My first Media Interview for A to Z of Dementia Care Solving the Puzzle to deliver excellent care for people living with dementia.
There are immense benefits in a good model of care for people living with dementia.
When Isabel Baker started working one-on-one with people living with dementia at Wagga, NSW had not long stopped admitting them to psychiatric wards.
The Richmond Report (March 1983) finally changed mental health and disability provision in NSW.
A registered nurse, Mrs Baker said the groundbreaking work at the Caloola Centre Aged Care Home in 1989-1990 changed the course of her career.
She helped to introduce daily activities such as pottery, cooking, games and outings for people living with dementia.
"By being hands-on with people living with dementia we really got to know them," she said.
"The project was very successful and showed the benefits of this approach to individualised care.
"That really set the course of my career for the next 35 years."
Having taught dementia care to personal care staff, registered nurses and family carers for more than 20 years, Mrs Baker said there were immense benefits in a good model of care for people living with dementia.
"My passion is to see people living with dementia receive compassionate, empathetic understanding care that meets their unmet needs in all areas of their lives (physically, emotionally, socially, occupationally)," Mrs Baker said.
"If you can relate to the person and build a good rapport, you can understand their unmet needs and avoid behavioural problems.
"We talk about the five Ps: pain, pee, pills, poo, pus; we need to understand a lot of behavioural problems come out of not meeting those needs."
A registered nurse, Isabel Baker says the groundbreaking work at the Caloola Centre Aged Care Home in Wagga in 1989-1990 changed the course of her career.
With Dementia Week running from September 18 to 25, Mrs Baker said dementia care was not mandatory in aged care training until recently.
She said that meant a large section of the workforce was not versed in the best model of care.
"The downside of that is that people get medicated when they don't need to be," she said.
"That leads to secondary falls and increased confusion.
"We've been so quick to call on the medical model rather than the person-led care.
"It's important to relate to people emotionally; their emotions are still intact."
With 35 years of experience caring professionally for people living with dementia, Mrs Baker has just released her first book A to Z of Dementia Care: Solving the Puzzle to Deliver Excellent Care to People Living with Dementia.
It covers all aspects of understanding dementia illnesses, communication, the role of emotions, activities and how to cope with behavioural changes.
"Compassionate use of this knowledge will make life easier for both the individual living with dementia and the care providers, family or friends and professionals," Mrs Baker said.
The book is available on Amazon Kindle and print on demand Kindle.
Mrs Baker will also have a stall at Henty Machinery Field Days, which run September 19 to 21.
Bordermail article Jodie Brunton 7.9.23
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