Last Wednesday, SafeCare BC had the opportunity to partner with Victoria’s Luther Court Society in sponsoring and welcoming Teepa Snow to Victoria. Teepa is one of the world’s leading educators on dementia care, and her workshop was attended by 200 continuing care providers.
Throughout the session, Teepa often used audience participation to guide them through what it feels like to have dementia, and how the various roles of a healthcare worker may be interpreted by someone with dementia. She explained the theory behind her GEMS® model, which acknowledges that everyone’s abilities can change in a moment and modifying environments, situations, interactions, and expectations will create either supportive positive opportunities or result in distress, and a sense of failure. By accepting GEMS®, healthcare workers are more likely to have a positive interaction with those with dementia by providing a supportive setting that acknowledges that each individual has their own unique capabilities.
The feedback from attendees was extremely positive. There were many lessons learned around how changing approach can result in better outcomes for the patients and healthcare providers themselves.
“Learning about the differences between extroverts and introverts makes a big difference in how to approach the clients differently.”
Lujean Mendoza from KinVillage (winner of one of the free tickets)“Very informative session, I liked the way Teepa made it relatable and easy to understand.”
Jamie Oman from Community Living Victoria“I attended today so that I could take some of the learnings back to the support services group at my organization because they don’t normally get this type of training but need it. I will be passing information about approaching patients with the understanding that their body is their home, approaching from the side and lowering voices.”
Melanie Gjinnaj Coordinator of Support Services at Oak Bay Lodge“I think the biggest moment for me was realizing that there are so many things that we do day to day that may trigger a resident and how we react and keeping in mind that approach is everything.”
Lindsey Clinical Coordinator from Sidney All Care
