Coping With Dementia
Dementia is the loss of cognitive abilities, which can include memory, speech, use of limbs, ability to make judgments and other symptoms. It’s estimated that 1 in 8 adults over 65 have some symptoms of dementia, with about 70% of those cases resulting from Alzheimer’s disease.

A Proactive Approach
Almost half of all patients in nursing homes have some level of dementia. About 10% of patients in hospice care have a primary diagnosis of dementia, and the number is growing. There is currently no medication to completely treat or cure dementia, but nearly all people with dementia can benefit from some form of therapy. We help our patients make sensory connections, like listening to music or sounds from nature, being touched or massaged, or participating in activities they enjoyed previously. It’s been shown that these techniques can soothe patients with dementia, making them less agitated and more receptive to care.

All statistics are according to the 2009 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures Report by the Alzheimer’s Association  

Our Staff
Members of our staff have been trained as Dementia Specialists. The voluntary training takes place over several weeks and emphasizes the importance of paying close attention to the patient’s personality to find better ways to care for them. Our Dementia Specialists understand how to adapt their care to each patient’s precise needs. Dementia Specialists are able to pick up on subtle clues that can make all the difference to the patient.

Dementia Training Topics 

• The brain with dementia 
• Productive, leisure, self-care and insightful activities 
• Seeing the world through the eyes of dementia 
• Stages of dementia and typical behaviors of a patient 
• Communicating with and evaluating patients with dementia 
• Creating positive social and cultural environments 

A Commitment to Care 
We seek to elicit memories from the patients, in the hope that they are able to express their final wishes and words to loved ones, and close any open chapters before their final passage. – Seth Gillman, Passages Hospice Administrator

Patients with dementia sometimes require specialized care because they have difficulty communicating clearly. We see this as an opportunity to raise our level of excellence to meet the changing needs of our patients. Through specialized training and therapeutic techniques, we hope to positively impact each of our patients living with dementia. We also strive to educate family members of patients with dementia and staff at nursing facilities to increase the overall awareness of dementia-related issues.