Mindful Dementia Care: Lost and Found in the Alzheimer's Forest

This isn't a book I would normally read and I'm blessed to say I don't have close family or anyone I'm caring for that I had in mind when I agreed to join this blog tour. The reason I opted to participate was to learn. I have friends who are living this sad and challenging road with their loved ones. My hope was to be a better friend and support for my friends when they need it and have a resource to pass along for friends and family.I'm happy to say, the book met all of these expectations and I recommend this book to anyone living the challenges of caring for, or experiencing, Dementia and Alzheimers. It was an interesting read personal experiences and situations as they educate the masses. The greatest message I take away is the amount of time, care, concern, and love they have for their patients and families.The authors tackle myths, explain some of the known science behind dementia, and break down the "Many rooms in the House of Dementia". I am one of the people who don't understand the differences and how to tell them apart. Even after reading the book, I don't have them straight in my head BUT I have this great resource of hope, healing, and miracles as a resource now.If you want to learn more or need some first hand encouragement and information, check out this book. You won't be disappointed.

Now this is a good starting point for anyone who has someone with symptoms of dementia in their lives. This book is divided into chapters on different topics and these topics can be read on their own or in sequence. The message that summarizes each topic and the book as a whole is that love will get your far, which is a beautiful sentiment which rings truer with every page turned.Not only does this book provide a wealth of information on how to best help someone who suffers from dementia – there is also a focus on the caregiver, and how they can make the situation more manageable for themselves. This manner of seeing the caregiver as someone who needs to take care of themselves, too, is very heartening.Anecdotes, studies, and book tips are scattered throughout the book, making this a great resource for those who don’t know where to start their caregiver journey. While the “Vista experience” and home of care understandably is promoted throughout the book, this is something that is done subtly and without taking away from the rest of the material.The book manages to touch on many different issues, tips, and tricks without sounding overly preachy. It acknowledges that each case is different and that there is no catch-all solution, but since the authors have private and professional experience with providing care for people with dementia, there is something to take away from the book for every reader. This goes for those who have provided care for a long time, too.If your loved one recently received a diagnosis and you don’t know how to proceed: pick up this book. It will get you started and will give you so much hope.

Love. In the end, isn't it really all about love? Ruth Dennis has slyly made her point through a combination of straightforward facts interwoven with her poignant personal life story of unconditional caring and loving - and saying goodbye.Although this book serves as a GPS for families trying to navigate the heartbreaking landscape of loved ones slipping into dementia, it should also be required reading in all medical schools. The importance of emotions – such as love, human touch, laughter, feeling appreciated – is too often minimized in the textbooks used to educate our future caregivers.As a daughter of a parent now living with vascular dementia – and a daughter-in-law of an Alzheimer's patient who succumbed to the disease after a decade long battle, I read this book with tears, laughter and awe – appreciating the sincerity of every word and finding it an affirmation of my life in some ways. Guilt, despair, rage and the ever-present expectation that one more really bad thing is about to happen are feelings that are my constant companions. Ruth puts all that in perspective and allows me to know that we need to do what we can. But we also have a life to live.I found Ruth's book to be not only emotionally comforting but also intellectually quite informative – with insights that Ruth, and her co-authors Velma Arellano and Luke Nachtrab, gleaned from experience, education, and the school of “sometimes life just sucks”. Even in the darker moments of dementia the human heart reaches out and responds with joy to art, music, warm hugs and always the words “I love you”.Read it. Learn from it.It is all about love.

I learned of this book via the Santa Fe, NM assisted living home, Vista Hermosa, in which my 92-year old mother lives. She was placed there by my sis about a year ago. I live in Oregon but keep in regular touch with mom, who remembers her earlier years, but nothing at all of her prior, independent living home. I have visited her at Vista Hermosa (VH) and will soon do so again. So I can attest she is MUCH happier and better cared for there than before.The author of "Mindful Dementia Care," Ruth, works part time at VH. I have met her and witnessed her passion for her calling. So I wasn't surprised to learn from this book that she played a major role in this facility's creation. This model works! Read this book so you too can find a place like Vista Hermosa, or create one, for an elder loved one.

This book is beautifully written and an informative read for caregivers and those who love someone with dementia. Having a mother with dementia, I couldn't put this book down. Reading this book gave me a new understanding of how valuable our dementia caregivers are and a loving perspective on how to approach dementia care. Ruth uses personal anecdotes and her own extensive experience to reflect on caregiving in 2019, what it is and what it could be. I recommend this to anyone who must seek or provide dementia care.