Call us at 1-833-252-2737 (TTY 711)

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Call us at 1-833-252-2737 (TTY 711)

8AM-8PM Monday-Friday
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CenterLight Employees Complete Certified Dementia Connections Facilitator (CDCF) Training from Inspired Memory Care, Inc.

The Friends of CenterLight Foundation and Inspired Memory Care, Inc. (IMC) recently collaborated to provide a Certified Dementia Connections Facilitator (CDCF™) training program for CenterLight Healthcare Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) staff members.

About 6.5 million Americans and a significant percentage* of CenterLight Healthcare PACE participants currently live with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia-related illness. These statistics underscore the importance of continuously educating our employees on how to care for these participants of the program.

The goal of the CDCF™ training is to increase a team member’s proficiency in empowering individuals living with dementia to enjoy life to the fullest. IMC’s evidence-based techniques teach learners how to connect and support care processes with program participants living with cognitive impairment, using practical techniques and hands-on methods. Some examples of topics approached include:

  • Supporting the individual living with cognitive change in a meaningful conversation with members of the team and other participants of the program.

  • Identifying and minimizing the underlying cause of distress for program participants living with cognitive change.

  • Understanding non-verbal communication from program participants living with cognitive change.

  • Implementing programs with purpose and supporting program participants with creative expression, using fine arts and other therapeutic modalities.

  • Understanding sleep and dementia, and tips to for handling sleep disturbance.

  • Learning the benefits of healthy humor, living in the moment, and implementing doll and pet therapies with a meaningful and dignified approach.

Once the required six modules are completed, staff members are then observed by an IMC expert interacting with in-center participants of the program.** The observation lasts about 30 minutes, and techniques that have been taught, such as controlled choice, non-verbal communication skills, echoing, and branching questions, are observed. Once completed, the CenterLight employee is officially certified as a “Certified Dementia Connections Facilitator.”

The feedback we received from the PACE program participants at the sites where the staffers were being observed was so positive – they loved having the employees sit with them and speak with them during the observation.

Jin Hwa Lee

Nancy Lewis

I’d also like to personally congratulate the CenterLight Healthcare PACE employees who have completed the program so far: Therapeutic Recreation Specialist, Jin Hwa Lee, and Social Worker, Nancy Lewis.

CenterLight Healthcare PACE provides individualized care and services designed with our participants’ unique needs and cultural preferences in mind. We are excited for our newly CDCF certified employees to start using the techniques they learned as they continue to care for our participants each day.

CenterLight Healthcare PACE employees who might be interested in becoming CDCF certified can reach out to me at scolley@centerlight.org. If enough people are interested, I would be able to begin another training program courtesy of the Friends of CenterLight Foundation.

About Friends of CenterLight

The Friends of CenterLight Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charity dedicated to improving the lives of CenterLight participants by helping them to maintain their health, well-being and autonomy in environments that honor their individual needs, values, and preferences.*** Learn more at www.friendsofcenterlight.org.

About Inspired Memory Care

Inspired Memory Care’s mission is to collaborate with families, professionals, and individuals living with memory impairment in order to maintain a vibrant, connected lifestyle -- keeping family relationships alive and minimizing challenging behaviors. They strive to do this through a combination of environment, communication and routine-based adaptations -- which can often serve as non-pharmacologic interventions. Learn more at www.inspiredmemorycare.com.

*33% as of 2020.
**CenterLight PACE participants were informed about the observation. No protected health information nor personally identifiable information was shared during this process.
***The Friends of CenterLight Foundation aims to provide funding for enhanced services/activities not already covered in the PACE program service package.

Blog_NoPOInfo_DementiaCertification
Last updated September 7, 2022

About the Writer

Shelly Colley is the Director of Friends of CenterLight Foundation.


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