13 minute read
Strategies for Purposeful Engagement
By Ashley Krollenbrock Strategies for Purposeful Engagement for Loved Ones with Dementia
If a loved one has dementia, finding meaningful ways to engage with them allows you to maintain a relationship and will help your loved one as their dementia progresses. It can be difficult to know how to engage, because dementia presents differently in everyone. Alzheimer’s is the most well-known form of dementia, but other forms, such as vascular dementia, are also common.
Dementia is not a typical part of aging. In order for cognitive changes to constitute a dementia diagnosis, it must be severe enough to impact the ability to live independently. Dementia symptoms depend on the part of the brain impacted. For example, frontotemporal dementia causes a lot of behavior and personality changes.
Dr. Shadi Gholizadeh, a Memory Care expert shared practical ways that caregivers can keep their loved ones fully engaged and supported.
Understanding Dementia
People with dementia experience anosognosia, which means they have a lack of insight into their condition. This means that “people with dementia believe that everything is okay and normal. This is different from denial.” To provide effective care, Dr. Gholizadeh says that caregivers “want to enter into that person’s reality.” Correcting someone with dementia can cause frustration. Try out the validation theory technique as a way to convey empathy for your loved one with dementia and improve quality of life for both you and them.
It’s also important to realize that someone can be different from day to day, or even hour to hour. Take the time each day to understand your loved one’s beliefs and mindset, so you can tailor your care. One of Dr. Gholizadeh’s goals as Director of Memory Care is to teach caregivers to try different things, and, if they don’t work, to try again on a different day, at a different time of day, or in different settings.
Person-Centered Care
Early in our conversation, Dr. Gholizadeh shared a common refrain in dementia care: “If you’ve met one person with dementia, you’ve met one person with dementia.” Everyone experiences dementia differently. Dr. Gholizadeh said that, when it comes to care planning, “it is difficult to have a roadmap, because biology also meets social support, personality, and cultural background.” When someone is diagnosed with dementia, “for some there can be a significant grief cycle, while others can appear unbothered.”
This makes it important to focus on personcentered care. When we think about dementia, we often think about symptoms and challenging behaviors, such as wandering. There has been a recent shift to reframing challenging behaviors and using person-centered language. For example, wandering is exploring. “If we reframe our approach to a stance of curiosity, we can support wandering,” and go on walks instead of constantly saying no. Behavior is communication, so we need to ask ourselves, “What is the person saying?” Dr. Gholizadeh shared steps caregivers can take to provide person-centered care.
Practical Steps for Caregivers
Know the Person
Style your care to be specific to the person you’re supporting, based on what they would appreciate, and where they are in their dementia journey. For example, you might want to frame a caregiver as a personal assistant or an activity director.
“It’s important to know a person’s background, what their values are, and what is important to them.” Ask yourself: What are the routines they’ve always had? If they’ve always cooked, incorporate that into their day, and realize that they may not want someone cooking for them. Adapt activities that are important to the person, instead of using a one-size-fits-all approach. Encourage a Sense of Purpose
When you’re supporting someone with dementia, “don’t take away their sense of purpose. Choose activities that are in line with what a person values.” For example, if you play music, play songs that someone used to listen to when they were younger.
Dr. Gholizadeh says you want to “optimize the odds that a person will be open to dementia care,” and the best way to do this is to make activities meaningful. For example, “if someone used to be a teacher, frame the care so that the person is in a teacher role because that gives them a sense of purpose.” A former teacher might not want to play a language game, but may be excited to engage with the same activity if it involves teaching someone else.
Consider the Environment
Sometimes a person with dementia will respond well to an activity on one day, but not on another day. Instead of feeling discouraged, Dr. Gholizadeh encourages caregivers to ask themselves, “How are things different today, and how are they impacting behavior?”
Subtle things that we may not notice, such as background noises, temperature changes, and room brightness can have a profound impact on someone with dementia. If you learn to take notice of the environment, you’ll learn how to set your loved one up for success. Focus on Engagement
Caregivers often feel pressured to organize formal activities for cognitive engagement. This isn’t always necessary. “You can make cooking or folding laundry into engagement.” Also, move away from rigid ideas about the correct way to do activities. “People with dementia are often tired of being told they’re wrong,” so they may withdraw if they feel pressured to engage in an activity that is difficult or tiring.
Create an environment that has rest time. You want to strike a balance between under- and overstimulation. Everybody needs time to relax. You don’t have to feel guilty if your loved one spends some time watching TV, especially if they have opportunities for more active engagement throughout the day.
Be Flexible and Curious
Dr. Gholizadeh shared one of the most important questions in dementia care: “How do we help a person’s world not feel so small?” As a caregiver, empower yourself to be curious and experiment. “Try new things, and you can apologize if they don’t work. If you don’t try, the person’s world will be smaller than it has to be.” Let go of your fear of failure.
Activities don’t always have to be formal and can simply be incorporating someone in the day-to-day rhythms of life. Focus less on outcomes and preconceived goals. Some days will be better than others and removing expectations will let you focus on the bigger picture.
Our 11th Season ~A Year of Transformation and New Beginnings~
As the global pandemic shifted the world on its axis, theatres shuttered their doors (some, never to reopen). The lucky ones that were able to navigate the everchanging, ever-frightening waters of the times realized very quickly that the way we create would need to change. We were not able to make art in the same collaborative, connective way we did before, communing together in a shared space. So, we adapted. We were challenged in new ways. We transformed.
Now, as we move forward, we must change again. In the wake of the difficulties of empty seats and quiet stages for far too long, we must begin anew with different ideas and ways of creating. We must listen to new voices. We must work together to shine our beams in every shadowed, unexplored corner, to grow and expand, and to “add our light to the sum of the light.”
The 11th season of your Cloverdale Playhouse will explore stories about transformation and new beginnings. We relish a blank page, and we look forward to writing this next chapter of our journey. In a world going through an intense period of metamorphosis, we invite you to join us for a year of growth and change, hope and possibility, with inclusivity and community. Visit www.cloverdaleplayhouse.org
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American Founders reveals men and women of African descent as key protagonists in the story of American democracy. It chronicles how black people developed and defended New World settlements, undermined slavery, and championed freedom throughout the hemisphere from the sixteenth thorough the twentieth centuries. While conventional history tends to reduce the roles of African Americans to antebellum slavery and the civil rights movement, in reality African residents preceded the English by a century and arrived in the Americas in numbers that far exceeded European migrants up until 1820. Afro-Americans were omnipresent in the founding and advancement of the Americas, and recurrently outnumbered Europeans at many times and places, from colonial Peru to antebellum Virginia. Africandescended people contributed to every facet of American history as explorers, conquistadores, settlers, soldiers, sailors, servants, slaves, rebels, leaders, lawyers, litigants, laborers, artisans, artists, activists, translators, teachers, doctors, nurses, inventors, investors, merchants, mathematicians, scientists, scholars, engineers, entrepreneurs, generals, cowboys, pirates, professors, politicians, priests, poets, and presidents. The many events and mixed-race individuals included in this book underscore that black and white Americans share the same history and, in many cases, the same ancestry. American Founders is meant to celebrate this shared heritage and strengthen these bonds.
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Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) are a tax-favored way to make charitable gifts from your IRA while gaining tax benefits that might not otherwise be available. If you are making charitable gifts without using your IRA, your gift will probably receive no tax benefit. This is because most people no longer itemize their deductions, so any tax deduction is lost. Instead they take the larger standard deduction (plus the extra standard deduction for those age 65 or over or blind). Even if you do itemize deductions, the QCD still provides a better tax benefit.
IRA owners and IRA beneficiaries who are 70 ½ or older may transfer money directly from their IRA to a qualified charity and avoid any taxation on the distribution from their IRA. By doing this they avoid taxation on the distribution but do not receive a deduction for the gift. The SECURE Act raised the age to take RMDs to 72 years, but the QCD eligible age stayed at 70 1/2.
The maximum gift that can be made is $100,000 per person per year. In years in which RMDs are mandatory, many individuals find it attractive to gift part or all the RMD requirement to their favorite charity, thereby avoiding tax on the RMD. QCDs have the effect of lowering your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI), so they have the added benefit of perhaps lowering additional taxes on Social Security, Medicare surcharges and increased tax deductions, credits or other benefits that can result from a lower AGI.
There are some detailed specific rules for a gift to qualify as a QCD, so make sure that you consult your financial or tax advisor prior to making the gift to make sure that it qualifies.
There is also another littleknown provision in the CARES Act that affects charitable giving. The CARES Act allows a special charitable deduction for cash gifts of up to $300 for 2021. This is available even for non-itemizers. With the Pandemic, charities are hurting in 2021. As we approach the holiday season, please be as generous as you can.
Financial Thoughts with Susan Moore
By Susan Clayton Moore, J.D.
Principal of Moore Wealth Management, Inc. Susan Clayton Moore, J.D., is a financial advisor and wealth manager with Moore Wealth Management, Inc., which has offices in Montgomery, Alexander City and Auburn. Susan has under advisement over $170 million (as of 3.31.2021) in brokerage and advisory assets through Kestra Financial and has been a financial advisor and wealth manager for over 38 years. She is an Ed Slott Elite IRA advisor.1
1Ed Slott and Company is the nation’s leading source of accurate, timely IRA expertise and analysis to financial advisors, institutions, consumers, and media across the country. Ed Slott and Company neither sells nor endorses any financial product. Members of Ed Slott’s Elite IRA Advisor GroupSM train with Ed Slott and his team of IRA Experts on a continual basis. These advisors passed a background check, complete requisite training, attend semi-annual workshops, webinars, and complete mandatory exams. They are immediately notified of changes to the tax codes and updates on retirement planning, so they can help you be sure your retirement dollars are safe from unnecessary taxes and fees. Additionally, members have access to Ed Slott and Company, America’s IRA Experts, to answer any tough questions or planning needs.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect those held by Kestra Investment Services, LLC or Kestra Advisory Services, LLC. This is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific investment advice or recommendations for any individual. It is suggested that you consult your financial professional, attorney or tax advisor regarding your individual situation.
Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC (Kestra IS), member FINRA/SIPC. Investment Advisory Services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS), an affiliate of Kestra IS. Kestra IS or Kestra AS are not affiliated with Moore Wealth Management, Inc.
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AUM OLLI returned to in-person classes for the Fall 2021 Term. There were fewer classes, and enrollments were kept small for social distancing, but members were enthusiastic about the return. Having people back in the classrooms allowed for the return of hands-on classes, with four options offered. Based on the success of the limited fall schedule, plans are well underway for Winter Term 2022, which runs from January 31 – March 18, 2022. There will be classes in all three of the usual categories – discussion/study, hands-on, and active.
There are some new courses and a number of popular courses returning. AUM OLLI is offering a new art course in addition to the art course at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts. There is also a new course devoted to Middle East issues.
Some popular courses that AUM OLLI members have missed during the pandemic are back. The hiking course is on Tuesdays, and the course on birding is on Thursdays, scheduling that allows outdoor enthusiasts the possibility of registering for both. Beginning watercolor painting is also returning to the schedule.
Courses that continue to be offered are photography, writing, Tai Chi for pain management, brain bowl, jewelry making, pine needle basket weaving, and others. There will also be some field trips and lunch presentations.
AUM OLLI Open House is Thursday, December 09, from 10 - 11:30, and registration begins Wednesday, December 08, at noon at the Center for Lifelong Learning (75 TechnaCenter
Drive). People will have a chance to meet instructors – new and old – and register if they have not already registered online. Online registration opens at noon on December 08, 2021. Another attraction of the December Open House will be a display of works completed by participants in the handson classes: bead jewelry, photographs, mixed media artworks, pine needle baskets, and others. There may also be some unique works available for sale.
Watch for the posting of the Winter Term 2022 class schedule online at the AUM OLLI website (www.aum.edu/olli). Plan to attend the Open House on December 10 to meet instructors and new friends. People can fulfill their New Year’s resolution to become active intellectually and physically by enrolling in AUM OLLI courses of their choice!
Join AUM OLLI now for a $40.00 annual scan QR code for more membership fee, and take advantage of these unique opportunities. For more updates and information about AUM OLLI, go to www.aum.edu/OLLI.
