Empowering Caregivers: Epoch's Dementia Caregiver Training Program
Team Epoch,
Dementia, a progressive neurological condition, poses certain unique challenges to caregivers.
Dementia is a complex neurological condition often accompanied by psychiatric symptoms and behavioral challenges. It is often difficult to diagnose especially in the early stages and leaves caregivers feeling exhausted and confused. Dementia is progressive in nature and as of now, there is no treatment available for it. But all is not lost with a dementia diagnosis. Good management and a great supportive environment can help preserve the quality of life to a great extent. Early diagnosis and intervention has a critical role to play in the prognosis of the condition.
Dementia care can be very philosophy based. There are several approaches practiced globally. Epoch has 10+ years of relevant experience in India, and is helmed by Neha Sinha, a dementia specialist & clinical psychologist, she is also trained in palliative care philosophy.
Know more about dementia
About DementiaAt Epoch, we provide a specialized dementia care program for elders suffering from dementia of any type and across all stages. The Epoch Dementia Care Plan manages symptoms of dementia by focusing on a resident’s emotional well being, providing holistic, and person centered care tailored to the resident’s needs that ensures quality of life. The Epoch Care plan is based on evidence based, global best practices. The dementia care plan focuses on the person as much as the medical condition.
We take the time to understand each resident living with dementia at a personal level. Right from the time of admission, we ask the family to share their loved one’s preferences, daily routines, and any challenging behaviors that they may exhibit as a result of their condition. Our trained staff review this information and incorporate it into the individualized care plan that is used to guide day-to-day caregiving. Caring for someone with dementia can often be a challenge. Simple tasks such as giving a shower or eating a meal become particularly difficult. Our team uses evidence-based methods to care for residents living with dementia to ensure they receive the highest quality of care in the most comfortable manner.
At Epoch, we focus on several aspects of dementia care so that the elderlies are entrusted with love, care and reliance. Here are the major key fundamentals of the Epoch dementia care program:
Some more videos on dementia activities at Epoch
5 Golden rules of managing Dementia
Check out these blogs on Dementia by our team
We are grateful to our residents and family members for sharing their experiences with us.
Our father has been under Epoch's care since 2014. The attention to medical / physical well being as well as the sophisticated, caring approach to managing dementia that Epoch has provided is truly excellent, and way beyond anything else in India. While they operate professionally, it's with a warmth and flexibility that helps families like ours cope with the difficulties with the situation.
Daughter of Resident
“We explored many facilities and options. And then we found Epoch! It took only a couple of interactions with Neha and her team and a brief visit of the facilities, to be reassured that we had found the perfect elder care home and environment for our father.”
Our father was a successful, well-respected entrepreneur and a fiercely independent person. Since my brother and I reside in Australia and...
Click to read full article.Sons of ex-resident (Australia)
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At Epoch, our goal with every elder with dementia is to achieve a sense of emotional wellbeing. We believe that everything from symptoms to stage management can be so much better if the elder is happy. What is also important is that we don't just prioritize the neurological or medical aspects of dementia, but create a holistic care plan which can focus on an elder's life like social, emotional, cognitive, nutritional health, spiritual and personal needs.
Implementing a person centred care plan requires the team to know every resident very closely- understand their choices, preferences, enable them to take decisions & empower them. PCC starts even before any elderly moves into an Epoch home. Our team tries to understand how best can the elder's life or lifestyle can be recreated at an Epoch home? Right from getting a detailed personal history, to setting up their room, to the first meal on arrival and the first night they spend here- everything needs to be thought of and planned. Personalized dementia care plan for each resident depends on individual histories, dementia stage, preferences, current skill sets, and care needs.
We understand that moving out of one’s home can be difficult. Our team and experts help families with this decision and hand hold them through the entire process. Families are encouraged to have open conversations and spend time at Epoch homes to get a personal understanding of what care at Epoch looks like. The transition and moving-in period of an elderly is of utmost importance to us, as a change of environment can be unsettling if not managed appropriately. Our care team coaches the family on how to handle this period and helps in a seamless transition.
Our homes are managed under the expertise of a trained professional team. All our staff is trained in dementia management and strategies. Each staff member (care, support, or executive) undergoes basic dementia care training which includes an understanding of clinical picture, symptoms, communication, and basic management strategies for challenging behaviours. Our facility managers & nurses are required to undergo advanced training as well as ongoing training. Epoch Elder Care collaborates with Stiftelsen Silviahemmet, Stockholm as their Learning Partner. With this partnership, Epoch offers international standards of training on dementia to our facility managers and nurses.
At Epoch, we provide a specialized dementia care program for elders suffering from dementia of any type and across all stages. Understanding the type of dementia and assessing the stage of dementia using standadised tools, helps us provide better training to staff in order to define care goals as per the stage. While good management can truly slow down the process of stage progression, reaching advanced stages is inevitable. What is important is ensuring they are comfortable, free of pain, surrounded by a lot of warmth, love and care.
Meaningful engagement and activities can really help improve quality of life in dementia. It is important to choose the right activities keeping in mind both their preferences and current skill sets. We try and facilitate a variety of activities throughout the week be it cognitive, sensory & motor, physical, activities involving daily household chores such as kitchen activities, or using music and dolls for comfort & conversation. Our elderlies with dementia need constant motivation to live life as normal as possible. To encourage such, our care team comes up with creative and meaningful ideas for the different sets of activities. This has a positive effect on their overall well-being. Moreover, we see them actively participating with broad smiles and open hearts.
A key challenge faced by a dementia caregiver is dealing with difficult behaviours such as agitation, aggression, anxiety, wandering, suspiciousness etc. One of the first things we train our team is how to communicate with someone with dementia. Challenging behaviours happen because of a reason, we learn to identify triggers and interpretations of such behaviours. Our goal is to manage such behaviours using non pharmacological approaches. Sometimes simple things like playing music at the right time can make a huge difference, while changing the environment, changing the care attendant, or engaging them in small activities may also prove to be helpful.
Nutritional requirements may change according to the stages of dementia. Nutrition in dementia does not only involve understanding personal choices but also creating a distraction-free environment, using the right crockery and cutlery & giving the right amount of assistance. At some point we move to pre-mixed food to make it easier to swallow or to avoid the confusion of seeing various items on a plate. While a lot of thought goes in ensuring proper nutrition level, food also plays a role in engagement, a way to uplift the mood and keep them motivated.
We manage dementia across all stages. Once an elder moves in with us, this becomes their home. Late stage management for dementia focuses on preserving their quality of life as much as possible. While good management can truly slow down the process of stage progression, reaching advanced stages is inevitable. Our focus in the later stages is more on managing physical health, postural health, motor & muscular issues, infection prevention and all other challenges that come along with stage progression. We switch to more passive activities, use more music to ensure their environment is always positive. What is important is ensuring they are comfortable, free of pain, surrounded by a lot of warmth, love and care.
The goal of palliative care/end of life care in a dementia care program is to improve the quality of life by focussing on relief from the symptoms, pain, physical stress, and mental stress. We provide end of life care for all our residents at our homes, keeping in mind individual’s wishes and preferences. We also hand hold families through this difficult stage, help them take the right decisions and also ensure that we do everything possible to keep the elder happy. Dignity at the end of life is the single most important metric for us.
