Product Description
Living Normally with Dementia tells the successful story of Dagmarsminde, a small innovative nursing home in Denmark with a remarkable and life-affirming approach to dementia care.
The philosophy and lived experiences of this model home are illustrated with real examples and vignettes from day-to-day care. The founder and staff offer a replicable approach to helping their residents with dementia enjoy a richer, more normal-feeling life than residents receiving the “usual care” in most settings. The staff, in turn, enjoy the professional rewards of following their calling to this work with confidence and compassion.
Person-centered practices define the daily routine and include a focus on good nutrition, contact with nature, healthy physical activities, and as much independence in activities of daily living as possible. The needs and progress of each resident are paramount.
From the time a new resident arrives at the home until the person has died, the goal of care is to help residents
- Thrive in a home where they are heard and respected at all times
- Have a medication-free existence as much as possible
- Remain independently mobile by walking without assistive devices unless absolutely necessary
- Enjoy family-style dining with staff and residents together
- Experience ordinary sights and sounds of nature—from household pets to small farm animals, garden flowers, and nearby woods
This book invites leaders, direct care partners, students, and families to immerse themselves in a home that operates very differently from traditional, institutional nursing homes. The goal is to help readers in the U.S. and around the world envision new, more satisfying ways of working with people living with dementia and to explore new approaches in their own care homes.
May Bjerre Eiby is a certified nurse with a master’s degree in nursing from the University of Aarhus in Denmark. Most of her work has been with older adults in nursing homes and hospitals. In 2016, she established Dagmarsminde, a small nursing home north of Copenhagen for people with dementia. Her goal was to create a care home founded on more compassionate, person-centered practices than she had found in other care settings, especially for those with dementia. The approach to care at Dagmarsminde is built on a deep knowledge of each resident’s needs and personalized care emphasizing comfort, individual attention, and active engagement of staff with both the residents and their relatives. In adopting this vision, the staff at Dagmarsminde have successfully eliminated the use of anti-psychotic medicines and sedatives and enabled their residents to live active, normal lives in the company of others.
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