I recently sat down to lunch with a lady who is making a difference in our dementia community.  She arrived in town 8 years ago with the determination to provide a service agency for the elderly.  She has done that and so much more. To try to understand it all, I had her draw a schematic outline of all the things she has created and directs. All tolled, 380 jobs have been created, providing services in Mobile, Baldwin, Escambia, Washington, and Monroeville counties.

You may be familiar with her Touching Hearts Senior Care, which encompasses in-home assistance, a safe discharge program, case management, and a pop-in service. She also helps veterans acquire assistance from the VA’s Aid and Attendance Benefits and offers a monthly support group.

Ms. Germany is the president of the Gulf Coast Senior Alliance, whose members provide quality and trustworthy care to the senior population on the Gulf Coast.

If that’s not enough, she has developed the non-profit Gulf Coast Dementia Services, Inc.  whose mission is to target the many needs of our dementia community, respite services being high on the list. Since dementia is our country’s fastest growing health concern with no cure in sight, I personally want to commend Ms. Germany on her foresight and determination to enable the many families living with dementia.  This group was responsible for the successful dementia conference featuring Teepa Snow held just this month.

You get a purple angel*, Gina Germany, for all you’re doing for dementia care.

*This Purple Angel symbol can be used by anyone raising awareness regarding dementia. It symbolizes a guardian over those living with dementia, their families and friends, as well as all those working to raise awareness about dementia world wide.

Teepa Snow knows how to make a lasting impression.  Her trademark characterizations of dementia keeps her audience engaged and amused.  But dementia is no laughing matter.  Anyone who cares for people with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia is faced with incomprehensible challenges.  Teepa Snow is on a mission to change the perception of dementia in society and instruct caregivers on positive approach practices.  Her recent visit to Mobile as the featured speaker at the “Lower Alabama 2014 Alzheimer’s and Dementia Conference” was a treat for all in attendance.  “That’s my mother,” was  tearfully said by one participant as Teepa role played out a typical scenario between a mother affected by dementia and her daughter.  Mrs. Snow’s 30 plus years working hands on with dementia patients has made behaviors caused by dementia to be second nature.  She recently published “Dementia Caregiver Guide,”  a family friendly guidebook to understanding the many facets and progression of dementia.  It can be purchased from her website, teepasnow.com.

In her presentation, Mrs. Snow demonstrated techniques for assisting someone with dementia into a car, how to help someone sit down in a chair safely, and how to substitute a dangerous situation with a safe one.  She stressed that understanding the limitations someone may be experiencing is helpful when providing care: realizing that vision is limited,  awareness that while hearing may not be impaired, understanding  meanings of words may be, and that the use of hands and feet are altered. “All due to changes in the brain”, said Teepa Snow, referring to images from the projector that clearly show vacant spots where tissue once was.

The attentive audience got to rehearse techniques with partners to help apply her practical teachings.

Teepa Snow’s keen awareness of people’s behavior makes her an excellent teacher.  Thank you, Teepa Snow, for coming to Mobile and moving us forward in our approach to care.  Thank you Gulf Coast Dementia Services and Mercy Life,  for this invaluable lesson made available to our community today. May all that was learned go forth and multiply throughout our care community.

This purple wreath helped guide the participants to our meeting place today at the Five Rivers Delta Resource Center.  We had a great turnout and heard valuable information from Julie McGee, Director of the Area Agency on Aging. Mrs. McGee gave a brief history of the Coalition and it’s first project – the Helpline – and then introduced her good friend, Gayle Boswell, who is the Area Agency Director in Montgomery, AL.  Mrs. Boswell shared some exciting news about what they are doing with grant money for CNA training in nursing homes.

Della Sanchez, Alabama Cares Coordinator, was making it all happen and handing out information as people arrived.

The next speaker was yours truly, Beth Reinert, who spoke about finding information on the internet to help with dementia care. Caregiversunite.org blog and Facebook page was shown on the screen, a prize was given for making a comment on the Facebook page and there was a question and answer period that followed.  The remaining members of the Coalition were given a chance to tell about themselves and what they are doing:

Laura Harrington of E. A. Roberts Alzheimer Center told of their recent successful open house and stated the center would be open one Saturday a month for Adult Day Care along with their regular weekday schedule.

Gina Germany of Touching Hearts Senior Care told about the Gulf Coast Senior Alliance and the Gulf Coast Dementia Services.  She announced a conference in April that will feature Teepa Snow as the speaker.

Janet Rich Pittman, Director of Marketing at Brookside Retirement Community, told of her passion for teaching about Brain Health and dementia prevention.

Leslie Johnson of Covenant Hospice brought us up to date on the support groups available in Baldwin County.  See the recent post detailing the times and dates of those meetings.

We also heard from a DETA trainer, Martha Allegri, who is available to speak and teach about dementia through Alzbrain.org.

I am excited about the interest shown today and all the people I met who I hope to introduce you to soon via this blog. Thank you all for coming. Long live the Alzheimer and Dementia Coalition of South Alabama!