September is here and with it comes a month-long focus on Alzheimer’s disease and how it impacts on those who live with it and their loved ones. World Alzheimer’s Day is organised by Alzheimer’s Disease International. This year, the event is centred around breaking down the stigmas attached to Alzheimer’s disease and dementia and raising awareness of how to support those who are affected under the banner of ‘Time to Act’.
One key way in which people with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia can be supported is through altering how they are cared for and communicated with. By understanding how a compassionate, kind and loving approach to caring can make life easier and calmer for everyone, we can help others stop being afraid or unwilling to interact with those who have dementia. It also helps people remember the personality and human being who existed before the diagnosis – and very much continues to do so. If ‘Time to Act’ is a cornerstone of this year’s World Alzheimer’s Month, then spending quality time with patients and care home residents should also be a key focus of ongoing dementia care.
Namaste: compassionate communications
This is where Namaste comes into the picture. The world can become confusing and frightening as dementia takes hold and memories and faculties fade. Often, when words and instructions lose their sense, people are still able to interpret and respond to things like tone and volume of voice, how patient the person interacting with them is and how touch is used to show love and share emotional contact. The Namaste programme is all about using loving contact and patience to create a calm environment and offer reassurance and compassion to people with dementia.
Not only does this help to reassure the person and encourage them to stay calm and relaxed, it also retains dignity and humanity in care. This latter point is hugely important for the loved ones of people living with dementia. It shows them that the person they love and support is still important to their carers, even in the midst of a busy role that requires them to work with several patients in the same place, or on the same day. However proficient someone may be at meeting the medical or physical needs of a patient in their care, if they don’t demonstrate a loving, caring approach to their work, this can have a detrimental effect on the person’s emotional state, confidence and trust.
Namaste: Unhurried touch
Coupled with a compassionate approach to caring for someone with dementia is the principle of unhurried touch. This ensures that every interaction a care home resident or patient receives is gentle, calm and comfortable, rather than brusque, hurried and maybe even painful or terse. This is important for all kinds of tasks. Some include getting people out of bed and helping with going to the toilet, bathing and personal grooming, helping at mealtimes and supporting during activities, entertainment and therapeutic care. We all respond to touch in different ways, yet we know when that touch is caring and patient – and we appreciate the reassurance it provides. Not only can this help our mental health and emotional state, but it can also benefit us physically.
Feeling calm and unhurried can keep blood pressure in check, slow down an accelerating heart rate and help us moderate our breathing to stay calm and avoid hyperventilating. When we are calm and confident, we are more likely to eat and drink well, accept help with medication and therapies and make the most of social interaction and physical stimulation. Overall physical health can also benefit greatly from an unhurried, calm approach, which helps reduce doctor visits and hospital stays. This removes stress from the person themselves and their loved ones, who can find medical interventions difficult to deal with, especially if they involve taking difficult decisions on behalf of their loved one if Power of Attorney is in place.
Time for Namaste?
Overall, the benefits of the Namaste care programme are multiple and align closely with the aims of World Alzheimer’s Month. If the ‘Time to Act’ on behalf of those affected by dementia is upon us, then it must also be time to choose the best possible approach to how we as care professionals look after the people living with it. You can find out more about the Namaste care programme here: https://namastecare.com/welcome-to-namaste-care/.