Care Giving for Alzheimer’s Disease: A Compassionate Guide for Clinicians and Loved Ones

Veteran clinicians offer a unique framework for understanding the psychological origins of behaviors typical of Alzheimer's and other dementias, and for providing appropriate care for patients as they decline. Guidelines are rooted in the theory of retrogenesis in dementia--that those with the condition regress in stages toward infancy--as well as knowledge of associated brain damage. The objective is to meet patients where they are developmentally to best be able to address the tasks of their daily lives, from eating and toileting to preventing falls and wandering. This accessible information gives readers a platform for creating strategies that are respectful, sensitive, and tailored to individual needs, thus avoiding problems that result when care is ineffective or counterproductive.

 

Featured in the coverage:

 

• Abilities and disabilities during the different stages of Alzheimer's disease.
• Strategies for keeping the patient's finances safe.
• Pain in those with dementia, and why it is frequently ignored.
• "Help! I've lost my mother and can't find her!"
• Sexuality and intimacy in persons with dementia.
• Instructive vignettes of successful caring interventions.

 

Given the projected numbers of individuals expected to develop dementing conditions, Care Giving for Alzheimer’s Disease will find immediate interest among clinical psychologists, health psychologists, psychiatrists, social

workers, and primary care physicians.

Verna Benner Carson, PhD, PMHCNS, BC, is an advanced practice, board certified clinical nurse specialist in psychiatric/mental health nursing.  She is also the President of C&V Senior Care Specialists, Inc., a consulting firm that provides training, operations, and marketing support to geriatric providers across the continuum of care specializing in behavioral health and Alzheimer’s care. Dr. Carson is also an associate professor of psychiatric mental health nursing at Towson University in Baltimore, MD. Towson is part of the University of Maryland System. Prior to this, Dr. Carson served for 11 years as the National Director of Behavioral Health for Tender Loving Care - Staff Builders.  She was an associate professor of psychiatric nursing at the University of Maryland School of Nursing for 21 years. 

Katherine Vanderhorst, RN, BSN is Vice- President of C&V Senior Care Specialists, Inc., a consulting firm incorporated in 2007. C&V Senior Care Specialists provides training, operations, and marketing support to geriatric providers across the continuum of care specializing in Behavioral Health and Alzheimer’s Care. Katherine Vanderhorst is a psychiatric nurse with years of clinical experience in Behavioral Health Care and Alzheimer’s Care. She began her career at New York Hospital Cornell-Medical Center Payne Whitney Clinic. She wrote two studies on the effectiveness of psychiatric home care. Prior to working in home care she worked in pro

duct development and marketing for a Fortune 500 company Pharmaceutical Company. In her 15 years with a National Home Care Provider she served as a Sales Director over 6 Northeast States and General Manager over a $20 million market in Western New York .

Harold G. Koenig, MD, MHSc completed his undergraduate education at Stanford University, his medical school training at the University of California at San Francisco, and his geriatric medicine, psychiatry, and biostatistics training at Duke University Medical Center. He is board certified in general psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry and geriatric medicine, and is on the faculty at Duke as professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and associate professor of medicine, and is on the faculty at King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi

Arabia, as a distinguished adjunct professor. He is also a registered nurse. Dr.Koenig is director of the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health at Duke University Medical Center.