Using DAWN Care at Home

This category contains blog posts about how to best implement DAWN care methods at home.

Field with trees and farmhouse with grain elevator in the distance | the DAWN Method

Dementia and Eating Issues

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Does your loved one with dementia have issues with food, eating or mealtime? Is your dementia patient not eating? Alzheimer’s, dementia and eating issues are common. There are a number of things you can do to make mealtimes easier. 6 tips on how to encourage someone with dementia to eat 1—Dementia and not eating: look … Read more

young conifer branches in spring | the DAWN Method

Dementia and Anxiety

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How do we help someone with dementia feel secure in our care? Having dementia means experiencing progressive cognitive impairment. When this is happening to you, you find yourself suddenly unable to do things you’ve been able to do for decades without thinking. It’s not surprising that you would experience both dementia and anxiety as a … Read more

fence and weeds covered in snow and frost | the DAWN Method

Dementia and Not Recognizing Spouse or Family

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Why do we expect them to know us? So often I talk with people who are upset because a loved one with dementia or Alzheimer’s no longer recognizes them or other family members. Most of us find this painful. If it’s our spouse with dementia who doesn’t recognize us it can be even more difficult … Read more

pie cherries on a tree | the DAWN Method

Dementia and the Telephone

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How can we more successfully talk on the phone with someone who has dementia? We baby boomers are a very mobile generation. Not many of us live in the same city or town we grew up in, so many of us are trying to stay in touch with aging parents who live far away. We … Read more

dawn with clouds over cut wheat field | the DAWN Method

Dementia and the Calendar—How to Help Your Loved One Feel on Top of Things

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One of the most disconcerting losses when dementia strikes is becoming unable to track time, understand the calendar, or keep appointments. Can you remember an occasion when you were struggling to understand something and suddenly comprehension dawned? That welcome rush of understanding—of mastery of an idea or the way to do something—is one we all … Read more

puffy clouds, green and yellow fields with pine trees and mountains in the distance | the DAWN Method

Dementia and Masking—How to Avoid Being Kept in the Dark

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Most seniors are hesitant about letting their children know that they lost the car at the grocery store yesterday or burned a pot on the stove the day before—whether cognitive issues have been diagnosed or not. Hiding dementia symptoms or any kind of memory failure is understandable behavior for a person if they fear they … Read more