• How adult day programs can offer respite for caregivers and services for persons living with memory loss
• Understanding the difference between Adult Day Care and Adult Day Health
• Criteria for participation in Adult Day Programs including levels of care, times/days of the week and other
details
• How Adult Day Programs can support persons living with dementia
• Cost and financial options
• Type of assistance available through the Elderly Affairs Division on Oahu

Definition and statistics about swallowing difficulties in persons living with dementia, including warning signs.
How dysphagia can progress in individuals with undiagnosed, early-stage, or end-stage dementia.
Anatomy of swallowing and how therapy can help.
How caregivers can help optimize enjoyment and nutrition of food and liquids with assistive tools and techniques at mealtime in different stages of the progression of dysphagia.
Preparing different consistencies of food and liquids, how to bring joy and good tast to meals.

Part 2: Taking a Positive Approach to Dementia Care: (Proven techniques for all caregivers) – This pilot delivers practical caregiving skills, inspiring stories, and local resources to help families care with confidence. While focused on dementia, the communication and care techniques apply to all types of caregiving. These video programs are designed to help Hawaii’s families understand dementia and provide care with more confidence and aloha. These techniques are applicable to other caregiving situations.

Part 1: Living with a Changing Brain (Understand behavior changes) – This pilot delivers practical caregiving skills, inspiring stories, and local resources to help families care with confidence. While focused on dementia, the communication and care techniques apply to all types of caregiving. These video programs are designed to help Hawaii’s families understand dementia and provide care with more confidence and aloha. These techniques are applicable to other caregiving situations.

You are noticing brain changes in someone you are caring for, is it dementia?
What does normal healthy brain aging look like?
How can we better connect with and support those we care for who are living with dementia?
As we age, we all experience physical changes, including changes to our brains. With normal healthy aging, it may take us a bit longer to remember a name or to learn a new skill. Normal aging means slowing down a bit, NOT losing function!

Dementia is NOT a part of normal healthy aging. Dementia is the umbrella term for a group of symptoms caused by diseases or brain damage. It generally includes a loss of memory, problem-solving, language and other cognitive skills that are severe enough to interfere with daily living and independent life. There are over 50 different diseases that can cause dementia. The most common are Alzheimer’s Disease, vascular dementia (strokes), Lewy Body dementia, Frontotemporal dementia, Parkinson’s Disease, and alcoholism. All the dementia-causing diseases damage brain cells, cause brain shrinkage, and lead to a loss of brain wiring. The entire brain is affected, not just the memory center. These brain changes are irreversible, progressive, and eventually terminal.

Dementia changes the sensory input systems. What does the world look, sound and feel like for someone living with dementia?
Visual, verbal and touch processing are all affected. How can we get connected despite these changes?
How can we become “care partners” instead of “care givers” in this dementia journey?

The only constant in dementia is that it is ever changing. How does it progress?
How can we connect with what abilities remain, and not just focus on the loss?
How can we adjust our care, support, and expectations throughout our journey of living with dement

Challenging behaviors, why are they happening?
When these challenges arise, what can make it better or worse?
It takes two to tango, or to tangle. How can we learn to dance with our partner for a better outcome for both of us?

Why do we keep arguing? Why can’t he find the bathroom? Why does she sleep all day? We find ourselves in challenging situations like these in dementia care every day.
How can we take a step back and become curious, non-judgmental dementia detectives to find out why these challenging situations keep happening?
We can learn how to be more effective and helpful in challenging situations by focusing our energy on the elements we CAN change vs. those we CANNOT

Won’t eat, won’t stop eating, won’t drink, only wants to eat sweets! These are some of the very common challenges for people living with dementia.
How can we take the struggle out of dining and bring back the joy?
What changes can we make to the food and overall dining experience to help better support people living with dementia throughout their journey?