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12 • NOVEMBER 2020 - Senior Voice of Citrus County Health Connections
12 • NOVEMBER 2020 - Senior Voice of Citrus County
Coping with Dementia
Coping with Dementia

Let’s Not Scare Our Care Partners!

By Debbie but it is simply not true! remains unknown.” care partners that they are 70

Selsavage Surely, when the experts In these previous studies, percent more likely to die first

Providing report this grim but erroneous the database was either too and leave their loved one with
dementia behind and alone.
care for a statistic, they intend to small or the conditions to Their task is stressful enough,
loved one encourage care partners to uncontrolled to make the and they don’t need to be
living with be more mindful to take care results reliable, and none frightened with unfounded

dementia is of themselves; to care for supported the 70 percent warnings of impending doom.
one of the their own health as much as claim for caregiver mortality
most exhausting care partner that of their loved one. But that is so casually thrown We want to encourage care
tasks there is, because the I fear the result may be the around in conversation. partners to seek and welcome
disease is progressive and opposite. To tell a group of To the contrary, the 2018 help, such as the advice and
ultimately requires attention care partners that 70 percent NIH study, which is rigorous companionship one can find
24/7. of them will die before their and based on 17 years of in a support group. Positive
person with dementia likely motivation is always better
To drive this message home, only demoralizes them and data, found that 18 percent of than trying to frighten
speakers about Alzheimer’s fills them with even more care partners die before the someone into taking action.

and dementia, including despair about the grim road loved one they are caring for.
acknowledged experts, often ahead, thus pushing their This means that more than Debbie Selsavage is a
assert that 70 percent of stress levels even higher. 80 percent of care partners Certified Trainer and
family care providers will die survive their loved one with Consultant in the Positive
before their loved one with A 2018 study reported by dementia, which is quite Approach to Care, and
dementia! the National Institute of the opposite from the belief a Certified Dementia
Health concluded, “Although that 70 percent of caregivers Practitioner. Her company,
I cannot count the times I a handful of studies have die first! The referenced Coping with Dementia LLC,
have heard this claim, in examined mortality among study can be found at https:// is dedicated to making life
both lectures and casual caregivers of persons with www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/ better for individuals living

conversation among people Alzheimer’s disease or articles/PMC6292823/. with dementia. Contact
who are trained in this field. a related dementia, the Debbie at deb@coping.today
It is an apocryphal story that proportion of caregivers who So, I appeal to all in the to learn about free support
has become deeply woven die before their cognitively medical industry and care groups on line.
into the folklore of dementia, impaired care recipients community to stop telling

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