Lori La Bey, founder Alzheimer’s Speaks -Rev. Curt Seefeldt, director of church relations, The Lutheran Home Association
This session will change your perception of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementias. From personal experiences to God’s promises through Jesus, La Bey and Pastor Seefeldt will provide participants with understanding, resources and strategies that will provide hope and emotional and spiritual support.
Learning objectives
Learn to apply the promises of Jesus’ gospel in ways that provide comfort and give hope.
Develop a positive and objective mindset to the disease which will enable every caregiver to provide strong emotional support.
Identify educational resources which will help provide understanding to others.
Learn how local and global activities are making a difference to those diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, their family and caregivers.
Understand the importance of spreading awareness and education of Alzheimer’s.
Dementia-Friendly Books Offering Simple Story Lines
Get Your Alzheimer’s Stamps!
AARP MN 50 Over 50
FootBar Walker
National Institute for Dementia Education
Alzheimer’s Speaks
Alzheimer's Speaks believes working together and sharing knowledge is the best way to win the battle against this disease. Please explore the site and share your thoughts.
Alzheimer's Speaks Blog 
