Public News Service
LANSING, Mich. - Elder care providers across Michigan and the nation are turning to more-specialized and individualized care for dementia patients, based on methods used in Montessori pre-schools to maintain cognitive ability. Meanwhile, families caring for elders at home are losing state resources.
Deedre Vriesman is a program manager for The Woods at Maple Creek, a non-profit, live-in facility run by Lutheran Social Services. She says the mantra for dementia care used to be "clean, safe and dry," but one of the latest techniques includes the learning approach used with pre-schoolers.
"It's the same methods that you use for children who are in Montessori-based schools; very hands on, sorting tasks, feeding tasks, smelling different things, using reminiscence. That's all built in to make it a meaningful event that makes sense to the person, so it's more familiar."
The high price of elder care facilities forces many families to keep a loved one at home for a much longer time, says Vriesman. Before cuts to funding, those families could count on help from the state to find resources, she adds.
"They had a program called the Single Point of Entry. A family member could call and say 'my grandma needs a placement, here's the type of things that I'm seeing with her.' Then, they could help you sort through, 'okay, based on that, these are the programs that could help.' Because, it is overwhelming."
More than 180,000 Michigan senior citizens are diagnosed with dementia. That represents a six-percent increase in the last decade. Vriesman says state money is no longer available to help families find resources for dementia patients, and the drugs to treat dementia are often expensive with limited results. Advocates say the most effective treatment focuses on maintaining cognitive ability and life enrichment using the skills a patient has retained.
Deedre Vriesman is a program manager for The Woods at Maple Creek, a non-profit, live-in facility run by Lutheran Social Services. She says the mantra for dementia care used to be "clean, safe and dry," but one of the latest techniques includes the learning approach used with pre-schoolers.
"It's the same methods that you use for children who are in Montessori-based schools; very hands on, sorting tasks, feeding tasks, smelling different things, using reminiscence. That's all built in to make it a meaningful event that makes sense to the person, so it's more familiar."
The high price of elder care facilities forces many families to keep a loved one at home for a much longer time, says Vriesman. Before cuts to funding, those families could count on help from the state to find resources, she adds.
"They had a program called the Single Point of Entry. A family member could call and say 'my grandma needs a placement, here's the type of things that I'm seeing with her.' Then, they could help you sort through, 'okay, based on that, these are the programs that could help.' Because, it is overwhelming."
More than 180,000 Michigan senior citizens are diagnosed with dementia. That represents a six-percent increase in the last decade. Vriesman says state money is no longer available to help families find resources for dementia patients, and the drugs to treat dementia are often expensive with limited results. Advocates say the most effective treatment focuses on maintaining cognitive ability and life enrichment using the skills a patient has retained.
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