December 28, 2018
In Step #5, we explored the strategy of therapeutic storytelling, an approach that seeks to avoid agitation triggers by giving the person with dementia a plausible explanation for initiating care in their home. Another potential roadblock which can often halt our progress is concern about costs associated with care. We recommend taking money out of the equation so that we can keep the focus on bonding with the client from the very beginning.
Step #6: Take money out of the equation
Your client or loved one with dementia will likely not pay for a service they think they don’t need. The easiest way to deal with this problem is to use therapeutic storytelling. We’ve had clients who have flatly refused to initiate service due to cost alone. By telling them the service is covered by Medicare, we were able to overcome the cost objection so that we could start building a relationship with them.
We’ve also successfully introduced care with clients when we’ve told them that our Memory Care Professional (caregiver) was a nursing student required to spend a certain number of volunteer hours helping a senior in their community. Her help costs nothing and the client feels that they are actually doing the caregiver a favor. Again, with therapeutic storytelling, you’re lying to protect your client or loved one from their own poor decisions and dangerous behaviors caused by their dementia.
Our next blog post in this series will focus on prioritizing issues that need to be addressed with the person who has dementia and tackling just one problem at a time.
This blog post is Part 6 of an 8-part series on how to
overcome refusal of care with someone who has dementia.
