Care Partner Finances and COVID

For those of you who have been enjoying Pat's videos, she will be back next in four week. For now, we are taking a break to discuss finances, often a difficult subject for the dementia care partner.

Dementia care tends to be very expensive and LBD care can be even more so. Therefore, I’ve invited Judy Baker, of the Senior Caregiver Alliance to provide you with some literature about finances with a special focus on the effect that COVID might have on them:

Retirement Insecurity in the time of COVID. Many of us are already retired, or are seriously considering retirement. This article is an overview of this subject.

Financial Literacy for Older Adults. This article gives an overview of those financial situations that retirees tend to face and then offers some suggestions about how to organize your retirement finances.

Coronavirus Information for Older Adults and Caregivers. This article is perhaps the most valuable and useful of all of Judy’s suggestions. It contains a long list of resources about almost anything COVID related and how it affects you and your loved one.

Coronavirus Impacts on Older Workers. This article is mainly for those of you still in the workforce, and most applicable to those who are caring for a parent while still trying to earn a living.

The next blog will be one about making sure your financial Power of Attorney is good.

For more information about Lewy body disorders, read our books:
A Caregivers’ Guide to Lewy Body Dementia
Managing Cognitive Issues in Parkinson's and Lewy Body Dementia
Responsive Dementia Care: Fewer Behaviors Fewer Drugs
Lewy Body Dementia: A Manual for Staff

Helen and James Whitworth are not doctors, lawyers or social workers. As informed caregivers, they share the information here for educational purposes only. It should never be used instead of a professional's advice.

Medication Mantras

In the third of a series of videos about LBD and the medical system, Pat Snyder, author of Treasures in the Darkness and LBD teacher, talks some more about LBD and medication. Because she doesn't list the mantras until the end, I'm listing them here so you can connect each one with what she says about it.

• Make one change at a time
• Start low
• Go slow
• Learn what drugs to avoid
• Be excited about what drugs are available

Here's Pat's 7.5 minute video: Medication Mantras

For more information about Lewy body disorders, read our books:
A Caregivers’ Guide to Lewy Body Dementia
Managing Cognitive Issues in Parkinson's and Lewy Body Dementia
Responsive Dementia Care: Fewer Behaviors Fewer Drugs
Lewy Body Dementia: A Manual for Staff

Helen and James Whitworth are not doctors, lawyers or social workers. As informed caregivers, they share the information here for educational purposes only. It should never be used instead of a professional's advice.

Avoid These Drugs!

This week's video by Pat Snyder, author of Treasures in the Darkness and LBD teacher, lasts over 18 minutes, but it is well worth watching. LBD can be very sensitive to so many drug and all LBD care partners need to know about these. In fact, you will want to take notes! And then you will want to go to some of the sources she recommends and learn more. And then you will want some references that you can refer to over and over.

I've listed her recommendations here along with some of my own:
People's Pharmacy Anticholinergic Drug List

Treating and Diagnosing Lewy Body Dementia

Beers Criteria, 2019 version

I also recommend our book, Responsive Dementia Care, which has a huge chapter on drug sensitivity and management as well as several chapters on a variety of non-drug options and alternatives.

Here is Pat's video: Avoid These Drugs When You Can with Lewy Body Dementia
Next week: Pat's video about Medication Mantras.

For more information about Lewy body disorders, read our books:
A Caregivers’ Guide to Lewy Body Dementia
Managing Cognitive Issues in Parkinson's and Lewy Body Dementia
Responsive Dementia Care: Fewer Behaviors Fewer Drugs
Lewy Body Dementia: A Manual for Staff

Helen and James Whitworth are not doctors, lawyers or social workers. As informed caregivers, they share the information here for educational purposes only. It should never be used instead of a professional's advice.