Serving Our Families Together

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In an amazing collaboration between Augustana Care Open Circle Adult Day Services, Emerald Crest by Augustana Care in Minnetonka, and Joyful Companions Home Care, Serving Our Families Together (SOFT) presents their annual caregiver forum. This free event, the Caregiver Toolbox: Practical Tools and Approaches for the Caregiver offers helpful information and resources for caregivers. With a mission to provide support, resources and information to our clients and families in a safe and comfortable environment, SOFT is committed to the care of our community’s seniors and their caregivers.

This year’s caregiver forum will offer two informational learning sessions. The first presenter is Sarah Hartman, OTR/L, occupational therapist with Emerald Crest by Augustana Care. Sarah will share helpful approaches and recommendations for caring for your loved one to help provide success at the different stages of dementia. Learning objectives include:

• Understand the changes caused by dementia related to communication, participation, and behavior
• Become familiar with common approaches used to provide care to individuals with dementia
• Define behaviors and other common terms associated with behaviors
• Understand behaviors with individuals with dementia and break common misconceptions
• Learn about solutions to common behaviors with dementia for all care partners

The second presenter of the day will be Kate Ingalls-Maloney, director of Augustana Care Learning Lab for Eldercare Technologies. Kate will help caregivers identify ways devices and technology can be used in caregiving and maintaining independence in the home. Kate will also provide a history of the Learning Lab, including photos of the space, and give an overview of the following:

• Why technology is an integral component of elder care
• How we classify elder technologies with examples in health, safety, education, social, and environment
• Introduction of the upcoming Meeting of the Minds conference

Save the date! The annual caregiver event will be held Tuesday, January 30^th, 2018 from 4:30 – 7:00 pm at Augustana Care Open Circle Adult Day Services, 34 10^th Avenue S., Hopkins, Minnesota. We’d love to see you there, please RSVP by calling 952-935-8143. 

Event schedule:

4:30 – 5:00      Event check in and refreshments

5:00                 Introductions

5:15 – 6:00      Session I

6:00 – 6:15      Serve dinner

6:15 – 7:00      Session II

For more specific event details including an event flier, see our Facebook page.