5 strategies to make dementia care more person-centered

Five strategies can help make dementia care more person-centered so that those who have dementia can lead full lives, according to participants in the second Dementia Thought Leaders Invitational Summit in Washington, D.C.:

1. Develop and implement a mobilizing and operating infrastructure.
2. Coalesce, connect and activate people and other resources to build capacity.
3. Educate and increase awareness among the diverse dementia care stakeholders.
4. Optimize health and well-being.
5. Foster health equity by creating access to and use of dementia care resources and services.

“It’s not enough for us to say ‘fix it,’ ” AMDA–The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine Past President Jonathan Evans, MD, MPH, CMD, told fellow attendees. “We need to specify what we want fixed, how to fix it and how we will determine if it’s been fixed.”

In addition to representation from AMDA, the day-long summit included representation from CCAL–Advancing Person-Centered Living, Planetree and The Eden Alternative. All are founders of the Dementia Action Alliance. Participants also included other practitioners, persons living with dementia, advocates, caregivers, researchers, academicians and policymakers.

“This work must go on as an open, evolving process so that multiple perspectives continue to be exchanged,” said CCAL Chair Jackie Pinkowitz, MEd. “We hope to have the expertise and insights of AMDA members—such as physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants—included in the workgroups that are forming, to effectively translate these recommendations into national policy and practice.”