Description

As June is Alzheimer’s & Brain Awareness Month, we thought we would turn our attention not only to those living with Alzheimer’s, but to their families and the folks providing them care as well. Caregivers and families are partners in a resident’s well-being, both wanting what is best for the resident to live life as fully and independently as possible. However, sometimes it can be difficult for a family to understand their loved one’s changing needs and the progression of their condition. And someone with cognitive impairment can’t express that to their family themselves. Technology can now help fill in that gap, advocating for residents who can’t advocate for themselves and supporting communication between caregivers and families. In this National Fall Huddle session, we’ll be joined by Brookdale Senior Living’s Juliet Holt Klinger, Senior Director, Dementia Care, to demonstrate ways to support caregivers’ crucial conversations. We’ll outline best practices for effectively communicating residents’ needs, changing conditions, new challenges, and the proposed clinical interventions to families. We’ll explain how innovation can be used to identify unmet needs, helping to reveal what residents can’t request themselves. And we’ll explore how technology can support better-quality care and better relationships between care staff and families, by not only reducing falls and increasing safety, but also providing staff with insights to help them better communicate the events surrounding a fall to families. We’ll also review successful case studies, and our panel of professionals will take your questions

In October’s National Fall Huddle, we’ll evaluate the incidence of falls during the evening hours and what triggers and subsequent behaviors are present prior to these fall events. We’ll also review how environmental factors contribute to fall risk—are the lights on when they should off? Are residents becoming entangled in blankets? Are residents wandering at night? And we’ll provide strategies for mitigating sundowning behaviors, increasing resident safety and reducing fall risk. Additionally, we’ll examine how technology can further help reduce risk during these most vulnerable hours, supporting staff so they can provide more effective and person-centered care. As always, we’ll review successful case studies, and our panel of experts will take your questions.