Cambrian Senior Living Receives Dementia Training Certification from Nationally Recognized Dementia Educator, Teepa Snow

By Mandy Otto

Dementia is a progressive brain disease that is projected to affect 13.5 million Americans and 1.2 million Canadians by mid-century. Today, over 5 million Americans are living with the most common form of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, including an estimated 200,000 under the age of 65. By 2050, up to 16 million will have the disease. Characterized by memory loss and a cognitive decline that interferes with daily life, dementia progressively weakens a person’s thought processing ability, ultimately causing drastic changes in mood, memory and behavior. Family members caring for a spouse, parent, or other loved one with dementia, are at high risk for depression and anxiety, making it difficult or impossible to care for the person affected by dementia.

You know the diagnosis, now what do you do? Nationally recognized dementia educator and trainer, Teepa Snow, MS, OTR/L, FAOTA has helped thousands of people by sharing her dementia care philosophy and caregiving techniques. Her training program and book are reflective of her education, work experience, medical research, and first hand caregiving experiences. In addition to her work as an Occupational Therapist and 30 years of experience in geriatrics, Teepa served as the Director of Education and Lead Trainer for the Eastern N.C. Chapter of Alzheimer’s Association, and as a clinical associate professor at UNC’s School of Medicine, Program on Aging. She is an advocate for those living with dementia and has made it her personal mission to help families and professionals better understand how it feels to be living with such challenges and change. Teepa’s teaching styles integrates facts about the brain and what happens to someone when doing, thinking, reasoning or processing becomes difficult. Her teaching style is unique, entertaining and energetic. She is a sought after speaker for professional organizations across the United States, Canada, and Australia. TeepaSnowResourceVideos

Mandy Otto, Life Enrichment Coordinator at Cambrian Senior Living recently earned her Teepa Snow-Positive Approach to Care (PAC) Trainer Certification after demonstrating her ability to train others with the PAC philosophy…teaching awareness, knowledge, and skill development in a classroom, community, and support group setting. The experiential and interactive course provides dementia related awareness and knowledge, an in-depth look into various learning styles, and facilitation techniques that engage learners. Certification requirements include 6 hours of online training, an 8 hour classroom training, and post training follow up.

Cambrian Senior Living, with locations in both Tecumseh and South Lyon, Michigan provides dementia care to seniors. Mandy is in the process of implementing the Teepa Snow PAC philosophy to not only their caregiving staff, but also to the family members of their residents who are desperate to find a way to successfully interact with their loved ones. For more information on how Cambrian Senior Living can assist with your caregiving needs, visit their website at www.CambrianSeniorLiving.com, or call Laura Beyer at 517-423-5300.