Dr. Ethel Lord - The Dementia Warrior and Her Journey
Working with Dementia
The driving force behind starting to help dementia patients and their caregivers was her need to help others. To that end, Éthelle started thinking about how she can do that at the very beginning. She wrote and distributed a primer. The primer consists of 12 major points for coping better after a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. Éthelle offers a digital copy of the primer free of charge to anyone. It is in four languages: English, French, Spanish and Arabic. It is entitled HOW IN THE WORLD… AND NOW WHAT DO I DO? So the title means how in the world can this happen and where did it start from? It follows with what to do next after the diagnosis is received. Éthelle realized early on that such a diagnosis is not only frightening but most believe that it is a death sentence for the person that is diagnosed. Anyone can request a copy by using the “Contact” option and visiting the link:
REMEMBERING 4 YOU
Also, after learning about her husband’s condition in January 2003, she reformed her existing website (TeamworkCoaching.com) into REMEMBERING 4 YOU (R4U). R4U contained information on how to provide the best form of dementia care, encouraging individuals to improve on long-term care, and generally bringing new ideas that would alleviate the burden of dementia caregiving.
Éthelle also felt R4U represented her new life. She had to remember her own daily agenda/tasks and at the same time remember her husband’s agenda/tasks. He would wake up in the morning, ask her “What do I do today?”, and expect her to brief him. He had medical appointments, daybreak with activities, travel, safety issues, and much more. This website made her proud as it fulfilled her own values of helping others and improving the management of long-term care for families and the entire dementia care workforce anywhere in the world.
International Caregivers Association
With the need to further adapt to her knowledge and experience, Éthelle replaced Remembering 4 You with the INTERNATIONAL CAREGIVERS ASSOCIATION (ICA). She realized that the challenges she faced and the need to improve the entire system of dementia care was universal. There was also a greater need to protect the health and life of family caregivers. These individuals had to be able to heal and recover from their caregiving experience. Some actually died before the person they provided care to.
Éthelle survived a 21-year experience of caregiving with her husband. She says that there is a fatigue timeline to caregiving. She as well found herself in dangerous waters with her own health by overdoing it with Larry’s care. She is now in the process of gaining back her physical and psychological health but knows that the price of that is high. Because of the type of condition Alzheimer’s and dementia represent for families and care providers, it is natural to form a symbiosis relationship. No symbiosis relationship is ever healthy and therefore, as Éthelle says, it is important to get proper treatment once the care provider is able to do so.
Energy Medicine
While her husband was in long-term care (he was in three different facilities altogether), she met and studied with Dr. Richard Rankin of Arkansas, USA. He taught her how to practice energy medicine. In 2015 he agreed to do a study with her using energy medicine for individuals living with Alzheimer’s. Éthelle was impressed with his work and his ability to heal from a distance. She found 7 research participants, one of which was her husband, for this germinal study. One of the participants dropped out due to a documentation problem. The other 6 participants were able to “contain” their dementia. This meant that all 6 participants were able to improve physically and emotionally. (https://bit.ly/3PwWkCG and https://bit.ly/3c3gzdv) EM is designed to bring all organs and systems in the body to optimal functioning. Dr. Richard Rankin named his energy medicine method, the Good Shepherd Healing System (GSHS). The body is electric. Energy has no limits. With the GSHS the practitioner is able to measure frequencies and establish how well each organ and body system works. We are also able to determine past traumas and how such life traumas may have affected each system. By gaining optimal functioning (not always 100% because of age, chemical prescriptions over years, smoking and alcohol/drug abuse over years, and much more), any or combination of any of these choices dictate the optimal percentage of functioning.
The GSHS practitioner does not heal anyone. The body is the healer. The practitioner is only able to direct the energy at a certain quantity or power. Éthelle says that each person’s body functions at their own optimal level. For more information visit: https://bit.ly/3Qyno5Q.
Caregiver Partnership Agreement Program
Éthelle is a designer of a great healthcare management program called the Caregiver Partnership Agreement Program. She describes it as a dementia-trained and team-oriented workforce, based on an inter-professional model that includes family members and a dementia coach. She says that team formation is an art and the foundation of any strong organization. Presently long-term care is largely designed by management for management. It is impossible to be for both the residents and the company. She says management needs to pay attention to their profit margin. However, Éthelle says the resident/patient also has to have proper representation and care.
The workforce is largely under-trained in dementia care and this creates a huge problem. As Éthelle says: “If all you have in your toolbox is a hammer, then everything looks like a nail. You want to hammer it in the hopes of fixing the problem.”. She added that there are so many more tools to do proper care for those living with dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Éthelle thinks that when a dementia toolbox is filled with the proper tools (speaking Alzheimer’s, treating others, face reading, Memory Lane, the supplemental foundation for good health, proper nutrition and hydration, to give a few examples), then you can go to work and meet any challenge. But she insists that once in a while it is necessary to take a look at your dementia toolbox, retooling, and says that this is when the “DEMinno Care” tool would be added. Éthelle thinks that any technology such as “DEMinno Care” is revolutionary and is changing the course of dementia care. DEMinno’s CEO Tadas’ project is outstanding and much needed. It speeds up information for everyone, much like energy medicine, it is practical, useful, needed, and life-changing. “Technology of this nature will simplify the work of any care provider and improve the quality of life for the person living with dementia. What more can we ask for?” says Éthelle.
Éthelle’s G. Lord as an author
The first edition of Éthelle’s book, ALZHEIMER AND DEMENTIA COACHING – Taking a systems approach in creating an Alzheimer’s friendly healthcare workforce, is based on all her work as a teacher and master dementia coach. In Éthelle’s opinion, her book includes everything a person needs to know to become a dementia coach and improve on the day-to-day care of anyone living with dementia.
The second edition of her book, ALZHEIMER’S COACHING – Taking a system’s approach in creating an Alzheimer’s friendly healthcare workforce, is an updated version of the first edition with a special section on aggression and dementia patients. This new section is largely based on a series of studies done by Dr. Eilon Caspi who specializes in aggressive behaviors with dementia patients in long-term care. Such aggression sometimes is fatal for residents. Éthelle explains that it was too important to add this critical information for the reader. The lack of dementia care training on the part of management and professionals like doctors is at the very source of any such problems and is totally unnecessary in her opinion. She was inspired to write this book in order to record her own work for prosperity. For more information on aggressive behaviors, she refers to: https://bit.ly/3QUFYVF.
3 Sides of You
As Éthelle says herself, one of the most interesting things she has done in her career was working for Sandra Seich from Toronto, Canada, the creator of ANSIR (A New Standard In Relating). Éthelle describes Sandra as a genious with a germinal approach to the study of personality. Sandra wrote a book entitled 3 SIDES OF YOU: Unlocking the way you think, work, and love. Éthelle highly recommends this book and says that it is now a collector’s item. The book is no longer in publication and the author is no longer alive.
Éthelle still uses it in her work and says that she cannot stress enough how important this book is. After reading the book, she contacted the company in Alabama, USA and told them they had created a gem in personality analysis. Éthelle quickly recognized the value for industry and their workforce. She was then invited to visit the company in Alabama, USA. She brought a team of professional coaches for certification in the ANSIR profiling system. Éthelle says the accuracy of this system is unlike any other in the market. The first time she profiled herself and waited in front of the computer screen for her results, she saw herself in the styles and numbers. She claims it was an experience she will never forget. Éthelle recognized herself, as if for the first time.
Because the profiling system is so brilliant, Éthelle asked that company to devise a proper term for commercial use. A day or two later, she received a call and the term they coined was WorkforceDNA. She was appointed director of education, training, and certification for the whole program. Anyone can purchase a copy of 3 SIDE OF YOU: Unlocking the way you think, work, and love from Éthelle at lordethelle@gmail.com
To fully explore and describe Éthelle G. Lord’s life and career one would have to write a book. But it is obvious that she is an amazing woman, entrepreneur, and creator. Her devotion to helping those with dementia and their caregivers is no less than mesmerizing. There is no question that the world would greatly benefit if it had more people like this wonderful woman in it. Despite the challenges and social norms that she had to overcome from a young age, she prevailed and is an example to women and people in general everywhere.
I really am so impressed and cannot wait to purchase your books. Having cared for my Mom for 5 years and grew with her with every days new progress,I believe people need to be trained on how to speak and listen to people with dementia.
For example, my mom wanted to meet here school friend with whom she loved and they had been friends for years. Mom went back to the age of 7years of age and when her friend called to visit she got very confused and said that person was an old woman not her friend. We must teach people to realise and be able to see the situation before it happens. To have patience and spend quality time with them. In my situation I had 3 children but every night I wore a different wig and she loved all the visits.
Thank you for all this information,
Lillian