In this video on spirituality and dementia, Jan McCann, RN, MHSP, of the Long Term Care Institute at Texas State University, addresses some of the spiritual and emotional challenges faced by residents in long-term care. She explains how caregivers can best care for loved ones when those needs end up taking a back seat to physical care needs and regulatory priorities. 

Caregivers of the elderly often have questions as they relate to memory care. In this video, the presenter discusses issues doctors often face that surround memory care, such as the havoc wrought by managed care, the debate over “quality care” of the elderly, and whether prolonging life at any cost is wise. Probing and intelligent, this video challenges viewers to think deeply about the choices they make in the care of their elders. 

Wanting to yell “help mom has dementia” can be a common plea of people across cultures, countries, and backgrounds. Alzheimer’s disease and dementia do not discriminate and can bring equal hardship to everyone they affect. To help caregivers gain a better understanding of the effects and challenges of living with someone diagnosed with dementia, this video depicts a modern-day Latino family as they struggle with a spouse and parent affected by dementia. Seeing them in action may be familiar to what you and your family are experiencing.

Help! Mom has dementia! Living with dementia can be a challenge for people with dementia, as well as people who are caring for them, whether they are direct care health providers or family members. Caregiving can present an emotional, physical, and – for family caregivers -- financial stress. It is not unusual for caregivers to experience frustration, anger, guilt, isolation, and exhaustion. In this video, Maria Wellisch presents caregivers with practical information and solutions to living with and taking care of someone with dementia. It’s a video every caregiver should watch.

This video discusses an important aspect of elderly care and managing a patient’s dementia: Determining decision-making capacity. This capacity is based on one’s physical and mental ability to provide food, clothing, and shelter; attend to physical needs; and manage finances. By watching this video, viewers learn how self-assessment, proxy reports, evaluating performance, and direct observation can help measure a loved one’s capacity and determine best options for their care. 

Presenter: Dr. Thomas Weiss
Caring for and even visiting someone with dementia can generate many questions about what to do and how to act. In this video, the presenter gives a complete overview of dementia, detailing its history, definition, genetics and risk factors. The presenter also discusses evaluation, current and future treatments, and the support that caregivers themselves need when caring for someone with dementia.

A challenging yet common aspect of caregiving is handling delirium in elders. Delirium is a quick change in an older adult’s mental state, causing them to experience changes in alertness, perceptions, and sleep patterns. Their speech may become incoherent and or they find themselves disoriented to time and place. Delirium can be confused with other mental states associated with aging. To clear up confusion, in this video Dr. Lichtenstein explains delirium in elders, helping caregivers understand the condition, its possible causes, and best responses.

Presenter: Dr. Thomas Weiss
If you’re taking care of someone with dementia, you know there are issues regarding behavior that can be challenging to understand and manage. In this video on behavior management dementia, Dr. Weiss walks viewers through the care and management of patients with dementia, helping caregivers understand the symptoms, epidemiology, and assessments involved. The video also offers strategies and therapies, both non-pharmacologic and pharmacotherapy, for managing the complex behaviors seen in patients with dementia.

A common reason seniors are placed in nursing homes is due to behavior or functional loss, and not memory impairment. This video helps caregivers understand the dementia behaviors and other behavioral disturbances in seniors living in long-term care facilities, including hallucinations, delusions, irritability, agitation, sleep changes, and appetite changes. Viewers will gain a greater understanding of the emotions that often drive the actions of their loved ones.

*To access the Spanish Subtitles – Please Click Here

In Module 1 of this series on dementia behaviors, viewers learn the eight possible etiologies of dementia and their masquerading conditions and the 12 most common “problem behaviors” when working with elderly residents with dementia or mental illness. This video also discusses the common identifiers of aggressive behavior and predictors of violence. 

In Module 4 of this series on dementia behaviors, viewers review a “Survival Guide” for using history forms and psychological tests with elderly residents with dementia or mental illness. The video outlines the importance of coding tests appropriately, documenting time between visits, and following up to evaluate drug titrations, efficacy, and side effects. 

In Module 3 of this series on dementia behaviors, viewers learn how dementia affects residents’ mental capacity for personal, medical, and financial decision making. Viewers learn about testamentary capacity and the capacity to stand trial.