Partnership with Alzheimer Society complements supportive measures training
Monday, February 26, 2007 -- Natalie Miller
An OMNI home is drawing on the expertise of a local Alzheimer society to educate staff on supporting residents who are aggressive.

Up to 12 staff members at Springdale Country Manor will be able to attend a day-long in-service on ‘The Gentle Persuasive Technique’ in March led by the Peterborough Alzheimer Society. The workshop will focus on how to approach residents who are aggressive in a way that minimizes their agitation and reduces the risk of staff injury.

Nursing administrative services manager Wendy Logan is active in the local Alzheimer chapter and suggested the opportunity for a partnership to administrator Maureen Imamovic. An in-service in January at the Springville long-term care home was a success, says Imamovic.

“They did a great in-service with us in January,” says Imamovic.

“We had a huge turnout.”

As a follow-up, staff will have the opportunity to attend the full-day workshop. Part of the session will deal with the theory behind supporting residents who are aggressive and the other component will involve a demonstration with one of the home’s residents who is prone to agitation and presents challenges for staff.

“It will work very well in partnership with our supportive measures in the home,” says Imamovic.

“It’s nice to get that message out in a different forum.”

Springdale has a supportive measures department which results in having a staff member trained in the dementia care approaches on the floor daily.

The partnership with the Alzheimer Society provides “one more layer of support for staff and families,” says Imamovic. “It’s another resource for families. Alzheimer’s is a terrible disease to have someone you love affected by.” She says the staff at Springdale can offer support to families but if families need something further, like peer-to-peer support, having the link with the Alzheimer’s Society is beneficial.

The partnership is also a way for Springdale to highlight in the community the dementia care resources it has in-house through its supportive measures department.

Supportive measures are care approaches focused on the individual needs and preferences of residents living with Alzheimer disease or related dementia, to increase quality of life. By identifying factors that trigger resident agitation, supportive measures can be put in place, like one-to-one support, to remove many of these factors from the resident’s daily life. Behaviour mapping, medication mapping, and the use of resident assessments to determine resident needs, strengths and preferences are all part of the supportive measures discipline.