Home Care for the 21st Century

Better Communications, Better Service, Better Quality of Life

Course: Adjustment, Resiliency and Transcendence in the Later Years

traffic-sign Course instructor Deborah Bier, PhD (photo, below right) has been a health care educator, author, and wellness coach for over 20 years. She holds a doctorate in therapeutic counseling, and has helped hundreds of individuals and families to live better with chronic illness and disability. She is the director of the Concord, MA office of Caring Companion Home Care. (www.CaringCompanion.Net) and has lived in Concord for 30 years.

deborahbierphoto-192x300 Middlesex Community College's MILES Program (Middlesex Institute for Lifelong Education for Seniors) offers intellectual stimulation, interaction, and friendship for adults ages 50+. Some of the topics explored through MILES include history, politics, arts, fitness, health, safety, music, computers, internet, travel, business, psychology, law, poetry and opera. Courses have no term papers, exams or grades, and are held at their Bedford campus. They are facilitated by individuals with expertise in topics based on professional, educational or personal experience. Semester membership fee of $95 includes access to all MILES courses. MILES is an afffiliate of the Elderhostel Institute Network.

For more information or to register, call 781-280-3570 or e-mail Chris Lindsey at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Find a list of all their courses here. To reach the instructor, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Posted by: Guest Created on: Sat 17 March 2012 05:22 Last modified: Wed 02 May 2012 12:27

This article was posted in The Whole Elder, Local Resources, Your Stories, Build Your Caring Network, CCHC News and tagged with concord, massachusetts, elderly, metrowest boston, Bedford, deborah bier, gerotranscendence, 50+, senior citizen, resilience, adjustment psychology, continuing education, classes, middlexes community college lifelong education for seniors, miles

"Normal" Forgetfulness? Six Things to Consider

Note: The following was published in our monthly column "Living and Loving: Elder Care in the 21st Century" in Gate House News' Concord Journal

I'm middle-aged, and I go through this all the time: where are my house keys... purse... car in the parking lot? How did I forget those printouts for the meeting... to defrost tonight's dinner... to move the wet wash to the dryer before it gets moldy? Sometimes, I'm suddenly concerned I've forgotten an important meeting, but can't recall quickly what day of the week it is today -- much less when that appointment was to take place -- which sends me scrambling for my calendar.

Now, I was about to make an important point here, but I've forgotten what it was... darn! Looking above for reminders... oh, right!

We middle-aged people caring for parents, children, spouses, paid work, projects, community work, and somehow ourselves often become forgetful and distracted. Many of us worry that we are acting uncomfortably like our parents and other elders who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease and related dementias. Do we have it, too?

Well, maybe: there are early-onset cases of dementia involving people in their 50s and 60s. But this is unusual. It's more likely what I call MLDS: Mid Life Distraction Syndrome. To state it idiomatically: we have too many balls in the air, are up to our eyeballs, and struggling to tread water while having too much on our plates. But still, we wonder: are we experiencing "normal" forgetfulness?

We may also wonder about our elder parents, spouse or other aging loved ones. Should we be concerned about certain behaviors we see? What does forgetfulness that is not "normal" look like?

I'm not going to answer by focusing on physiological processes or diagnostic criteria, but on simple, everyday functioning. I encourage you to consult your physician if this topic continues to worry you, or the following seems to point to something that is outside the norm. Try these six points on for size.

Forgetting a name, a word or a part of an experience, but remembering some time later either spontaneously or after thinking it over is "normal" forgetfulness. Not being able to remember an experience, name or word -- or even a person or place that should be familiar -- is not "normal" forgetfulness.
Being able to reconnect to a name, word or experience after someone or something gives a reminder points to "normal" forgetfulness. Reminding might not help recall in cases of forgetfulness that is not "normal."
Being able to effectively use notes or a calendar to compensate for forgetting indicates "normal" forgetfulness. Decaying ability to effectively use a calendar or notes to aid memory is not "normal" forgetfulness. Memory problems when trying to do too many things at once, or at times of high stress or fatigue is "normal" forgetfulness. Diminished ability to remember how to do or figure out the sequence within tasks that had been accomplished previously, is not "normal" forgetfulness.
Feeling frustrated with forgetting, but exhibiting the usual personality and behavior while responding to such challenges points to "normal" forgetfulness. Uncharacteristic anger, defensiveness, or changes in personality and diminished problem solving and judgement may indicate that the memory problem is not "normal."
Being forgetful, but still able to consistently perform self-care of basic needs such as bathing, dressing, and eating is "normal" forgetfulness. Uncharacteristically poor hygiene, unchanged or soiled clothing, weight loss or gain due to forgetting to eat, or eating a meal multiple times because the previous one consumed was not remembered, are not indications of "normal" forgetfulness.

As we can see, forgetfulness that is not "normal" is a pattern of deteriorating functioning, not just incidents of forgetting that can be corrected. Where there is loss of abilities previously held, and/or negative changes in long-established, characteristic behavior and personality patterns, this is when we should be concerned.

We can more gracefully adjust to the challenges of "normal" distracted or age-related forgetfulness. We give ourselves and our loved ones more time to recall events, names, and words as we age, because "normal" recall can take longer. Recognizing that multi-tasking may become more difficult the older we grow, we take this into account when planning. Fatigue and stress are great thieves of memory. Many folks taking care of aging loved ones -- particularly if that person has dementia along with other chronic illnesses -- exhibit memory slips that correlate with their exhaustion level. Use this as an indicator that additional help is needed, such as respite care to relieve the caregiver.

We now know many ways to help a person with dementia function better through changes to their environment -- whether in the person's home or in a facility -- and with daily care that reflects best practices. This is often referred to as "habilitation", and we will talk about these methods in future columns.

Deborah Bier, PhD, is director of Caring Companion Home Care's Metrowest Boston office, headquartered in Concord, MA (www.CaringCompanion.Net). She holds a doctorate degree in counseling, and is certified to both educate dementia caregivers and coach families of dementia patients. She can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Posted by: Guest Created on: Mon 26 September 2011 08:47 Last modified: Thu 14 June 2012 14:38

This article was posted in The Whole Elder, Caring for Caregivers, Hands-On Caregiving, Local Resources, CCHC News, Alzheimer's and Dementia and tagged with seniors, aging, dementia, massachusetts, home care, Alzheimer's, deborah bier, forgetfulness, forgetfulness versus dementia, comparing normal forgetting to alzheimers, sandwich generation, caring for aging parents

CCHC Story Picked Up by the Concord (MA) Journal

Thanks to The Concord Journal for publishing a story about us in in today's edition. It's about how our Dr. Deborah Bier has become certified to teach the Alzheimer's Association's home care giver training course, and how vital it is to have trained caregivers for such patients. Read it here online.

Posted by: Guest Created on: Fri 02 September 2011 23:49 Last modified: Fri 02 September 2011 23:49

This article was posted in The Whole Elder, Caring for Caregivers, Hands-On Caregiving, Local Resources, Around the Caregiving Industry, Build Your Caring Network, CCHC News, Innovators and tagged with dementia, massachusetts, home care, assisted living, alzheimers disease, alzheimers association, deborah bier, home health aides, concord journal, certified caregivers, nursing assistants

Free Dementia & Alzheimers Lecture Hopkinton, MA

Challenging Behaviors and the Dementia Patient

June 8, 2011, 8:00am–10:00am
50 W Main St, Hopkinton, MA
Golden Pond Assisted Living
50 W Main St, Hopkinton, MA 01748
Breakfast: 8 am
Presentation & Q&A: 8:30-10 am
RSVP to Golden Pond by June 6 at 508 435-1250

Sleep disturbances… resistance to care… suspiciousness… sundowning… hoarding… rummaging… These challenging behaviors can be frustrating, frightening, and exhausting for families and caregivers of dementia and alzheimers patients.

But there are effective, gentle methods for dealing with such behaviors. Through presentations, case studies and discussion, this event will help you develop some of the skills needed to achieve better outcomes with dementia patients. Learn:

Common behavior symptoms exhibited by dementia patients
Environmental cues that trigger challenging behaviors
How to tweak an environment to reduce challenging behaviors
Troubleshoot your relationship with dementia patients
Choose and evaluate caregivers for dementia patients

This event offers CEU's for Social Workers and is free of charge.

Meet the Presenters
Claire Henry, M.Ed., CDP, is well known in the elder care community for advocacy on behalf of clients with dementia, and for providing specialized services to dementia clients and their families. Additionally, she has worked with organizations and facilities that serve this population by designing programs and developing specialized training courses. Ms. Henry is a master’s level clinician and a Certified Dementia Practitioner working with elders for over twenty years. She is the principle of Caring Resources of Norwood, MA, specializing in dementia care solutions. (CaringResourcesInfo.wordpress.com)

Deborah Bier, PhD, has helped individuals with significant physical or psychological disabilities and their families for over 20 years. She understands the impact that one person’s chronic or degenerative disease creates for the entire family, and utilizes a wide range of innovative approaches to help reduce their stress, and reconnect them living again. Dr. Bier has a doctorate in therapeutic counseling. She is a director of Caring Companion Home Care, headquartered in Concord, MA, a innovative home care agency.

Posted by: Guest Created on: Sat 04 June 2011 15:53 Last modified: Thu 03 May 2012 23:14

This article was posted in The Whole Elder, Caring for Caregivers, Aging in Place Technology, Hands-On Caregiving, Local Resources, Financial Issues, Around the Caregiving Industry, Build Your Caring Network, CCHC News, Home Safety, Innovators and tagged with home care, assisted living, Alzheimer's, deborah bier, claire henry, dementia coaching, free event, certified dementia practitioner, caregiving resources, hopkington, masschusetts, memory unit

Challenging Behaviors and the Dementia Patient, May 17, Brighton, MA

5PM Reception -- 5:30PM Presentation • RSVP at 617 566-1700

Chestnut Park at Cleveland Circle • 50 Sutherland Road • Brighton, MA 02135

Learn:

Common behavior symptoms exhibited by dementia patients
Environmental cues that trigger challenging behaviors
How to tweak an environment to reduce challenging behaviors
Troubleshoot your relationship with dementia patients
Choose and evaluate caregivers for dementia patients

Meet the Presenters

Claire Henry, M.Ed., CDP, is well known in the elder care community for advocacy on behalf of clients with dementia, and for providing specialized services to dementia clients and their families. Additionally, she has worked with organizations and facilities that serve this population by designing programs and developing specialized training courses. Ms. Henry is a master’s level clinician and a Certified Dementia Practitioner working with elders for over twenty years. She is the principle of Caring Resources, specializing in dementia care solutions. (CaringResourcesInfo.wordpress.com)

Deborah Bier, PhD, has helped individuals with significant physical or psychological disabilities and their families for over 20 years. She understands the impact that one person’s chronic or degenerative disease creates for the entire family, and utilizes a wide range of innovative approaches to help reduce their stress, and reconnect them living again. Dr. Bier has a doctorate in therapeutic counseling. She is a director of Caring Companion Connections, a groundbreaking home care agency (www.CaringCompanion.Net).

Posted by: Guest Created on: Tue 26 April 2011 08:41 Last modified: Thu 03 May 2012 23:20

This article was posted in Caring for Caregivers, Hands-On Caregiving, Local Resources, Build Your Caring Network, CCHC News, Innovators and tagged with lecture, sundowning, deborah bier, caring resources, brighton massachusetts, Challenging Behaviors and the Dementia Patient, free event, laire henry, caring companion, benchmark, chestnut park at cleveland circle, sleep disturbance, suspiciousness, resistance, hoarding, rummaging

Lincoln, Wayland, MA Lectures: What's New in Aging?

Dr. Deborah Bier (photo, right) from Caring Companion's metrowest Boston office is involved in several presentations coming up in the next few weeks that are open to the public. Click on "more info here" below to download a fuller description for each event.

Wayland, MA, Tuesday, April 6, 7 PM, Public Library: Part 2 of 2, "What's New in Aging?" Learn how the new challenges and opportunities of aging in the 21^st century can come together to benefit elders and those with disabilities. “21^st Century Caregiving: Essentials for Caring for a Disabled or Aging Loved One” is a free lecture and community service. (more info here ) REGISTER HERE

Posted by: Guest Created on: Mon 04 April 2011 06:19 Last modified: Fri 04 May 2012 00:30

This article was posted in Aging in Place Technology, Local Resources, Build Your Caring Network, CCHC News and tagged with elders, seniors, concord, home care, Linda Smith, elder lawyer, free events, geriatric care manager, lincoln, lectures, educational event, gereontology, dr. bludau, deborah bier, carol gluck, speakers' panel, wayland massachusetts, metro west boston, what's new in aging

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