When the Love Story Includes Dementia

Caring for someone with dementia? Journaling can help. Download a Care Partner Journal today! @BrookdaleLiving Tweet

Brentwood, Tenn., Nov. 2, 2016 - Ever since Donna and John met at work three decades ago, they've had the kind of smooth, comfortable relationship that comes when attraction is accompanied by compatible interests as well as strengths and weaknesses that balance each other. They pictured their senior years as an extension of what Donna Dean calls “this nice, easy life. We didn't see the calamity that was coming.”

Brookdale Senior Living, the nation's largest dementia care provider, has created new resources for care partners as part of National Alzheimer's Awareness Month in November. The candid discussion of many of the disease's most difficult challenges includes an up-close look at Donna's and John’s lives since he developed dementia.

The couple shares on video how following John's diagnosis, they adapted and sustained daily routines, emotional connection and affection. Donna speaks of her uncertainties about how to manage her reactions to behavioral expressions, the adjustment to John's move to a dementia care community and how keeping a journal helped her logistically and emotionally.

The company is offering a downloadable “Care Partners Journal” designed for families dealing with a dementia diagnosis. It purposely uses the phrase “care partner” rather than “caregiver” to demonstrate that the disease is an experience shared by the people living with the disease and their loved ones. Additional resources include informational documents on difficult-to-discuss topics, such as the impact of dementia on physical intimacy; family conflict over symptoms and care; behavioral expressions that can frustrate; and more.

“Having worked with those with dementia and their families for more than three decades, we understand there are facets of the disease that are especially hard to talk about,” said Juliet Holt Klinger, Brookdale's senior director of dementia care. “We hope that by addressing uncomfortable subjects candidly, we can make this challenging disease easier for everyone involved.”

More than 15 million Americans provide 18.1 billion hours of unpaid care for people with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, according to the Alzheimer's Association. Compared with those caring for people without dementia, twice as many care partners of those with the disease report substantial financial, emotional and physical difficulties, with 59 percent of them rating their emotional stress as high or very high.

“Being a fulltime care partner is difficult because you begin to lose yourself,” said Dean. “When stress is constant, it takes its toll. I became depressed and had anxiety. For me, getting help meant taking care of me, which made me better able to continue helping the one I love.”

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About Brookdale Senior Living
Brookdale Senior Living Inc. is the leading operator of senior living communities throughout the United States. The Company is committed to providing senior living solutions primarily within properties that are designed, purpose-built and operated to provide the highest-quality service, care and living accommodations for residents. Brookdale operates independent living, assisted living, and dementia-care communities and continuing care retirement centers, with approximately 1,077 communities in 47 states and the ability to serve approximately 105,000 residents as of September 30, 2016. Through its ancillary services program, the Company also offers a range of outpatient therapy, home health, personalized living and hospice services.

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Videos

Donna and John: Care and Engagement

Thanks to Brookdale’s Clare Bridge programming, John lives a full and happy life. Donna talks candidly about how the care and engagement he receives has slowed down the progression of the disease

Tapping Into the Heart of Dementia

Brookdale dementia residents participate in a drum class and tap into their internal rhythm.

Harvesting for Health

Brookdale dementia residents spend the summer growing a garden.

Candid Conversations: Engagement

We understand how hard it is to entrust the care of your loved one to someone else. Juliet Holt Klinger, Brookdale’s senior director of dementia care, explains Brookdale’s philosophy.