Book: Introduction
3. Person-centred care
Before we start looking at the
Later Stages of Dementia Care in detail, we need to look at our Philosophy of
Care
What do we mean by Care? What is our attitude to caring, and to a person who needs care?
In The Alzheimer Society of Ireland we believe in 'Person Centred Care'. Person centred care is a concept that recognises the needs and perspectives of the person with dementia as being important.
“Person-centredness is an approach to practice established through the formation and fostering of healthful relationships between all care providers, service users and others significant to them in their lives. It is underpinned by values of respect for persons (personhood), individual right to self determination, mutual respect and understanding. It is enabled by cultures of empowerment that foster continuous approaches to practice development” Mc Cormack & McCance (2016).Here are two links to help you explore notions of person-centred care.
HSE: Person and Family Enagement
Person centeredness is about everybody and for everybody.
It is about understanding each other.
It is about respecting each other. Here is a link to the This is Me booklet produced by The Alzheimer Society UK. It allows you to record and document some of the characteristics and personality of the person you are caring for. This can be very useful if he or she needs to go to a Day Care Centre, hospital or to another place where your loved one is not known.
It is about recognising each other.
It is about a sharing and coming together.