Dementia Care: Helping as Abilities are Failing and Life is Ending

Course overview

This course is designed to provide knowledge and skills for clinicians and direct care providers that will enhance the quality of life, reduce the level of distress, and improve the helper's ability to interact and communicate effectively with the person living with dementia as the condition advances toward the end of life. A focus of the course will be on the symptoms and signals that someone will demonstrate and should be noticed as indicators of changing status and need for an alternate care plan and different interventions to enhance comfort and meet new needs and preference. The goal is that caregivers will partner with the person and other members of the care team to support the individual in either staying when finding comfort and connections or letting go and transitioning through the end of life when it is time.