One nursing home calms patients with dementia w/o using potentially lethal drugs

[ellenrr]

"It seems residents can always find something to do around here. That can help to relieve the agitation common in some people with Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia — agitation that in other nursing homes might be managed with antipsychotic drugs.

Though antipsychotics are approved to treat serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, the FDA says the drugs can increase the risk of death for people with dementia. Still, they're prescribed for nearly 300,000 nursing home residents nationally"

Dr Tomac, a psychiatrist and medical consultant at a facility in Minnesota:
"At the end of six months or so,we were able to get them all off any antipsychotics."
A colleague says: "The patients started interacting, and people who hadn't been speaking were speaking. They came alive and awakened."

Everyone on the staff is trained to know and understand the residents' likes, dislikes and life stories.
There's a lot of information out there on individualized care for people with dementia, and Reyes says the Awakenings program has borrowed something from just about all of them, including aromatherapy, white noise, pet therapy and validation.



http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/12/09/368539057/this-nursing-home-calms-troubling-behavior-without-risky-drugs

[Turbineguy]

1. We are social beings

who knew?

[Sunlei]

2. It's sad to drug people- also, the Music brings life back and memories

"Music can Heal" "Music: The quickening art"


help them give more ipods http://www.musiccanheal.org/#!Music-The-quickening-art-Kant/c255b/2

[ellenrr]

7. I remember hearing about this..such a wonderful thing--

and yet being used in only a very few places.

Bec. the pharmaceutical industry cannot give up even a few of its many billions $.

Sad that so many people could be made more comfortable and are not.

[niyad]

3. a dignified and compassionate way of treating people--what a concept!

[jwirr]

4. The nursing home in MN that my mother lived in was using a lot of this thinking. But they were

also using some of the drugs when there was a tendency toward violence. My mother's window looked out over the emergency room entry and because of the sirens, flashing lights and the occasional police car she thought she was in prison. For that reason it was not beyond her to try to escape with a butter knife as a weapon. They did give her drugs for that. But she was active until the very end.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

5. Eventually you'll see people listening to Quiet Riot.

[Skittles]

6. puppies would work better

[gwheezie]

8. I loved working on the dementia unit

If done correctly it is very rewarding. It is dismal when done poorly.
A couple of things we did. Everyone was allowed to have purses wallets and keys. We let people have a few dollars to hold We had free passes. Sometimes people wouldn't eat or want to go to their room because they thought they had to pay and didn't have money. I made literally 100's of little cards that I would hand out for free passes.
We also had an enclosed courtyard I can't tell you how many times I sat with a patient waiting for the bus. There was no point in arguing we would just put on our coats and wait for the bus. At some point the patient would get tired and agree it would be better to wait inside.
We had a whirlpool walk in bath tube. That really used to sooth people who could not sleep in the middle of the night. We also had body pillows so people had something to hug while in bed. We tried to use multi sensory cues. When it was time to wake up we played birds chirping. When it was time to sleep we played the sound of soft rain.
We had 3 commen rooms. At night we would keep the small living room open for the people who couldn't sleep. Our approach for someone who was restless was comfort 1st. Bathroom thirst hunger pain. We hugged people a lot most of these folks were missing Han flesh to flesh contact. Most touch had become clinical so we hugged people for no reason. Lots of things you can do before medication.

[ellenrr]

10. " There was no point in arguing we would just put on our coats and wait for the bus"

this is what people advise to do.
Just go along with their fantasy.
what harm does it do?
My step-mother who had dementia use to tell me over and over these stories about how she and my father had arrived at their present living situation. I knew it wasn't true. But rather than argue with her, I would just express interest, and ask question for her to elaborate.

My father otoh would keep telling her, 'no, no, we didn't do that, we did this', which does no good at all, just makes both parties frustrated and agitated.

You sound like you were a wonderful worker!

[spinbaby]

9. I'm sitting with a relative now

He's technically in "rehab" but is clearly dying of old age. He has extreme dementia and he's heavily sedated, which I heartily approve of because I saw how much distress he was in both from physical discomfort and confusion. I don't think I'd want drugs for him as a long-term solution, but in this situation, I think they're totally appropriate.