This month, Home Instead’s Lakelyn Hogan, Gerontologist and Caregiver Advocate, and Molly Carpenter, author of Confidence to Care, will join forces to answer your questions about dementia, caring for a loved one, and self-care.
This is your chance to get expert advice on anything from bathing tips to caregiver support. Some topics might include:
Tips for alleviating dementia-related behavioral symptoms such as agitation or delusions
Avoiding caregiver burnout
Managing family dynamics
Safety concerns
Identifying symptoms of Alzheimer’s and dementia
We will take live questions during the chat, or feel free to send them in ahead of time to [email protected].
About the expert
Molly Carpenter
Molly Carpenter is the author of Confidence to Care: A Resource for Family Caregivers Providing Alzheimer's Disease or Other Dementias Care at Home, as well as a speaker, a trainer and a family caregiver. In her current role, she works with a team responsible for ensuring that the Home Instead Senior Care® network’s 60,000 caregivers worldwide have the resources necessary to effectively provide quality care in the home and understand the importance of their work enhancing the lives of those they serve.
Chat Archive
Caregiving for the Holidays
Live chat with expert: David Troxel
Join David Troxel, an expert in Alzheimer’s disease and memory care, and your host Lakelyn Hogan of Home Instead Senior Care as we talk about caring for your loved one living with Alzheimer’s or dementia over the holiday season. Some topics this chat covered include:
• Purposeful and engaging holiday activities
• Addressing stress and strain that can arise during this season
Join expert Meryl Comer, President and CEO of Geoffrey Beene Foundation Alzheimer’s Initiative and 20-year caregiver, and your host Lakelyn Hogan of Home Instead Senior Care as we talk about the personal experience of caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s. In addition to her role as a long-term family caregiver, Meryl is the New York Times bestselling author of “Slow Dancing With a Stranger,” an Emmy award–winning reporter, and Alzheimer’s advocate.
Some topics this chat may cover include:
Meryl’s personal story and experience caring for both her husband and mother
Tips and advice for family caregivers
The impact of caregiving on caregivers and signs you may need help
Using your voice and experience to advocate for change
Join expert Lynn Posluns of Women’s Brain Health Initiative and your host Lakelyn Hogan of Home Instead Senior Care as we talk about how women caring for someone with dementia can take care of their own brain. Some topics this chat may cover include:
Factors that impact women’s brain health
How to identify warning signs of an unhealthy brain
Practical tips to help prevent your own cognitive decline
Join expert Molly Carpenter & host Lakelyn Hogan of Home Instead Senior Care® as we talk about the person-centered care approach for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease & other forms of dementia.
Person-centered care takes into account all aspects of an individual’s life that can impact well-being, not just the disease and associated symptoms. It considers a person’s environment, social connections, beliefs and values, and more.
Listen as Michael Ellenbogen and Lakelyn Hogan of Home Instead Senior Care talk about the dementia diagnosis journey. Michael lived with a diagnosis of younger-onset Alzheimer’s disease for 10 years before he received new test results indicating his diagnosis of Alzheimer’s was in question. He shares about his experience and lessons learned along the way that may help other individuals on a quest for an accurate diagnosis.
Hear more about Michael’s own diagnosis journey
Understand the benefits of early diagnosis and the risks of mis-diagnosis
Learn how you can help advocate for better diagnosis processes and dementia research
Angela Taylor of the Lewy Body Dementia Association and host Lakelyn Hogan of Home Instead Senior Care talk about caring for individuals affected by Lewy body dementias (LBD). LBD are the second most common form of degenerative dementias after Alzheimer’s disease, but much more awareness, education and research is needed. Topics this chat covered include:
The cognitive and behavioral symptoms of LBD
Why early and accurate diagnosis is essential
Care techniques and treatments to improve quality of life
Listen as Dr. Julie Masters and host Lakelyn Hogan as they talk about how to prepare for the final years of life. Final years planning is about so much more than putting the appropriate legal documents in place. It’s also about how to live those final years more fully and having the right conversations at the right times to prepare for the road ahead. Some topics this chat covered include:
Tips for Socializing with Someone Living with Dementia
Live chat with expert: Jennifer FitzPatrick
Join expert Jennifer FitzPatrick and your host Lakelyn Hogan as we talk about how to make the most out of visits and interactions with someone experiencing communication challenges due to cognitive decline. Some topics this chat may cover include:
How to respond to repetition
Connecting through activity rather than conversation
Join social worker Susy Favaro from the Banner Alzheimer’s Institute and your host Lakelyn Hogan from Home Instead Senior Care as we talk about strategies to cope with ambiguous loss. Ambiguous loss describes what many dementia care partners experience when the person they know and love has significantly changed psychologically but is still physically present.
Some topics this chat may cover include:
How ambiguous loss differs from other types of loss
Characteristics of ambiguous loss
Strategies to cope with ambiguous loss
We will take live questions during the chat, or feel free to send them in ahead of time to [email protected]
About the Expert Susy Favaro, LCSW, MSW,is a social worker in the memory disorder clinic at Banner Alzheimer’s Instituteproviding counseling, referral, educational, and support services to meet client and care giver needs.Most recently she has developed programming on ambiguous loss.
Susy has worked in the field of gerontology for 40 years.The focus of her work has been in the implementation and training of evidence based programs in self management of chronic conditions for older adults and unpaid family caregivers. Programs include: Enhance Wellness (formerly known as the Health Enhancement Program), Powerful Tools for Caregivers, Chronic Disease Self Management Program, PEARLS (depression intervention) and Active Choices.
In 1997 she joined the training faculty of Status One Health Systems (Boston,MA) as a trainer in motivational Interviewing and behavior change theory. In 2005 she became a PEARLS trainer.
Join expert Sharon Denny from the Association of Frontotemporal Degeneration and your host Lakelyn Hogan from Home Instead Senior Care as we talk about the unique symptoms and challenges of frontotemporal degeneration (FTD). We’ll discuss the differences and similarities between FTD and other forms of dementia, as well as best practices for caring for someone with FTD.
