Reframing Dementia

Innovations Changing Care

Date:   Thursday, September 21, 2017

Time:   8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Location:  Thelma Keller Convention Center, 1202 North Keller Drive, Effingham, Illinois

This innovative and unique educational event will offer creative insight, tools and resources to help professionals address the needs of persons with Alzheimer’s and dementia types with special emphasis on new approaches that complement current treatments and affect the whole person.  Join us for a fun and interactive agenda to gain the most current strategies for communication, risk reduction, relationship-building, symptom management, quality of life and death, and more.

Upon completion of this program, you should be able to:

• Recognize the significant habits identified by research that impact cognition and delay the development of certain dementia types.
• Identify new activities that will effectively engage a person with Alzheimer’s/ dementia at every stage.
• Discuss the impact of the complicated grieving process over time by those with Alzheimer’s/dementia as well as their caregivers and loved ones.
• Review the significant steps to creating dementia friendly communities in rural areas.
• Select the techniques that enhance communication with a person with Alzheimer’s/dementia during times of agitation and disorientation.

Presented by:

Faculty:

Rachelle Blough, CRT, CDP, CADDT, is national teaching and practice consultant in the dementia field. Rachelle is a Certified Recreational Therapist, a Certified Dementia Practitioner and a Certified Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia Care Trainer for the National Council of Certified Dementia Practitioners (NCCDP).  She previously served as in various capacities in memory care organizations, most recently Vice President of Life Enrichment and Innovation in a growing assisted living company, creating and standardizing care approaches and training programs.  Rachelle is passionate about teaching and has shared her vast knowledge regarding memory care and life enrichment to over 1000 participants in various classrooms and conferences, engaging participants to share their own stories and experiences in a manner that is fun and approachable.

Elizabeth Hagemann, MA, works as the Manager of Education and Outreach for the Alzheimer’s Association. She serves the western 14 counties in Central Illinois, including Vermillion County.  Elizabeth came to the Association from an internship at the Illinois Department on Aging providing her with the knowledge of the aging network here in Illinois.  She graduated with a Bachelor’s in Psychology from Eureka College, and earned her Master’s in Human Services concentrating in gerontology from the University of Illinois at Springfield.  Her hope is to spread awareness of Alzheimer’s disease while also fostering relationships with community partners in order to make the community as dementia friendly as possible.

Debra Joy Hart, RN, CT, is a nurse consultant, educator, and clown. Her nursing and teaching experience is in alcohol/drug rehabilitation, hospice, men’s emergency and transitional shelter, and public health.  Debra Joy is the creator of the 1000 Red Nose Project NFP™, traveling around the world or sending her red noses to different countries, collecting pictures and handing out red noses to help promote peace, laughter and healthy humor in the world. She is also a monthly speaker and part time minister at Unity Church and Spiritual Center in Urbana.  Every spring and summer (and sometimes in between) for the last 22 years, Debra Joy, AKA “Daisy the Clown”, has been part of a collaborating team working with FCAN to bring therapeutic programming to the families affected and infected with HIV/ AIDS.  Deb Joy juggles her skills as a humorist, nurse, clown and  minister to speak around the country to corporations, colleges, healthcare settings and religious organizations. Her infectious sprit, laughter and wit are just a few of the tools she has in her clown medicine bag.

Ann Marie Mohr, MA, is the founder of Mohr Improv where she has worked with a wide range of organizations facilitating improvisation workshops to help individuals and teams become more productive, collaborative and innovative in both their professional and personal lives. Starting in 2017, Ann Marie began Project Present: An Improv Collaborative organizing workshops assisting both individuals living with memory loss and their caregivers in uniquely engaging collaborations. After researching and discovering the meaningful application of this work, she is thrilled to be adding this component to her company. Ann Marie has taught Improvisation, Advanced Improvisation, and Acting at Washington University since 2007. She was the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of OnSite Theatre, St. Louis’s only site specific theatre company. Ann Marie received her M.A. in Drama from Washington University and trained at Second City in Chicago. She has taught, directed and acted professionally in Chicago, Portugal, and St. Louis. 

Shannon Nosbisch is co-founder of the Effingham Area Alzheimer’s Awareness (EAAA). After her experience caring for her mother-in-law living with Alzheimer’s disease, Shannon and her daughter Amy founded the EAAA, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing support and education to families living in Effingham and the surrounding area. Since 2013, EAAA has provided a variety of programs focused on education and support including the Forget-Me-Not Resource Centers located in seven local libraries, monthly Memory Moment and Forget-Me-Not Spotlight articles, and community education series that hosts professionals to discuss topics related to caregiving and dementia. 

Amy Sobrino, MSW, LMSW, is a licensed social worker specializing in working with families affected by cognitive impairment such as Alzheimer’s disease and other progressive dementias. Amy’s passion for working with families affected by dementia began after her own experience caring for her grandmother, who lived with Alzheimer’s disease for nearly thirteen years. Amy currently works at Memory Care Home Solutions, a non-profit organization based out of St. Louis. She counsels and trains family caregivers on how to best support their loved one living with cognitive impairment. In addition to her role at Memory Care Home Solutions, Amy also founded Effingham Area Alzheimer’s Awareness with her mom Shannon.

Conflict of Interest Policy Statement:   Faculty participating in this program are expected to disclose to the program audience any real or apparent conflict(s) or unlabeled use related to the content of their presentations.