Education for Health Care Workers

Amy1118

Hi. My Dad has ALZ dementia, my mom had dementia associated with Parkinson's before her death in 2020. My husband and I are still working full time as do our adult children. Two years ago I had to have my dad placed in assisted living. Recently he had a fall and fractured his arm. I accompanied him to the ER. We have never told my dad he had Alzheimer's. He was diagnosed a few months after my mom passed.

I explain to all his doctors and other health care providers that we encounter that Dad has ALZ. What angers me is that most health care providers don't have a clue how to speak to a person with dementia. Often, they ask questions in rapid succession, which my dad can not process to answer or simply remember to answer. Or, they speak in a condescending manor to my dad. I don't think it is their fault, I think it is a lack of training. I did not understand how to have conversations with him at first. My daughter is getting her Master's Degree in Speech/Language Pathology. She recognized early on that I needed to slow down in my conversations and has been instrumental in guiding me with Dad.

Over the weekend and this past week, I have realized that an awareness needs to be brought to the health care providers who are not familiar with how to communicate with ALZ patients. The problem is I don't know how to do this. I can and will advocate for my dad every time I take him to a health care facility outside of the memory care assisted living home. But this is bigger than just my dad, I feel the need to advocate for others as well. I just need to know where to start.

M1

Hi amy and welcome. I agree it's a huge problem, but there is so much that is broken in our healthcare system right now that I doubt there is any clear fix. My most ludicrous experience was that when my partner was admitted to a geriatric psych ward last year, the process was for a remote psychiatrist to try to do a Zoom interview with her while we were in the hall of the emergency room. One just has to laugh. The whole hospitalization was a disaster and ended up with state and Medicare sanctions against the hospital. I never received a single bill or insurance statement for a three week stay, i think they never billed any of it to avoid being further sanctioned.