professional speaker seminarProfessional Presentations

The following presentations have been offered to families of people with dementia and healthcare professionals in the United States, Australia, Europe and several cities in Asia. My evaluations have been excellent and I’m happy to share them with you. It has been a pleasure and honor for me to be selected as the keynote speaker at many professional conferences. These presentations can be adapted to fit the audience of any conference and the length can vary depending on the setting: a keynote speech, workshop or a breakout session.

Many of the presentations have supported sales and marketing efforts to help increase the visibility of assisted living communities as well as nursing facilities. I try to inject a bit of humor and a light touch to serious subjects throughout the many stories of actual situations that I have encountered. If you need references, I would be happy to provide you with them from conference directors or marketing staff who have engaged me to do the following presentations.

New
Culture Change On A Budget: Making A Silk Purse Out Of A Mature Nursing Home

This presentation was developed to show how “mature” nursing facilities can transform a nursing unit into a “neighborhood” and adapt “culture change” without a large budget and in spite of the fact that they are a traditional facility. This one hour presentation includes the following:

  • Explanation of “culture change”
  • Description of the “old” way vs. the “new” way of providing care
  • How to transform approaches from caregivers to care partners
  • Learn about Green Houses and the Small House Movement
  • Understand how to become a change agent
  • Learn how to implement this culture changing process of turing a nursing unit into a “neighborhood”
  • Educating staff and families
    Physical changes
    Language changes
    Primary nursing
    Activity programming
    Changing the roles of all staff

    New
    Finding Joy As Your Role As A Care Partner

    I developed this for nursing assistants who attend conferences and need something that is especially focused on them and their issues. Nursing assistants are interested in how to improve how they provide care and this presentation provides them with ideas on incorporating “culture changing” approaches to resident care into their jobs. It was designed to be interactive. This one hour presentation includes the following:

  • Discussion of why they decided to become a nursing assistant and why they stay
          in their jobs
  • Description of the difference between a caregiver and care partner
  • Overview of Alzheimer’s disease (AD)
  • Approaches that are useful for residents in all stages of AD
  • Making ADL’s into meaningful activities
  • Case studies
  • The Club And Memory Enhancement Program Activity
    Programs That Work!

    Several years ago, I began to develop programs based on the concept of continuous programming. People with dementia rarely self initiate activities yet we know from research on memory loss how important it is for people with dementia to keep their minds as active as possible. This presentation outlines two programs I developed that offer continuous programming for people with dementia. One is “The Club” for residents of nursing facilities and the other “The Memory Enhancement Program” for residents of assisted living communities with mild dementia. This presentation includes the following:

  • Overview of Alzheimer’s disease
  • Overview of “The Club” and “The Memory Enhancement Program”
  • Implementation of both programs
  • Research data of outcomes from “The Club”
  • Census development as a result of both programs
  • Namaste Care: Quality Of Life At The End Of Life

    Namaste Care is a program for people with advanced dementia who reside in nursing facilities or assisted living communities. This presentation can be used as a keynote address and present an overview of the program and inspirational message on quality of life for people with advanced dementia. It can be adapted as a workshop or breakout session with a focus on “how to’ implement the Namaste Care Program. This one hour presentation includes the following:

  • Description of the burdens and benefits of medical interventions for people with advanced dementia
  • Overview of the Namaste Care Program
  • Implementation
  • Education
    Staffing
    Physical plant requirements
    Supplies & equipment
  • Typical day
  • The loving touch approach
  • Meaningful activities
  • Research data
  • Family & staff satisfaction

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