The Best Friends Book of Alzheimer's Activities, Vol. 1
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Author: Virginia Bell
Publisher: Health Professions Press
Paperback:
ISBN 10: 1878812882
ISBN 13: 978-1878812889
Bring out the best in each person with dementia with these versatile, easy-to-implement Best Friends activities. A best friend knows your habits, what you like to do, and what makes you feel good. The Best Friends Book of Alzheimer’s Activities puts all of these qualities to work to help you transform the activity programming at your nursing facility, adult day center, assisted living facility, or home care setting. Staff, participants, and even family members will all benefit. With the ideas and suggestions found in this book, any member of a program’s care staff can turn the simplest interaction with a person with dementia into an activity that helps satisfy essential physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. In these inspiring pages, you will find formal and informal activities (with innumerable variations), communication and conversation tips, suggested songs and musical tie-ins, adaptations for people in the early and late stages of Alzheimer’s disease, activities for unprogrammed time (including evenings), ideas especially for men, opportunities for intergenerational exchanges, preventive measures to avoid unwanted surprises, and reminders of the spiritual benefits inherent in good activities. Planning activities for people with dementia may seem challenging, but this book shows how easy and natural it can be.
Review
"a valuable addition to any day centre or care home wanting to develop understanding of activity as being much more than providing entertainment and outings." (Journal of Dementia Care Reviews 2001-01-01)
"a wonderful resource ... very practical for staff, volunteers, and family members. This book will be one of your most-used resources" (Creative Forecasting Reviews 2001-01-01)
"A 'grab and go' book that was written to assist an activity director to take an everyday activity and turn it into something creative and meaningful. [The book] presents activity principles which are essential in developing programs that are appropriate and creative in maintaining dignity and quality of life." (The Director Reviews 2001-01-01)
“Troxel and Bell have done it again; their new book on activities will enrich, enliven and lighten the daily lives of both people with dementia and their family and professional caregivers. These pages offer dozens of creative, innovative ways to help people connect with one another, and that's a treasure for all of us.” (Wiser Now Reviews 2001-01-01)
“Highgate Senior Living has embraced Best Friends™ as our core program philosophy. Our activities have been transformed by this person-centered approach. It has helped staff connect to residents as Best Friends and is a program that really works.” (Highgate Senior Living Reviews 2001-01-01)
“The Best Friends approach is part of every activity and has resulted in a caring, contented, and happy atmosphere. Friendship has become the bonding force among our clients, staff, families, and volunteers.” (Katinka House (Southold, NY) Reviews 2018-03-08)
“It’s important to have structured activities, but the energy surrounding spontaneity is also important, which is why we try to follow the Best Friends approach of making everything an activity.” (Riverside Adult Day Program (Wilmington, DE) Reviews 2018-03-08)
About the Author
Virginia Bell has lectured widely on Alzheimer's disease at national and international conferences, speaking at 12 National Education Conferences of the Alzheimer's Association and lecturing at 18 conferences of Alzheimer's Disease International. Sheâ??s published journal articles and books, notably in Dementia Care: Patient, Family and Community (John Hopkins, 1989). Many of her articles have been reprinted numerous times: "The Alzheimer's Disease Bill of Rights" (1994), "The other Face of Alzheimer's Disease" (1999) and "Spirituality and the Person with Dementia" (2001), co-authored with David Troxel and published in the American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and in the Alzheimer's Care Quarterly. She has also co-authored five books with David Troxel. Virginia is currently the Program Consultant for the Greater Kentucky and Southern Indiana Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association.
David Troxel is an internationally known expert in Alzheimerâ??s and memory care. Heâ??s best known for his work with residents and families, and is an informative and engaging speaker. David holds a Masters Degree in Public Health from Rutgers Medical School. During the 25 years that heâ??s worked in the field, heâ??s also served as an Executive Board member of the American Public Health Association and the Ethics Advisory Panel for the US National Alzheimerâ??s Association. David has co-authored four influential books (most notably, The Best Friends Approach to Alzheimerâ??s Care) on Alzheimerâ??s relating to the disease care as well as staff development and training. Davidâ??s â??Best Friends Approachâ? is built on a seemingly simple premise: that what people living with memory loss need most is a friend â?? a best friend. David teaches caregivers how to understand and fulfill this â??Best Friendsâ? role, including special caregiving techniques and tools. He lives in Sacramento as a writer, speaker and consultant.
Robin Hamon, M.S.W., is Family Support Coordinator for the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at the University of Kentucky Sanders Brown Center on Aging. She worked with the Alzheimer's Association Lexington/Bluegrass Chapter for 11 years. During her tenure as program manager for the Helping Hand Day Center, she developed a creative art training program for staff and volunteers working with persons with dementia. Her special interests are in training and providing creative arts experiences for persons with dementia.
Tonya M. Cox, M.S.W., is Vice President of Education and Programs for the Alzheimer's Association serving greater Kentucky and southern Indiana. She began working in dementia care in 1995 in the Helping Hand Adult Day Program developing and leading activities for persons with memory loss. She also teaches and presents on activity programming and caring for persons with dementia.
