The Best Friends™ Daily Planner shows you how simple it is to be a Best Friend to a person with dementia each and every day. This handy and practical book provides you with Best Friends guiding principles, activities, and reflection questions to support your caregiving each week.
- Guiding Principles: Learn how to follow the Best Friends™ approach with these reminders and tips
- Activities: Implement over 150 quick, easy, and surprising activities
- Reflections: Record what works and what doesn’t—both for you and your Best Friend
The Best Friends™ Daily Planner can be used as an individual resource or with any of the many books in the world-renowned Best Friends™ product suite. Developed by dementia care experts Virginia Bell and David Troxel, Best Friends™ is a sensitive and sensible approach to dementia care based on the essential elements of friendship: respect, empathy, support, trust, and humor.
With ample space to record your thoughts and the reactions of the persons with dementia that you care for, this invaluable tool will guide you through the year and provide a record of your caregiving experiences in the years to come. Filled with easy-to-implement activities and reminders of the core tenets of the Best Friends™ model of care, this handy and practical book is completely customizable to meet your needs. Divided by months that highlight each of the 12 Best Friends Dementia Rights and labeled with dates that aren’t day-of-the-week specific, the planner gives you the flexibility to start at any point of the year!
Virginia Bell, M.S.W., has lectured widely on Alzheimer’s disease at national and international conferences, speaking at 11 National Education Conferences of the Alzheimer’s Association and lecturing at the last 16 conferences of Alzheimer’s Disease International. She has published journal articles and book chapters, notably in Dementia Care: Patient, Family and Community (John Hopkins, 1989).
Many of her articles have been reprinted numerous times: “The Alzheimer’s Disease Bill of Rights” (1994), “The Other Face of Alzheimer’s Disease” (1999) and “Spirituality and the Person with Dementia” (2001), co-authored with David Troxel and published in the American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and in Alzheimer’s Care Quarterly. She has also co-authored four books with David Troxel, most notably The Best Friends Approach to Dementia Care.
Virginia is currently the Program Consultant for the Greater Kentucky and Southern Indiana Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association. She received her M.S.W. from the University of Kentucky in 1982.
David Troxel, M.P.H., has become nationally and internationally known for his writing and teaching in the fields of Alzheimer’s disease and long-term care. He has co-authored four influential books (most notably, The Best Friends Approach to Dementia Care) on Alzheimer’s care as well as numerous articles relating to Alzheimer’s disease care and staff development and training.
His latest book on activities was published in 2004. David received his Master’s Degree in Public Health from UMDNJ, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (formerly Rutgers Medical School) in 1986.
David is a past Executive Board member of the American Public Health Association and is a member of the Ethics Advisory Panel for the United States Alzheimer’s Association. He currently serves as a Program Consultant to the Alzheimer’s Association California Central Coast Chapter in Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties.
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“The challenge of implementing any care delivery model is to make the concepts come alive in day-to-day interactions between staff and residents. The Best Friends™ Daily Planner is an excellent tool to help your caregivers make the most of their Best Friends training. The Planner connects the guiding principles of the program with practical activities. Most importantly the planner encourages caregivers to reflect on the impact their interactions both on the residents and on themselves. We’re excited to put this resource in the hands of the people who need it most—our front-line staff.”
—Jean Summers, SVP ALF division Americare
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“The Best Friends™ Daily Planner is a wonderful tool! The practical tips given are great prompts to help a caregiver implement activities that appreciate their Best Friend’s Life Story and touch the heart of who they are. The best results of caring for an individual with dementia stems from staying in tune with the person’s likes, dislikes, spirituality, hobbies and more. This planner aids the caregiver in doing just that.”
—Jamie Huff, QDCP, Community Outreach Coordinator, Alzheimer’s Alliance of Smith County, TX