Alzheimer's & Dementia Care: "Listening to Elderly Cuts Use of Costly Medications," Ecumen Awakenings Featured in Minneapolis Star Tribune
So many people across Ecumen have made Ecumen Awakenings possible and are contributing to the program's learnings and growth. It is innovation that empowers and honors those with Alzheimer's and other types of dementia while underscoring our mission and vision. Saturday's front-page article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune features a long story on this great work. Thank you to everyone who makes Awakenings possible and to our colleagues and customers at Ecumen Parmly LifePointes who opened their lives and shared their experiences with the newspaper.
You can read the article by clicking here: Listening to elderly cuts use of costly medications
Or cut and paste the following url into your browser: http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/236822161.html.
About Ecumen Awakenings:
Ecumen Awakenings™ is working to transform America’s culture of care for people living with Alzheimer’s and related dementias. Awakenings improves lives and care experiences while achieving the optimum benefits and balance of non-pharmacological and biomedical approaches. Offered by leading non-profit Ecumen, Awakenings is an empowering, collaborative approach to care that honors one’s individuality and abilities while enriching lives.
This collaboration of the person, care professionals, physicians, pharmacists and loved ones often leads to reduction or elimination of antipsychotic medication use and prevents many people from moving to antipsychotics, which carry significant health risks for older adults. “Awakenings” occur as behavioral symptoms decrease and one’s abilities and personality emerge.
Ecumen Nurse Maria Reyes’ Personal “Awakening” and Triumph Over Adversity
Ecumen Quality Improvement Nurse Maria Reyes learned valuable lessons taking care of her grandmother as a young teenager in Puerto Rico—lessons that still guide her today as she teaches other professionals about honoring and empowering the seniors in their care.
Maria’s own determined journey to becoming a nurse was full of challenges, and her inspiring story recently was chronicled by her alma mater, Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College.
“There was something special about that girl,” recalls Ann Charbonneau, an academic affairs assistant who remembers the day Maria showed up at WITC. “I knew in my heart of hearts that Maria would become a leader in the medical community someday.”
Click here to read the moving story of how Maria found strength in adversity, found her calling and came up through the ranks at Ecumen, where she now champions the “Awakenings” program that uses non-pharmaceutical approaches to caring for those with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.
Stevens Square Foundation Awards Ecumen $25,000 Grant To Expand Awakenings
A Minneapolis foundation with a strong commitment to supporting innovation in aging services awarded Ecumen $25,000 to expand Awakenings. See the full story here on our Awakenings.org blog.
Ecumen Awakenings Insight: The Crucial Difference Between Delirium and Dementia and Why A Care Team Must Fully Explore It
Ecumen Awakenings Insight and personal story from Shelley Matthes on the crucial difference between delirium and dementia.
Ecumen CEO Kathryn Roberts Thanks Residents, Donors and Friends at Ecumen Pathstone Living Luncheon
Ecumen President and CEO Kathryn Roberts spent time discussing Ecumen’s Awakenings program with Roger Bock, a recent short-stay rehab “graduate” from Ecumen Pathstone Living in Mankato, at a luncheon on Monday, October 7.
Roberts thanked over 60 residents, families, donors, volunteers, funders and rehab alumni for their support and partnership, and highlighted Ecumen’s Changing Aging initiatives. One of those initiatives is Ecumen Awakenings – a pilot program to reduce the use of anti-psychotic medications for those with Alzheimer’s and related dementias. Roberts used the example to illustrate how new collaborations, new possibilities and new solutions are making lives better in Mankato and across the country.
Upcoming fundraising events at Ecumen Pathstone Living in Mankato include their annual Lights of Honor celebration on Sunday, November 3, and the Scandinavian Bake Sale on Saturday, December 7.
Dr. Tracy Tomac Named Ecumen Awakenings Consulting Psychiatrist
We’re very pleased that Dr. Tracy Tomac, who was one of the early collaborators in the development of the Ecumen Awakenings ™ program, is going to continue to partner with us as consulting psychiatrist for Ecumen Awakenings as it moves into its fourth year. For the full story go here on our EcumenAwakenings.org Blog.
St. Croix Hospice Team Wins 2013 Ecumen Changing Aging Invitational Golf Tournament
Congratulations to Team St. Croix Hospice, winners of the 2013 Ecumen Changing Aging Invitational held earlier this month in Roseville, Minn. Twenty-two teams participated in this year's tournament and helped raise funds and awareness for Ecumen Awakenings. Ecumen's innovative Awakenings program is working to transform America's culture of care for people living with Alzheimer's and related dementias by reducing the use of psychotropic drugs and other medications. Visit www.ecumenawakenings.org for more information or www.ecumengiving.org to lend your support!
Dena Meyer Named Ecumen Director of Business Development
Dena Meyer has been named director of business development at Ecumen.
Dena has 15 years of senior housing experience in both the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors and has developed more than 1,000 senior housing units in the Twin Cities. She recently served as interim housing manager of Ecumen Seasons at Apple Valley and was the first director of marketing for that community, overseeing initial sales efforts and opening events. Before that, she was the developer of the award-winning Ecumen Seasons at Maplewood, and she also worked on the development of Ecumen Seasons at Apple Valley.
“Dena has a deep understanding of how planning, marketing, development and operations relate to successful communities,” said Steve Ordahl, Ecumen senior vice president of business development. “She forges strong and productive business relationships and approaches her work with resourcefulness and imagination.”
Dena is a graduate of the College of St. Benedict/St John’s University and lives in Prior Lake.
Jim Klobuchar: Vikings Get More than a Victory in London
You can read Ecumen blogger Jim Klobuchar's analysis of the MInnesota Vikings' first victory in this post he did today for MinnPost.
World Alzheimer Report, New American Psychiatric Association Statement Show Need for Different Kind of Alzheimer's Care
World Alzheimer Report and insight from American Psychiatric Association Illustrate Need for Ecumen Awakenings-type care approaches.