My name is Jean. I am creating this resource because I have a heart for people with dementia and the people who love and care for them.
I’ll tell you what I am not: I’m not a counselor, a psychologist, a dementia care giver, or an academic researcher.
I’ll tell you what I am: I am a Speech/Language Pathologist with many years of experience. I have loved my career. I have met (and hopefully helped) people at all stages of life, from fragile newborns to people preparing to die. My goal has been to enrich people’s cognitive and communication abilities.
In every interaction in my career, I have tried to meet people where they are.
To describe more than to prescribe.
To notice rather than to judge.
To listen more than to talk.
To support rather than to criticize.
To invite more than to direct.
To discover rather than to teach.
My husband’s name is Bob, and he also has a heart for people with dementia and the people who love and care for them.
He is a Physical Therapist Assistant with over 30 years of experience with aging bodies and the people who live in them.
He has worked in long term care as well as in hospitals, clinics, and people’s homes, learning and specializing in how the human body moves and how it is affected by aging, old injuries, neurological decline or dementia.
His goals are to keep people moving, to reduce pain, to increase safety, and to maintain independent mobility. If a person can’t do it themselves, he helps the caregiver know how to help them.
He knows how we move through the world.
He is a specialist in how aging affects our ability to move.
He is a champion of safety for the person affected, and for the person helping them.
He is also a big fan of keeping going, even if activities have to be adapted.
He has a great sense of humor; he even enjoys a little slapstick when things go wrong. As long as nobody gets hurt.
He makes it look easy.