Have any of you read anything from Dr Allen Power? Thoughts?

I've read a lot of books on dementia and dementia care but I've never read anything by him. My local library has a copy of his book Dementia Beyond Disease, so I'll reserve a copy and see what he has to say.

Before we start to redesign ALF and MC, I think the emphasis should be on patient care (not having read his book yet, maybe it is). I've been to many different care facilities, some quite old and some very new, and it's not the building that makes the difference, it's the staff. An organization called PHI (https://phinational.org ) advocates for direct care workers. The following is directly from their website:

“ We believe that caring, committed relationships between direct care workers and their clients are at the heart of quality care. Those relationships work best when direct care workers receive high-quality training, living wages, and respect for the central role they play.” They cite 5 pillars of job quality: quality training, fair compensation, quality supervision and support, respect and recognition, and real opportunity.

Direct care workers today, not only care facility workers, but also home care workers, work for low pay, insufficient training, little or no recognition, poor supervision and lack of opportunity. Many of these workers we trust our LOs care to work several jobs just to stay out of poverty.

Certainly we secure the areas in MC for the safety of the residents. Does Dr. Power propose a “free range” facility? I, too, would like to see a better system to accommodate those living with dementia, but at what cost?

We don't believe in gov't owned assets Geaton (unless of course you count propping up unprofitable businesses🙄).

I never heard of him either. But I can tell you from our own experience, anti psychotic drugs work. My MIL has severe dementia and lives in a care home, but she’s in great physical shape. at some point she became agitated, not knowing where she was, constantly exit seeking, kicking the doors, not sleeping, up all night opening all bedrooms doors and closet doors looking for her dead husband. It went on for weeks. The caregivers tried redirecting, tried letting her walk outside to “find her way home”. Nothing works and it gets worse and worse every day. She’s suffering and miserable.

finally her neurologist prescribed anti psychotic with ssri. Now she sleeps better, she is in much better mood, drugs did not turn her comatosed or into a zombie. She still says she wants to leave but she’s not running for the door. She still sundowns and has hallucinations but the scale is lower now and it’s manageable for the caregivers. Most importantly, her mood is much better so her emotional well-being is much better now than being in the highly agitated state.

I know there’s a lot of loving dedicated family caregivers out there will devote their whole lives 24/7 to their LO’s to avoid using drugs to control the behaviors. My view is that, just like using Tylenol for body aches, or Claritin for allergies, antipsychotic drugs is there to minimize the pain and suffering and it can really help the LO’s quality of life and mental wellbeing.

Governments that cover expenses are still doing it through the taxation of its citizens and corporations. In rare instances, like Norway, it can be funded through a government-owned asset that they sell outside of the country, like oil.

I can tell you that it's easy to see the problems but not so easy to come up with answers, these are difficulties many people come to the forum about when caring for a loved one in their home too. At one NH the solution for difficult residents is one on one care, but even in this not for profit home in Canada where the bulk of expenses are covered with government support it is straining the budget, and unfortunately people are entering care with higher needs than ever and they are living longer that way too.

I have never heard of him, nor ever heard him, so can judge only what you say. New ways of handling dementia will COST A LOT OF MONEY, so I suspect the lucky recipients of their recommendation will be again, those with the money to afford it. The others will remain in the care of few and poorly paid caregivers. I also think that Oliver Sacks had his ideas of the brain with dementia long long before now, and people have recognized for a long time that aging is about loss after loss in control and dignity. Again, all of this COSTS MONEY and TIME. And I wonder how many "difficult" seniors this gentlemen has spent hours of hands on 24/7 care of.
To be frank, I think there is little we can do to address the dreadful circumstances visited on us when to be frank we live too long. I think it is lovely to have these "goals". I simply wonder how realistic they are.