THE NEW FRONTIER IN DEMENTIA CARE TODAY

Human dignity in dementia care is a right for every person living with dementia. After over two decades of practice, research, study and writing about dementia care, I have created the Transactional Dementia Intelligence (TDI system) business model of dementia care that is now available to all new dementia care businesses.

My book, ALZHEIMER’S COACHING: Taking a system’s approach to creating an Alzheimer’s friendly healthcare workforce, is the backbone of the TDI. Unlike so many models available in the marketplace today that support dementia training and dementia care, the TDI is a WHOLE SYSTEM which includes management, training, care, and coaching.

The TDI instills the feeling of belonging and being valued for every person living with dementia and their families. Additionally, the TDI trains and support the entire workforce from top to bottom. The ideal TDI client is the business who has a desire to create a dementia-friendly workforce and implement the new gold standard in dementia care. It is in fact reshaping the long-term care obsolete models of dementia care now in practice.

Individuals living with dementia at any stage is welcome in the TDI model of care. In a TDI system, the medical/rehab model is transformed into the care/social model of care. Doctors and nurses are still very much active in their role to support any additional comorbidities the person may bring with them. The difference is that doctors and nurses become trained in dementia intelligence too. In the current obsolete model, both doctors and nurses are not training in dementia intelligence.

Here are just a few examples of the gold standard in dementia care under the TDI business model of dementia care:

1. CNAs work a 6-hour shift but paid for 8 hours

2. Everyone from top to bottom of the business learns dementia intelligence

3. No dementia person receives psychiatric mediations

4. Natural supplements are encouraged to replace prescription drugs

5. The Mediterranean?diet is recommended whenever possible

6. Every person living with dementia receives a person-centered evaluation

7. No locked down units are allowed; the doors are simply removed

8. A doubled-certified Dementia Coach is available in every location

9. Family members are certified as TDI care partners

10. Turnover and burnout is practically eliminated

11. ROI is increased in the first year of the TDI adoption

12. Communities will prefer a TDI model

None of these 12 examples are present in the current dementia care models available throughout the world.

The time has come for all those in the business of dementia care to join the International Caregivers Association in reshaping dementia care. We need all hands on deck in order to reduce the high costs of dementia care and improve the services for those individuals and their families.

I love the practice of dementia care. I love the thrill of seeing individuals living their best quality of life. I love to see the workforce supported and happy about the work that they do. I love to see administrators feel relieved of the burden of dementia management because they now have a Dementia Coach on their team. I love to see families involved as TDI care partners. I love to see cultures accept the TDI care/social model when they used to be confined to homecare until the moment of death of their loved one. These cultures are ready to participate because they have an important role of responsibility to their loved one while being accepted in the larger care partner team. Their different culture feel safe and valued. Dementia is considered a gift under the TDI system, not a curse.

All care partners, janitors to doctors, feel part of a larger interprofessional care team. Nowhere are the current obsolete dementia care programs successful in the world. Care teams are dissatisfied. There is a lot of sadness and frustrations, individuals feel overworked and uncompensated, it mostly due to poor management and lack of dementia intelligence training.

Professional apply to work under the TDI system because of the value and satisfaction of their work. The TDI system adopted the Servant Leadership model which is a style and philosophy whereby team members interact with one another to achieve authority/responsibility (ie, new gold standard in dementia care) rather power/control (ie, obsolete model of dementia care today). The TDI system embodies a decentralized organizational structure with a Dementia Coach in the center of the organizational chart.

The future of dementia care lies in the TDI business model of dementia care. It is easily adapted all over the world. Compassion and human dignity is the first course of action under the TDI system. The practice of dementia care is the practice of compassion.

Why did it take so long for the ICA to reshape the dementia care world? With over two decades of planning and testing on a small scale, the TDI represents the ideal dementia care model instead of what you can get by with (obsolete) today. Transactional Dementia Intelligence saves money for the business and yet improve the delivery of services and care. The economics of the TDI is attractive for industry to adopt the system.

Because the obsolete models are still in operation and continue to make money despite the unacceptable level of dementia care services, the TDI is a great fit for new and growing dementia care businesses. Care partner teams under the TDI are happy, fun loving, cooperative, thoughtful, and compassionate individuals. That is the context for the TDI team members, the persons living with dementia, and the family members because the wellbeing of the person living with dementia is as important as the care team. Arrogance and rudeness, neglect and abuse, ignorance and indifference against the person living with dementia is not acceptable under the TDI system.

I invite comments, questions concerning the new standard in dementia care, the TDI business model of dementia care:? [email protected]