New VHA Website to Help Those Living with Dementia

We know caregiving is a difficult role. Sometimes it can feel lonely and it can be hard to find the information you need. This can be especially challenging when caring for someone with dementia. VHA is hoping a new website with information about dementia care will providesome help. The website can be found at www.vha.ca/DementiaCare.

This website includes information regarding:

• Staying Active, including an Activation Toolkit that provides suggestions for involving those living with dementia in everyday tasks around the home to keep them active
• Keeping Safe at Home, including a manual for managing Responsive Behaviours, a term which describes many common, and sometimes distressing, behaviours that people living with dementia may display as a way to communicate a need. These include things like yelling, hitting, spitting, pinching, repetitive actions or speech, and wandering
• Personal Care
• MusicCare, a VHA program that provides access to personalized music at no cost through the Alzheimer’s Society of Toronto’s music partnership program
• P.I.E.C.E.S., a training program that provides tools to assist in situations where people living with dementia are expressing themselves through hitting, verbal aggression, wandering and avoiding personal care.

“Caring for a loved one with dementia is emotionally demanding and requires lots of unexpected skills and support. With this website, we hope to reduce caregiver challenges by providing them with a suite of tools to help make their lives easier,” says Catherine Chater.

The new website also provides information on the way VHA service providers can help provide support and assistance for various situations.Please visit www.vha.ca/DementiaCarefor more information