Interview with Jannie Sternberg
Have you heard of dementia coordinators?
A Dementia Coordinator provides knowledge, support, and guidance directly to those who are referred to the needed service from the point of diagnosis throughout the whole journey. The Dementia coordinator provides ongoing support to those in need.
Let’s get started
On the first of December 2022, we had the pleasure to interview?Jannie Sternberg.?Jannie?is a dedicated dementia nurse with a passion for those in need – elderly people living with dementia. Otiom has known Jannie since 2020.
In this article, you will find out more about Jannie, her professional background, and her education, as well as her view on caregiving, the perception of dementia in society, Dementia Coordinators in Denmark, and what you should avoid when creating a dementia-friendly home.
Get to know?Jannie
“I am 45 years old, and I have been a nurse since 2007. Before that, I was a social and healthcare assistant. I started in a surgical ward at the hospital. And I quickly found out that the drama and the bleeding and all of that wasn't really what made a great day for me.
But I did enjoy when I got to take care of patients who were above the age of 65 in the geriatrics category,?that came from surgery in the need for rehabilitation and care to get back on their feet and have a normal life again from?surgery to needed rehabilitation and care to get back on their feet. The days I got to take care of them were the ones that I was most happy. I decided that I needed to explore that a little bit more, so I got a job at a different hospital as a geriatrics nurse. It was in a hospital, but only for patients who are above the age of 65. Caring for this category of patient is so rewarding but also challenging. It is it was some very, very formative years to work in that field. So, I did that for a handful of years and after that, I became a mum.
When one is a mum working at a hospital - working nights, working weekends, working evenings, it just really didn't benefit my family. So, the next logical step for me was to go to work in a small place offering supportive care here?in Denmark and I got a job as a nurse in a small, assisted living facility. I absolutely fell in love with that kind of work and being able to provide nursing care in the person's home. That was a game-changer for me. So, I did that for a while, and I did some other training and palliative care training.?I continued to work, and specialize in end-of-life care, which made a lot of?sense. A lot of people need this specialized kind of care when they live in such a place because it's the last place that you live. But I also realized that a lot of the people living in this facility were living with dementia. They either had a diagnosis or had all of the symptoms and the challenges that come with having to live with such a disease. “
After that?Jannie, says that she realized she did not know enough about dementia and therefore she has started to dig in. Later, she received another opportunity as a specialist in dementia care at another facility.
“And I took it and I worked there a couple of years. Later I was ready to go on immersive in this field. So, I got a job at a municipality where I have been for six years. It is my sixth anniversary working here and it has been a game changer for me as a nurse because the work is so highly specialized in the field with both the person living with dementia and illness. Their next of kin their family caregivers and the staff surrounding them from the home health care services, etc. I work at home health care services that I am I'm very happy being a nurse in this setting I find it super challenging and it's the best job I've ever had. “
Jannie?is a part of dementia coordinators, here in Denmark also known as?Demenskoordinatorer i Danmark DKDK. The association was established in 1994. It is a national association of professionals involved in coordinating efforts to improve the conditions of people with dementia. Their mission is to represent the Danish Dementia Care Coordinators and their work to enhance the quality of care for people living with dementia by effecting the political dementia debate on local as well as national level, offering further training for members, and increasing public knowledge about dementia.
“The Association of dementia care coordinators in Denmark is established to support the various healthcare workers who have specialized in this area who have taken the educational modules and who are as of now working in this field. This organization is the voice of the people working in the field. We are related to the everyday life of people caring for people working with dementia and their next of kin, their family caregivers. Our mission is to advise and guide members of the public or official government officials, we try to also start debate in the Danish municipalities. Much many of us are based in the municipalities and there are 98 of those in Denmark. We have members who are employed by all of the 98 municipalities. The work here is super fun and very challenging because you get to be the voice of healthcare professionals. From that perspective, we have the knowledge of what is needed and what is evidence-based to make life easier and make sure that people with dementia get the care that they need. Also, we get to serve on different project groups. For instance, there was a project that focused on people with the development of handicaps like Down syndrome, etc. I served on the project and to work on that was very, very challenging and very cool. So, the members of the board serve on all these project groups, and whenever the Ministry of Health has anything that they need to publish, we usually return and get give our opinion on the subject and contents.”
Would you like to find out more about the activities of?Dementia Coordinators in Denmark?
Then visit:?https://www.demens-dk.dk/
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Caregiving is a laborious work
Janie has also touched upon the topic of caregivers and relatives. There is a negative impact on the mental as well as physical health of caregivers as caring for a person with dementia can be challenging and demanding. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, 59% of caregivers report emotional stress, and 38% experience physical stress in caregiving. Comparing these numbers with the results of caregivers of people without dementia the numbers are twice as high.?(Alzheimer’s Association, 2022)
So, how do lives of relatives change when a person in the family gets diagnosed with dementia??Jannie?answered:
“My experience tells me, imagine that your husband or wife suddenly has been diagnosed with dementia and is no longer an independent person but needs to be guided as the disease progresses. The balance of your relationships shifts, you try to remain romantic and keep it to be as it was, but the balance has shifted and suddenly, you're the caregiver. Imagine that just your partner can't find their way to the toilet or can't make their own food or something along these lines. And all of a sudden, the entire balance of one's relationship has shifted and changed dramatically. Imagine being a child but seeing your parent having trouble coping with daily life and suddenly needing you to be their caregiver. It's a massive shift in the family dynamic and that has a lot of consequences. For instance, I just had a call with a person who experienced getting 20 calls a day just because his loved one didn't know how to change the station on the television and the problem was that they held a mobile phone instead of a remote and they could not tell the difference. “
Position of dementia in the society
Do you think that society lacks knowledge about dementia and the sign of dementia??Jannie?answered:
“This is definitely an issue with the community both nationally and in the Danish municipalities. For instance, the simple and very common case is that someone is standing at the grocery store and forgot the code to their credit card. Now they can't pay for their groceries. Some people think: oh, come on, get it together. They can't tell that this person is living with Alzheimer's unless they choose to show it. There's a way that people living with dementia are able to communicate this by wearing a specific pin – the dementia symbol... So, there's not a lot of patience. Also, I think there's still a lot of myths surrounding getting and being able to live a decent life, a good life, healthy life, rich life with dementia. As a society, we need more people to know about what this is and how to speak with people with dementia. For instance, if someone wants to go swimming and has problems getting undressed and needs someone to help them with that, that might be a caregiver of another person. How do we accommodate that?”
Perception and dementia-friendly home
People living with dementia perceive their environment, colors, or patterns differently.?Jannie?explains:
“All senses can change, and they can differentiate from person to person. The signal to the brain can be all warped. So, for instance, when you go to the shower, the drops of water can be felt as pain, that type of needle stepping. However, we cannot generalize all of these perceptions as each person can perceive things differently. But if you want to make your home dementia friendly, it depends on what kind of impairment the person has and the basic visual interpretation. So, often the black doormat will not be the best choice as that can be perceived as a deep hole. And, for instance, if you have a coat hanger, and you have a coat and a hat hanging there this can be interpreted as a person.”
Thank you!
Would you like to get in touch and discover more about?Jannie?and her professional field?
Then visit:?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUEhDW27RJs?Connect via LinkedIn:?linkedin.com/in/jannie-sternberg-9855154
In the name of our?Otiom Team, we would like to say a huge thank you to?Jannie?for sharing her time, effort, and knowledge with us and nevertheless for making a positive difference!
Would you like to find out more?
Visit Otioms’ School of Dementia at:?https://otiom.com/the-school-of-dementia/?Visit Otiom’s LinkedIn where we share all the needed information about dementia, caregiving, statistics, and even more at:?https://dk.linkedin.com/company/otiom?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F