NISD Five Day Training Programme on Management of Dementia/ Old Age Homes
NISD Five day Programme on Management of Dementia/ Old Age Homes was conducted by the Heritage Foundation, in association with ARDSI Hyderabad Deccan, at Heritage Foundation, 37 Kamalapuri Colony, Phase III, Hyderabad 500073, from 25th to 29th March 2013. The trainees came from different part of the country mostly from Chennai and Pondicherry. There were a total of 20 people who attended the training.
On the second day of the training, 27th March 2013 the trainees visited ARDSI Hyderabad Deccan Day care Centre, they were given an introductory talk of the activities conducted at day care and the purpose of activities. They were provided with ARDSI literature and handouts.The trainees observed the persons with dementia doing activities and later on discussed about the same. They were told about the therapies and the involvement of the persons with dementia in activities. There was a open discussion with the Day care staff and the trainees about communication and behavior of persons with dementia.
On the third day of the training, 28th March 2013 at the Heritage Foundation, presentations and talk were delivered by the ARDSI Hyderabad Deccan team. The first morning session was "Memory Assessment" done by Ms Saadiya, Counsellor, ARDSI Hyderabad Deccan. Ms. Saadiya explained the basic assessment of Dementia and some basic paper pen test which are used in assessment. She gave some examples of how dementia assessment is done in the Memory clinic. She brief spoke about how to conduct the paper pen tests with people who come for assessment. The session ended with the trainees asking questions about the tests and other methods of assessment.
Mr Koti Babu gave a talk on the activities done at the day care center and emphasized on their importance and how to conduct them with persons with Dementia.
The last session for morning was on "Activities for persons with Demntia", which was presented by Ms Saadiya. She spoke about the importance of activities for dementia patients and their effect on delaying the progression of dementia, to elicit positive emotions, to foster verbal as well as non verbal communication among person with dementia, maintain their abilities and independence, to improve confidence, and to improves overall quality of life and social well-being. She spoke about her experiences and shared small clippings of activities being done with persons with dementia at the day care centre.
The Afternoon session after lunch was done by Dr Naveen Kumar, from the Department of Physiotherapy , NIMS. He spoke about gait and mobility issues faced in the dementia. His excellent talk, delved in-depth into symptoms of dementia, the role of a physiotherapist in dementia care, interventions appropriate for the different stages, postural deviations and corrective exercises, gait training, toileting, bowel and bladder training. The talk concluded with Dr. Naveen answering caregivers' queries ranging from shops stocking the assistive devices, exercises for different stages, when to commence physio etc. He concluded his talk by taking questions by the trainees and answering them.
The next session was presented by Ms Rukhsana Ansari, Gen Secretary of ARDSI Hyderabad Deccan she gave a presentation on "Communication for persons with Dementia".
She explained with practical examples management of communication and behavior problems faced by the patients. Functional turndown will leads to frustration, dependency, helplessness, lacking the role in the family etc. The main aim is to retain functional abilities and make them to lead normal life. She concluded her session with a interactive question answer sessions.
On fourth day of the training, 29th March 2013 one of the morning session was "Common Geriatric problems in persons with dementia" presented by Dr Konnapa, he spoke about about the most common problems like indigestion and constipation and reasons behind it. Other problems like Heart burn, Peptic ulcers, diarrhoea etc. were discussed. Dr. Konappa further went on to talk about gastro paresis which is a disorder in which food takes a long time to clear the stomach resulting in many unpleasant symptoms. Intestinal Ischemia – more systemic problems that are more common with age are really the reason behind severe abdominal pain and urgent need to have a bowel movement or frequent, forceful bowel movements, he said that one of the reasons for poor nutrition can be ill fitting dentures. Poor nutrition can cause progression of disease and aggravate confusion, lead to physical weakness and increase the risk of infection. Chronic conditions that affect appetite are diabetes, heart disease digestive problems, depression and constipation. He went on to give few suggestions and concluded his session by taking some question and answering them.
The other sessions were taken as the program schedule and the training ended on 29th March evening with a closing ceremony and certificate distribution.
