On May 16, 2024, HSRC’s Adult Day Health & Alzheimer’s Services will host the 2024 Dementia Care Conference — Person-Centered Approaches in Dementia Care: Enhancing Quality of Life. The conference will take place at the Sequoia Conference Center at 901 Myrtle Avenue in Eureka from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm.
Course Overview
This day-long conference will provide professionals in health care, long-term care, social services, and family caregivers with education on optimizing care for people living with dementia. Speakers are licensed and experienced clinicians and/or educators specializing in areas of dementia or other cognitive impairment. The conference will offer varied evidence and experience-based topics including a person-centered approach to behavioral interventions, planning for patient safety in the home setting, a review of recent scientific breakthroughs in dementia treatment and care, an exploration of ethical considerations in the development of plans of care, addressing the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of dementia patients nearing the end of life.
Course Learning Objectives
- Describe 2 core principles of person-centered care and their relevance to dementia management.
- Identify 2 differences between Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.
- List 4 steps to understand and address dementia-related behaviors.
- Identify 3 ethical principles relevant to dementia care and describe how these principles guide decision-making in clinical scenarios.
- Describe at least 1 each of the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs commonly experienced by individuals with end-stage dementia.
- Identify 2 benefits of interdisciplinary collaboration in dementia care.
Conference Agenda
8:30 – 9:00 am: Registration and Exhibitor Fair
9:00 – 9:15 am: Welcome and Introductions
9:15 – 10:15 am: Nonpharmaceutical Behavioral Interventions – A Person-Centered Approach Samantha Day, DSW, LCSW, Director of Social Services, Humboldt Senior Resource Center
10:15 – 11:15 am: Advancing the Science: The Latest Updates on Alzheimer’s and Dementia Research and Treatments Claire Day, LCSW, Chief Program Officer, Alzheimer’s Association of Northern California and Northern Nevada
11:15 – 11:30 am: Break
11:30 am – 12:30 pm: Navigating Dementia-Related Behaviors with Effective Communication Vanessa Souza, LCSW, Senior Manager, Community Engagement, Alzheimer’s Association of Northern California and Northern Nevada
12:30 – 1:45 pm: Lunch and Networking
1:45 – 2:45 pm: Ethical Considerations in Dementia Care Jennifer Heidmann, MD, Medical Director, Redwood Coast PACE (a program of the Humboldt Senior Resource Center)
2:45 – 3:45 pm: Compassion Is the Compass – The Long Hard Road of Dementia (Recognizing End-Stage Dementia) Michael Fratkin, MD
3:45 – 4:00 pm: Break
4:00 – 4:45 pm: Panel Discussion – Synergy: Interdisciplinary Collaboration in Dementia Care Samantha Day, DSW, LCSW; Michael Fratkin, MD; Maggie Kraft, MSW
4:45 – 5:00 pm: Closing Comments
*Agenda subject to change without notice
Course Registration
Registration for Person-Centered Approaches in Dementia Care: Enhancing Quality of Life can be completed online at www.humboldtdcc.org. The course fee is $85 per person prior to May 1, 2024, and $100 for those registering after May 1 or onsite on the day of the event. Registration is payable online via credit card; if a check payment is necessary, please call 707-443-9747 x3203 for assistance.
The course fee includes continental breakfast and a buffet lunch. CEUs will be provided at no additional cost to all attendees requesting them.
Refund policy: A full refund minus a $10 administrative fee will be given for cancellation requests received on or before May 1, 2024. There is no refund for cancellations received after May 1, 2024. However, individuals who have preregistered with full payment, but are unable to attend, may send a substitute to attend the program. We must be notified in writing of the substitute’s name and complete registration information by May 14, 2024.
Continuing Education Credits
This course meets the qualifications for 5.75 hours of continuing education credit for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, and/or LEPs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences.
Alzheimer’s Association California Chapters is approved by the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (Provider #63035) to sponsor continuing education for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, and/or LEPs. Alzheimer’s Association California Chapters maintains responsibility for this program/course and its content.
Registered Nurse (RN) and Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN): Approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing (Provider #CEP12415).
Nursing Home Administrator Program (NHAP). Application pending approval by the California Department of Public Health (Provider #CEP1546).
Certificates of Completion will be emailed within 1-2 weeks after participants submit a course evaluation form.
Should you require special accommodations, please contact Claire Day (cday@alz.org), Alzheimer’s Association, within 72 hours so we can fulfill your needs. To submit a grievance regarding the course, please contact Claire Day (cday@alz.org), Alzheimer’s Association and we will respond within 72 hours.
Conference Speakers
Claire Day is the Chief Program Officer at the Northern California and Northern Nevada Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, and oversees all care and support operations research initiatives. Ms. Day, a clinical social worker, received her degree from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania and has more than 20 years of experience as a family and professional educator in dementia care. In 2018, Ms. Day was appointed the Chapter Lead for the U.S. Study to Protect Brain Health Through Lifestyle Interventions to Reduce Risk (US POINTER) in California in partnership with UC Davis.
Samantha Day, DSC, LCSW is the Director of Social Services at Humboldt Senior Resource Center, where she oversees the Multipurpose Senior Services Program (MSSP) and Behavioral Health Services. Dr. Day received her Master’s in Social Work from HSU and holds a Doctor of Social Work (DSW) with an emphasis in social change and innovation from the University of Southern California (USC). Her research focused on ways to reduce older adult social isolation and promote healthy aging through evidence-based and culturally responsive strategies. Dr. Day has 13 years of experience in behavioral health direct practice, training, evidence-based programming, and consultation experience.
Michael Fratkin, MD, FAAHPM is a palliative care physician with a long history of local innovation, national influence, and a passion for creating access for disregarded communities. He has worked for decades to bridge psychedelic science to the care of people and their families facing the psychospiritual challenges of serious illness, approaching death, and complex grief. Dr. Fratkin founded ResolutionCare, an interprofessional team-based home palliative care program now caring for thousands of people and families in California, Oregon, Washington, and Utah as VyncaCare. He serves as chair of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) Forum on the Safe Use of Psychedelic Assisted Therapies, and remains committed to ensuring that people facing serious illness and end-of-life issues have safe access to all therapies that may ease their suffering and invite healing.
Jennifer Heidmann, MD is the Medical Director of Redwood Coast PACE, a program of the Humboldt Senior Resource Center. In her 20+ years in the Humboldt community, Dr. Heidmann has worked with Hospice of Humboldt, as Medical Director of the Hospitalist program at St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka, and as an internal medicine physician. She completed medical school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her residency at UCSF. She recently completed a year-long fellowship in Contemplative Medicine through the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.
Maggie Kraft, MSW is a longtime advocate for seniors and people with disabilities and has worked in senior services since 1986. She has a Master’s degree in Social Work and has been the Executive Director of the Area 1 Agency on Aging in Eureka since 2012. She spent 12 years as the director of Adult Day Health & Alzheimer’s Services at the Humboldt Senior Resource Center and 10 years as the executive director of Northcoast Advocacy Services, which ran the Long Term Care Ombudsman and Senior Legal Services programs.
Vanessa Souza, LCSW is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a focus on supporting older adults. She has a particular interest in ensuring people living with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, and their family and friends, have the knowledge needed to prepare for the future. She has worked as an assisted living administrator, memory care director, and as a social worker in adult day health care. Today, she works as the Senior Manager for Community Engagement at the Alzheimer’s Association of Northern California and Northern Nevada. Ms. Souza holds a Bachelor’s in Social Work from Seattle University and a Master of Science in Social Administration from Case Western Reserve University.
