Sagepoint To Participate in Pilot Dementia Training

Sagepoint Senior Living Services is pleased to announce that, as a sign of our commitment to providing excellent, person-centered care for persons living with Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia, our staff are participating in CARES® Dementia Training and will earn Alzheimer’s Association essentiALZ and essentiALZ Plus Certifications. We will be posting our progress toward employee participation goals in the main lobby.

Residential care staff often have limited opportunities to attend face-to-face dementia training. When all staff share a care philosophy and approach to persons living with dementia, continuity of care improves. The goal of the pilot program from the state Alzheimer’s Council is to determine the feasibility of online training to enhance training in and adoption of dementia care best practices in Maryland. Sagepoint Senior Living Services is the first skilled nursing community in Maryland to participate in this program.

Sagepoint has long committed itself to providing services delivered with clinical excellence, in a comfortable and caring environment, for all community members, including those living with dementia. Staff will complete 10 modules of education which cover Dementia Basics (Alzheimer’s and Dementia, Understanding Behavior, Communication, and Person-centered Care) and Advanced Dementia Care (Making a Connection, Eating Well, Recognizing Pain, Minimizing Falls, Rethinking Wandering, Minimizing and Eliminating Restraints).

“With the CARES online dementia training program, we seek to offer training with a focus on person-centered dementia care. We are looking at all employees to participate in this endeavor,” said Hope Dweik, RN, BSN, MA, Sagepoint’s Staff Educator. “As the first skilled nursing community in Maryland to participate in this pilot program, we are helping to pave the way for cutting-edge levels of dementia care for residents in long-term care, assisted living, and rehabilitation communities.”

About CARES® Dementia Training Programs
HealthCare Interactive is addressing the growing national crisis of memory loss, dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease by developing the most innovative set of training products for family members and professional caregivers available in the marketplace today. HCI’s CARES Dementia Basics and CARES Dementia Advanced Care online training programs qualify individuals for Alzheimer’s Association essentiALZ certification.

About Alzheimer’s Association essentiALZ® and essentiALZ® Plus Certification
Alzheimer’s Association essentiALZ and essentiALZ Plus certification programs recognize an individual’s knowledge of recommended dementia-care practices. Anyone who fulfills the prerequisite training requirements is eligible to take the essentiALZ certification exam and become certified.