Dementia By Day

Let us help you this holiday season! You may have family members in town interacting with your loved one for the first time in a while. Maybe Mom has declined, or Dad is more forgetful, or your spouse may not be as verbal as they used to be. You've learned a lot about dementia recently, and educating your entire family on best practices in dementia care is a lot to put on yourself. Let us help! Sh...

This time of year, we get lots of questions from family caregivers about how to approach the holidays with a loved one living with dementia. There are a few things you can do to minimize stress: plan ahead, talk to your family members, and make sure you have a clear understanding of your loved one's abilities at the current stage of their disease process. You can definitely still enjoy this holida...

Embracing Their Reality™️ is hardest to grasp for those folks who are uncomfortable in the grayer areas of life. This dementia communication framework teaches us that it's best to let go of black and white binaries when it comes to communicating with the cognitively impaired. Let's talk about it.

It's actually been a full year of Freebies of the Month now, but they're still going strong! Topics have ranged from "How Do Doctors Test for Dementia?" to Sundowning, and have covered so much in between. At the time of this recording, our Freebies of the Month were just getting started. We decided to release this episode to ensure all segments of our audience know about this awesome free resource...

Let's continue the conversation around accusations. These can feel like a trap to those of us who work so hard to Embrace The Reality of the people in our lives living with dementia. Don't fall into the trap! Instead, focus on solving the person's emotional problem by trying to figure out what is at the root of it. Rather than arguing, ask questions and try to guide them to calm. Rachael gives a g...

When it comes to Embracing Their Reality™️ in dementia care, some of the most challenging and uncomfortable situations come from accusations. You might be thinking: "How can I Embrace Their Reality when they're accusing me of stealing money or cheating on them?" These two awful accusations are unfortunately two of the most common lobbed at caregivers by people living with dementia. Despite this, w...

The Dementia By Day Team interviewed Dawna Duke about the keychains she's creating, which are programmed to share emergency contact information with the tap of your phone. As easily as you set up and use the "tap to pay" function on your smart phone, you can program Near-Field Communication (NFC) chips with important information like an emergency contact phone number. Dawna has taken this practica...

Rachael and Natalie of the Dementia By Day Team had a really interesting conversation with Sori Han, the inventor of and mastermind behind Shopazon! Shopazon is a unique website for people living with dementia in which they can experience "shopping" without spending any money.  In this episode, Sori shares other dementia-friendly websites and apps he is ideating and working on, and the team discus...

We are exactly one month away from the one-year anniversary of our short film's release! In this mini podcast episode, Rachael Wonderlin talks about the inspiration behind Dementia By Day's short film, "Embracing Their Reality." She talks about why the Dementia By Day team decided to make this as narrative as possible, instead of a straightforward how-to guide. The film walks the line of storytell...

When you come across an article about a so-called study that claims X thing "cures" or "causes" dementia, ask yourself one critical question before researching any further: Is this claim measurable? In order to be scientifically valid, studies need to consistently prove that they have measured the same results over and over. A small sample set of case studies and anecdotal evidence does not add up...

We aren't big fans of "sensory" items/boxes/walls in dementia care. Even though the intention behind these programming items is great, they are often difficult to introduce and residents aren't sure how to interact with them. Listen to find out what we suggest to replace these types of activities!

These are activities that Rachael Wonderlin, founder and CEO of Dementia By Day, recommends for anyone living with dementia, but they are particularly well-suited to people with low vision. Rachael encourages you to get creative engaging your other senses and offers a couple of concrete ideas to get you started in this niche of activities.    

This is what you're going to do when you're deciding to make— or not make— a change to your loved one's care. Should you make this change, especially if it's drastic? The answer is ultimately, "It depends."  It depends on the person and how much their quality of life would improve (benefit) for the inconvenience, or even trauma, it would cause (cost). Let's weigh the cost against the benefits in a...

Even if you move your loved one to a dementia care community, you are still their caregiver, the person who is responsible for them. Though the responsibilities may shift, the "buck stops with you," as the expression goes. Let's talk about it.

What is a "sitter" and does your loved one living with dementia need one? Let's talk about it. In this episode, Rachael breaks down considerations you should make when weighing whether or not to hire a sitter for your loved one living with dementia. She discusses options that are worth trying first before resorting to hiring a sitter, and cases in which a sitter is likely the best next step for yo...

After 45 happy years together, Janice noticed that her life partner Sue had begun to repeat herself. "What do you want for dinner?" she'd ask. Then, a few minutes later, she'd say again, "What do you want for dinner?" As it turns out, Sue has Alzheimer's. Janice and Sue were recently featured in Matter of Mind, a PBS documentary that follows three pairs of caregivers and their loved ones living wi...

Whether you live with your loved one with dementia or you visit them in a care community, your time together will probably be most enjoyable if you bring an activity with you for the two of you to do together. This is a great way for you to connect with your loved one! I suggest simple, everyday activities like folding, sorting, or games like finishing lyrics (filling in the blank to famous songs...

"They seem fine!" This is the refrain of the folks we at Dementia By Day refer to as the "out-of-towners." The out-of-towners think they know best and they are very vocal about the care they believe your loved one should receive, but in reality, they are out of touch with what it's like caring for someone living with dementia.  If you have out-of-towners in your life, we hope you find this tip hel...

People often ask me how to break the news to their loved one living with dementia that they will be moving to a dementia care community. We NEVER want to say something like, "Mom, we are moving you to dementia care because there is something wrong with your brain," and we especially don't want to add, "remember?!" when they ask about what's going on for the second (or tenth) time.  People living w...

My #1 piece of advice when it comes to hospice: Look into it before you think it's time. Don't wait too long, because it's an invaluable resource for people living with dementia and their families.  Listen to learn how someone living with dementia might qualify for hospice.

For family caregivers of people living with dementia, the offerings of the senior living landscape can be super confusing. In this mini episode of the Dementia By Day Podcast, Rachael Wonderlin introduces some of the most common types of care offered in senior living, and explains how these designations can vary widely not only from country to country, but even state to state domestically in the U...

Back when Rachael first started posting content about caring for people with dementia, there were very few people inhabiting this same niche on the internet. Now, there are more and more cropping up every day. In this mini podcast episode, Rachael talks about the importance of double-checking the information you come across on the internet when it comes to caring for your loved one with dementia.

Nomenclature is so important. Listen to why I hate the phrases "therapeutic lying," "fiblets," and "white lies." Embracing Their Reality™️ is about doing what's true for the person living with dementia, NOT lying.

In this mini episode, Dementia By Day CEO Rachael Wonderlin talks about Naomi Feil's  Validation  Theory for communicating with people living with dementia. Validation  Theory contrasts directly with Embracing Their Reality™️ because it teaches to "never lie" to someone living with dementia, and often suggests avoiding certain lines of questioning instead. For example, if someone with dementia ask...

Listen to this mini podcast episode to learn the fundamentals of Timeline Confusion™️. A common misconception about people living with dementia is that they "don't recognize" their loved ones. In reality, people living with dementia aren't living on a linear timeline. This means that if they believe they themselves are 40, they may not understand why their adult child is older than them (as an exa...