Ecumen Quality Improvement Nurse Maria Reyes, RN, will speak on integrated dementia care Sept. 9, 2015, at the 2015 Commons Health Conference in Duluth, Minn.—an annual working conference designed to foster new approaches to integrated health and well-being for communities.

Ecumen Quality Improvement Nurse Maria Reyes, RN, will speak on integrated dementia care Sept. 9, 2015, at the 2015 Commons Health Conference in Duluth, Minn.—an annual working conference designed to foster new approaches to integrated health and well-being for communities.

Reyes is project director of Ecumen’s nationally recognized dementia care program known as Ecumen Awakenings.  She will discuss how Ecumen developed and implemented Awakenings, which is holistic, person-centered care that replaces highly sedating drug therapy with approaches that engage and empower patients, regardless of their level of dementia.

The Commons Health Network works to improve the health of individuals through locally based community health collaboratives. The organization describes itself this way: “Distinct from our conventional healthcare treatment delivery model, commons health care is community centered (rather than hospital centered), prevention focused, systems oriented, embraces integrative practice and employs local or bio-regional knowledge and solutions.”

The annual conference takes place September 9 and 10 at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center.

Other experts appearing at the conference will be Dr. Gail Christopher, vice president for policy and senior adviser at the Michigan-based W.K. Kellogg Foundation, one of the country’s largest philanthropic organizations. Other speakers include author and integrative psychiatrist Dr. Scott Shannon; and Dr. Courtney Jordan Baechler, vice president of the Penny George Institute for Health and Healing.

To learn more and to register, go to accountablecommunities.org.