Introducing our
Dementia care program
Brookridge has partnered with Rachael Wonderlin and her team at Dementia By Day to develop our signature dementia care program, Mindful Impressions. We have refocused and rebranded the type of care we are providing. In Mindful Impressions, residents living with cognitive impair-ments are able to receive more emotional and psychological support when they need it most. You’ll notice that we offer dementia-focused, small group activities and programming, along with an environment that caters to the needs of our residents living with dementia.
STAFF EDUCATION
While many senior living communities will say that their team members receive dementia training, that training is often represented by a short, in-person overview of the basics of dementia. In contrast, at Brookridge, team members all receive five and a half hours of dementia education through Dementia By Day School. The course is an in-depth look at dementia and dementia caregiving, especially in a senior living setting. Team members receive education on the basics of dementia as a group of diseases, how to communicate with individuals living with dementia, how to troubleshoot challenging dementia-related situations, the importance of using improvisational theater in communication, all about programming, interior design, dining, personal care, and even how to better communicate with residents’ families. Leadership team members also go through the Program Director course, which is an additional two hours of education on setting up and executing on a dementia care calendar.
The main focus of the education is on the concept of Embracing Their Reality™: how can we live in the world of the person living with dementia, no matter where that reality lives? How can we do what is true for them without feeling like we’re “lying” by doing so? We want our team members to feel at ease communicating with their residents, and we want our families to look to our team members for guidance
FAMILY SUPPORT
Transitioning a person living with dementia into senior living is an impossibly hard and stressful decision. If you’re reading this now, you know all too well the pain this situation can bring. There is an immense amount of loss and grief wrapped up in the dementia care journey, as many of our team members know from their own lives.
We want to make the transition for you as easy as possible, which is why we’ve opened up a de-mentia education portal for you. In this portal, you’ll be able to go through in-depth knowledge about dementia care and better dementia care communication. We’ll be answering questions like, “What do I tell my mom when she says she wants to go home?” or, “How can I avoid an argu-ment with my spouse who has dementia?” Check out the link below to log in with your special family code.
In addition, consider attending one of our community support groups. Our upcoming dates are (can we update the site regularly with this information, per community?) or join an online sup-port group hosted by Dementia By Day at this link (www.rachaelwonderlin.com/events)
The team at Brookridge has made a family education portal available to all of our residents’ family members for free. Access the portal here:
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