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Piedmont Crossing receives grant for dementia care

The Dispatch - 1/8/2019

Jan. 08--Piedmont Crossing has received a $45,000 grant from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Division of Health Services Regulation, according to a news release.

These funds will support a program of cultural change for residents living with dementia at Piedmont Crossing.

Piedmont Crossing will use the grant to fund a year-long educational program for team members and family members using the Positive Approach to Care, a Teepa Snow learning track. According to the release, Snow is one of the leading educators on dementia and care in the United States and Canada. As an occupational therapist with 40 years of clinical practice, she founded an approach to support and engage people experiencing changes in brain function.

Snow's care strategies and techniques integrate what is known about brain function and changes that happen with various conditions with therapeutic approaches to foster positive outcomes, modified environment supports and altered task expectations that match retained or available abilities of people living with various forms of brain change and deterioration.

Piedmont Crossing has documented 77 residents with a diagnosis of some form of dementia. These residents often refuse personal care, are aggressive toward team members and have exhibited behaviors that affect others, the release stated. Piedmont Crossing believes to care for residents living with dementia, staff must involve all individuals who touch their lives daily.

The release stated that staff cannot provide the quality of life these individuals deserve unless practical education is provided to team members, families and medical providers.

"Through the generosity of this grant, we will be able to provide a specialized hands-on approach at the point of care for our dementia residents," said Jan Briggs, Piedmont Crossing administrator.

The enlightening and interactive training sessions will be held online and on site. Objectives covered include: Discussion of common brain changes, cues that often lead to distress or challenging behaviors, assistive techniques of cognitive impairment and emphasizing use of preserved abilities, identifying the value of positive reinforcement and proactive interventions and recognizing the value of noticing the functional ability of each person living with dementia and supportive responses that match.

Two Piedmont Crossing team members will be certified as trainers of the program and two as coaches. Training will begin with focus on Piedmont Crossing Memory Support residents and their families, but will spread to all residents and will be incorporated into care plans. The overall outcome of the program will be to work to change the culture of dementia care, the release stated.

For more information on Piedmont Crossing or this program, contact Briggs at (336) 474-8708.

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