What’s Going on in Their Mind?

One of the biggest challenges to caring for someone living with Alzheimer’s or some other form of dementia is trying to figure out what’s going on in their mind. They don’t understand what’s happening so they can’t help us understand what they need. Not being able to communicate their needs causes fear or anxiety. Hopefully, today’s conversation with Laurie will help us understand a bit better.  Laurie Gunter Mantz is the founder and CEO of Dementia Training for Life. She is also an Occupational Therapist, Educator and Certified Dementia Care Practitioner, Trainer, and Care Manager.  Dealing with both grandmothers in their challenges with dementia gives Laurie a personal insight into what we’re all dealing with.

Our conversation went to many places and despite some technical challenges, I feel this conversation is an important one for my listeners to hear. Interviewing Laurie before I launched Fading Memories would have been fantastic for all of us. That’s how important our conversation was.

Some of the things we discussed include identifying behaviors and determining why they are happening.  Laurie strongly encourages anyone who is showing signs of cognitive impairment to get a full diagnosis. In our conversation, she tells the story of a man who was misdiagnosed and how that impacted his life. We discussed what to do as our loved ones progress with their disease and much more.

Sometimes my podcast conversations get a personal but I feel like that’s okay. Learning through my struggles, or anyone else’s struggles can help us all.  Here’s hoping you get as much from this conversation as I did. I’m pretty sure you will.

Laurie’s website

Effective Care Transitions for those living with dementia

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Jennifer Fink Podcaster

After helping care for her grandmother who had vascular dementia, Jennifer realized her Mother was showing signs of early onset Alzheimer’s. After the death of her father in 2017 Jennifer went searching for answers to many of the common questions and Alzheimer’s caregiver faces. Being a busy entrepreneur Jennifer realized that a podcast would be the easiest way to learn more about caregiving while completing other tasks.

Sadly, in late 2017 she only found one and it didn’t quite address what she was looking for, so she did the next best thing, and started her own. The Fading Memories podcast is now in it’s fourth year and despite the death of her Mom in March 2020, Jennifer is still talking to caregivers and still learning how to be an excellent caregiver. On the podcast she discusses caregiving, brain health, self-care and how to age well.