Fading Memories

Better caregiving by Forgetting What's Lost & Focusing on What's Left We're talking about forgetting what's lost and focusing on what is left. Most caregivers have likely heard the term person-centered care; however, how many of us truly understand what that means? It likely means different things for different people and that's understandable.  The best definition I have found is this: Person-Centered Dementia Care is a way of providing care focused on knowing the UNIQUE person through respectful close relationships that foster normalcy, choice, purpose, belonging, security and strengths. Family caregivers have more knowledge of their loved ones as compared to paid caregivers, but as they lose abilities, we may feel that we don't know our person at all. For example, I had been told to simplify the hobbies or activities Mom loved but that never worked. My attempts to do just that actually caused more stress and frustration. Understanding how to care by forgetting what's lost and focusing on what's left woul