Equipped To Serve - First Responders Receive Dementia Care Training

Even though it won’t open until the Summer of 2017, I’m proud to report that Arbor Terrace Morris Plains is <a href="https://www.arborcompany.com/l...">already making a difference</a> in the lives of seniors in the local community.

As we do in many of the areas we serve, Arbor Terrace recently provided free training to Morris Plains first responders – police, firefighters and emergency medical technicians (EMTs) – to better equip them for situations involving persons living with dementia.

Shortly after completing the training, three members of the Morris Minute Men Emergency Medical Services returned to Arbor Terrace to share with us how they’d already put that training to good use.

“Just two days after the training, we got a call from officers at a nearby police station who had found a person wandering around the community,” said volunteer EMT Carolyn Leppard. Along with fellow EMTs Elsa Kim and Marybeth Soutar, Carolyn went to the station to check the person for possible medical issues.

Officers had discovered the elderly resident wandering about outside on a very chilly, windy day. The person had no identification and was unable to tell the EMTs a name, family member’s name, or address.

Following the training guidelines, Carolyn knelt down, established eye contact, and introduced herself before checking the patient’s blood pressure. The patient was cooperative and pleasant, but then suddenly became belligerent and uncooperative.

“The mood changed in a heartbeat, just as had been described in the training,” said volunteer EMT Elsa Kim. “And as we had learned, reestablishing a connection is the best approach, using the connection to distract or redirect the person as best you can.”

The EMTs were able to calm the patient somewhat; soon after, officers located the person’s spouse, and the patient returned home. The volunteer EMTs noted that the Arbor training, which likens the thinking and actions of dementia patients in later stages of disease to that of young children or pre-teens, was particularly helpful. Moods can change quickly; logic doesn’t always work.

As Carolyn says, “As the training pointed out, with persons living with dementia, no matter what they do or say, they are not in control. They are not thinking the way you or I do. Arbor’s training was helpful and really right on.”

We at Arbor are pleased to share what we’ve learned in our work with residents living with dementia with first responders. Often, they’re called on for Silver Alerts, triggered when an elderly person with impaired cognitive ability is reported as missing, or to respond to emergencies in homes or retirement facilities where a person with dementia may require assistance.

“Arbor Terrace provided our members with focused training that has already benefited a member of the community that we serve,” says Morris Minute Men president Dave Schulz.

“With an aging population and a steady increase in EMS call volume, I expect that the value of this training will be significant. We appreciate the outreach that our future neighbor has offered us.”

By Wanda Moen

Regional Vice President of Sales for The Arbor Company