Remember When – Looking Back on Your Caregiving Journey – Smilecast 30
Remember When
I have had some time now to look back and remember when I was a caregiver to mom who passed away June 2, 2016. When the journey ends it can be confusing. And the last days of her life were intense, with hospitalizations, surgeries and hospice. Did I do the right things? Would she have been proud? In hindsight, yes I did with the enormous help of my wife. We had two wonderful services for mom, one in NC and one in Philly and everyone remarked how lovely and dignified they were. I have written often about her passing in hospice and how dignified and peaceful that was. So when I remember when, I remember with fondness and the confidence and comfort that, while it did not seem like it at the time, but I was doing all the right things.
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Giving Back – Helping Other Caregivers – Smilecast 29
Giving Back
When Kathy Caprino interviewed me for Forbes Magazine about caregiving, we spent some talking about giving back. It’s important that when you’re caregiving journey is over and even while you are in the midst of it that you reach out to others in a support community where all can lean on each other. There are lessons everyone is learning on the journey and they can be shared with each other to benefit the group. Whether its in a online or in-person format is irrelevant,
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New, Non-Invasive Method May Help with Dementia Diagnosis
Is It Alzheimer’s Disease or Another Dementia Diagnosis?
A new method may help determine whether a person has Alzheimer’s disease or frontotemporal dementia, two different types of dementia diagnosis that often have similar symptoms, according to a preliminary study in the online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
“Making the correct dementia diagnosis can be difficult,” said study author Barbara Borroni, MD, of the University of Brescia in Brescia, Italy. “Current methods can be expensive brain scans or invasive lumbar punctures involving a needle inserted in the spine, so it’s exciting that we may be able to make the diagnosis quickly and easily with this non-invasive procedure.”
For the technique, called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), a large electromagnetic coil is placed against the scalp. It creates electrical currents that stimulate nerve cells.
Once thought to be rare, frontotemporal dementia is now believed to make up 10 to 15 percent of dementia cases. It is often initially misdiagnosed as a psychiatric problem, Alzheimer’s disease or Parkinson’s disease because of its wide range of symptoms. The disease generally affects people in their mid-40s to mid-60s and is characterized by severe behavior changes and language problems. While there is no cure for frontotemporal dementia, it is important to accurately identify the disease so that doctors can help patients manage their symptoms and avoid unnecessary treatment.
For the study, researchers looked at 79 people with probable Alzheimer’s disease, 61 people with probable frontotemporal dementia, and 32 people of the same age who did not have any signs of dementia.
Using TMS, researchers were able to measure the brain’s ability to conduct electrical signals among various circuits in the brain. They found that people with Alzheimer’s disease mainly had problems with one type of circuit, while people with frontotemporal dementia had problems with another type of circuit.
Researchers were then able to accurately distinguish frontotemporal dementia from Alzheimer’s disease with 90 percent accuracy, “If our results can be replicated with larger studies, this will be very exciting,” Borroni said. “Doctors might soon be able to quickly and easily diagnose frontotemporal dementia with this non-invasive procedure. This disease unfortunately can’t be cured, but it can be managed – especially if it is caught early.”
A dementia diagnosis is never easy but the study authors are right – catching it early can help everyone manager it better.
Are you a caregiver / care partner who needs some help? Attend our Caregiver Smile Summit, a virtual experience to help you thrive as a caregiver.
Improving the Customer Experience for Older Consumers
How Businesses Can Improve Their Customer Experience for the Elderly
Businesses are always working hard to try and make their customers happy; they might offer discounts or special offers to entice sales, or they may do their best to appeal to a certain demographic.
However, not all businesses do what they can for all their customers. Some are concentrating so hard on their core customer base, that they ignore others such as the elderly. There are some things that every business should do to make it easier for the elderly to use their products and services. Improving the customer experience is just good marketing. People tell others.
Write it Down
Many seniors don’t have access to a computer, or if they do, then they might not always be able to find what they want. For this reason, companies should always make sure they have a written copy of all their goods and services.
Whatever the size of the business, there are many ways to achieve this goal. Any existing information in digital form can be quickly turned into a booklet or pamphlet. Applications such as Adobe Spark can show you how to make a pamphlet in no time at all.
Make Sure They Are Kept in the Loop
Many people love a discount or a voucher, and senior people are no different. However, sending discounts by text message or via email may not reach everyone. Why not try to send vouchers to people in the post that you think would appreciate them?
Most companies will have the data of their customers, so using this to target your discounts and vouchers shouldn’t cause an issue.
Be Patient with Customers
We all know that customer services may not always offer the best customer experience, however, it doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be able to deal with all types of customer.
If an elderly person has taken the time to ring customer services, it means that they have a genuine issue that they want help to resolve. It is important that customer service advisors are patient and willing to help. It may lead to the customer making a sale or subscribing to a product, so it is worth a little extra effort.
Always Show Respect
It should go without saying that sales staff and those in front of customers should be polite and respectful. The reality is that this isn’t always the case, and this can cause your company problems.
If someone including an elderly person, receives a poor customer experience or a lack of respect, then the likelihood they will return is slim. Your staff might think it won’t matter, however, many seniors are loyal to their preferred brands so you could be missing a lot of sales.
One way to ensure that all your staff is doing what they can for your customers is to offer training on how to deal with a range of different shoppers and scenarios. This will give them the experience to deal with anyone they meet.
All customers including seniors deserve the right to good service and helpful staff when they go shopping, whether it is online or on the high street.
