Barbara Huelat: Empathy for Dementia Caregivers and Effective Interventions

The Empathy Edge

According to the NIH, an estimated 6.7M Americans 65+ are living with Alzheimer's dementia. This number could grow to 13.8 million by 2060 barring the development of medical breakthroughs. Today, you'll learn why dementia is not a disease, but a symptom, and what caregivers go through, experience, and need - especially from their managers and workplace colleagues.

I talk with Barbara J. Huelat about what dementia is, how emotional interventions are more effective than cognitive ones, and how to create more healing environments in hospitals and workspaces. You’ll gain empathy for your colleagues who are dementia caregivers, as Barbara shares her personal experience caring for her mother and husband, and she talks about what workplaces can do to better support caregivers in the office to help them continue to perform and do their best work.

To access the episode transcript, please click on the episode title at www.TheEmpathyEdge.com

Key Takeaways:

• Emotional memories are those with our senses - these memories can reach a person with dementia where language or cognitive memories cannot.
• It is critical to prepare your helpers and part-time caregivers if you are away to give everyone the best chance for success, much like having a disaster plan.
• Be flexible, don’t try to change reality, and give information rather than asking questions. You can go far with that, even when there are mistakes and challenges.

"Be understanding of what they're going through. There's a very large emotional drain on the person. The caregiver is often considered the second patient as their health risks skyrocket while taking care because it’s long-term chronic stress that doesn’t go away like acute stress." — Barbara Huelat

About Barbara J. Hiuelat

Barbara J. Huelat is a prominent Human Centric Healthcare Designer, author, and speaker. She has created healing environments and solved health challenges for more than 300 healthcare organizations and serves as a healing environment consultant to healthcare facilities, product manufacturers, academia, institutions, and the architectural design community. By placing humanity at the core, her pioneering mindset proves that human-centric designs impact healing, improve the human experience, affect health outcomes, and are cost-effective.

Ms. Huelat’s latest work, Taming the Chaos of Dementia: A Caregiver's Guide to Interventions that Make a Difference, provides a compassionate and insightful guide to those facing the tumultuous journey of dementia, offering solace, support, and practical strategies to navigate this challenging path. Currently, she shares human-centric designs globally via lecturers at international conferences, universities, and organizations and through research collaborations with government agencies and universities, contributing to white papers and research articles. Always fascinated with the beauty of science and the science of design, she believes human-centric design experiences can mitigate human misery.

Connect with Barbara Huelat

Website: barbarahuelat.com

X: x.com/huelat92456

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/barbara-huelat-fasid-aahid-edac-89061213

Facebook: facebook.com/barbarajhuelat

Instagram: instagram.com/bhuelat

Book: Taming the Chaos of Dementia: A Caregiver's Guide to 9 Interventions that Make a Difference

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