Welcome
Thank you for visiting my web site! After 35 years in the healthcare industry my career grows in ways I never expected it too, for instance I have recently been offered and accepted a position as an adjunct professor for a university in Sydney Australia. I am engaged with them in a research project for the Namaste Care Program I developed for people with advanced dementia. I have been to Sydney helping with the project three times and it has been such a joy for me to work with such amazing talented and dedicated people. We should have some results of this pilot project this year. After implementing three Namaste Care Programs in Australia, I was informed that one has been started in Greece. And the Alzheimer's Society in Greece translated my Grandma Joyce book into Greek so I'm international!
My primary work continues to be consulting with long-term care facilities and more recently for a hospice organization. I believe my heart has found another special journey as I explore ways Namaste Care can be offered as a special service to hospice patients of all ages and with all types of diagnosis. I am also reconnecting with some of the companies and people I have worked with in the past so hopefully that will be another exciting turn in my work. To find out more about my career please click on Joyce’s background.
Like much in my life, this was an unplanned career. As the mother of four children and multiple foster children, the issues of youth were my passion. But I fell in love with the elderly, especially people with dementia, the day I stepped into my first nursing facility in Ithaca, New York, and never looked back. I have always tried to seize whatever opportunities life presented me and, as much as possible, to see opportunities in other people's obstacles. Robert Kennedy said "There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why... I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?" That is what I also believe.
Helping people live with quality to their lives in spite of a dementing illness is and continues to be one of the most important aspects of my life. I have developed three activity programs that can be implemented in assisted living communities, skilled nursing facilities, hospice organizations and adult day programs. For people with mild memory loss “The Memory Enhancement Program” (MEP) provides the comfort of a structured day with a small circle of "friends". Staff and families find that residents who participate in this program are more verbal and happier when they become part of the MEP.
The second program focuses on meeting the physical and social needs of people with moderate dementia. “The Club” is a program that keeps people engaged in meaningful activities throughout their waking hours. We have data that shows this program lowers falls, decreases the use of psychotropic medication and increases staff and family satisfaction.
The third program I developed was originally designed for residents in nursing homes with advanced dementia who were not able to actively participate in The Club. They often slept though the various activities. I believe that people with dementia deserve to have quality of life throughout their lives; keeping them fed, groomed and safe was not enough. Namaste Care is based on the power of loving touch and is now used for residents with a variety of terminal illnesses and can be offered in assisted living communities and hospice organizations. I wrote "The End-of-Life Namaste Care Program for People with Dementia" published by Health Professions Press in 2007 I have a dedicated web site for Namaste Care, to learn more about more about this program click here.
In recent years I have managed to focus on both children and elders through my books, presentations and consulting, and a visit to any community often involves all three. You can learn more about my colorful children's book The Magic Tape Recorder, now translated into Czech and Greek. I also continue to offer my "Grandma Joyce and the Kids" program. Please visit the Grandma Joyce website to learn more about this program.
If you would like to talk with me further at anytime, please send an e-mail to joycesimard@earthlink.net.
I look forward to hearing from you,
Joyce