As our user base grows for both the CARER and PRO apps, the demand for new content continues to rise. We are grateful for the content requests, especially regarding practical day-to-day care strategies.
Our team has been working hard on them and please find our May-June content update below:
New Topic: "Dental and Oral Care in Dementia" including strategies for carers to brush and care for the person's teeth
New Topic: "Dignity of Risk" for the PRO app, outlining the balance between duty of care and risk-taking as part of meaningful living
New Section: "Preventing and Managing Scams and Frauds" particularly relevant in current times
New Section: "Compulsive Purchases or Spending" with practical strategies to prevent and manage compulsive spending
New Section: "Counseling Services in Palliative and End-of-Life Care for the carer", including end-of-life specific counseling services
Content update for the section “Changing in food preferences and cravings, incl pica and eating “strange” items”
Content update for separation anxiety under "Shadowing, Railing Behind, Following, or Refusing to Separate from Others".
Our Contributor Award winner is Rui, who has won a $50 gift voucher for providing numerous constructive suggestions and feedback both online and in virtual face-to-face interactions! And amazingly, Rui has decided to pay it forward and donating the voucher to Caladenia Dementia Care!
We extend our heartfelt gratitude to him for his incredible support.
Note: Please refresh your browser to see the updates.
Content updates
New Topic “Dental and oral care in dementia”
Maintaining dental and oral health is crucial for overall well-being, but it can be challenging for individuals with dementia. Difficulties in brushing teeth and other factors can lead to dental pain and trigger changed behaviours.
Our new Topic provides care strategies, including suggestions for regular teeth cleaning, denture care, and creating a dementia-friendly bathroom. Explore this Topic in the "More Topics" tab (CARER app) or "All info" tab (PRO app), or search using keywords such as "dental", "teeth", etc.
New Topic "Dignity of risk"
Our PRO app introduces a new Topic, "Dignity of Risk" which explores the balance between meaningful living and the duty of care. Professionals can navigate the complexities of risk-taking while ensuring the dignity and well-being of individuals. Find this Topic in the "All info" tab (PRO app), or search using keywords such as "dignity" or "risk" etc.
New Section "Preventing and managing scams and frauds"
Scams and frauds are unfortunately prevalent in today's world, and individuals living with dementia are more vulnerable to them.
Our new Section provides tips and strategies to prevent and manage various types of scams, including online, door-to-door, banking scams, superannuation and more. Discover this Section under the Topic "Future planning: financial matters" in the "More Topics" tab (CARER app) or "All info" tab (PRO app), or search using keywords such as "scam", "fraud" etc.
New Section "Compulsive purchases or spending"
Many individuals with dementia experience repetitive purchasing behavior or make uncharacteristically expensive purchases. These actions can lead to challenging social and financial consequences.
Our new Section offers practical suggestions and strategies to manage this. Find it under the Topic "Hiding, hoarding, rummaging, compulsive spending, or losing things with dementia" in the "More Topics" tab (CARER app) or "All info" tab (PRO app), or search using keywords such as "compulsive" or "spending" etc.
New Section "Counselling services in palliative and end of life care for the carer"
We have always included general counseling services and support as part of My Dementia Companion from inception. Thanks to feedback from our customers, we have also updated them to include a palliative and end of life specific counselling services.
This new Section is located under the Topic “Palliative and end of life care for people with dementia”, which you can in the "More Topics"
tab (CARER app) or "All info" tab (PRO app), or search using keywords such as "counselling" or "palliative" etc.
Section update for "Shadowing, trailing behind, following or refusing to separate from others"
Based on user feedback, we have updated the Section on shadowing behavior to include additional videos and suggestions on managing separation anxiety.
Explore the updated Section under the Topic "Wandering and walking about with dementia" in the "More Topics" tab (CARER app) or "All info" tab (PRO app), or search using keywords such as "separation" or "shadowing" etc.
Section update for "Changing in food preferences and craving, incl pica and eating 'stange' items"
Changes in food preferences are common among individuals with dementia, which can lead to nutritional challenges and behavioral changes. Thanks to feedback, we have updated this Section to include people eating or drinking seemingly inedible things (e.g. soap, hand wash liquid etc.) and a specific medical condition called pica.
The updated Section is located under the Topic “Eating and drinking difficulties for the person”, which you can in the "More Topics" tab (CARER app) or "All info" tab (PRO app), or search using keywords such as "inedible", "pica" or "eating" etc.
Other updates
We have also rolled out the “Care Plan” features for PRO, which can be found here.
Note: minor updates are not documented here, such as some wording changes, URL changes, reference updates etc.
And the winner is...
The winner of our 2-monthly Contributor Award is Rui, who has won a $50 gift voucher for numerous constructive suggestions and feedback online and virtual face-to-face! And amazingly, Rui has decided to pay it forward and donating the voucher to Caladenia Dementia Care!
We thank him for his amazing support!
To learn more about this Award, please click here.
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