The Best Friends Staff: Learning to Deliver Exceptional Dementia Care focuses on the education and training for professionals learning to create an outstanding memory care program. The book is written for a wide audience of individuals working in long-term care settings, such as in-home services, adult day centers, assisted living, and skilled nursing care. The book will also be helpful for family care partners seeking to learn more about care services for their family members.
If you work in memory care at any level, in any role, here is how this book can benefit you.
Program administrators will learn how the Best Friends model can enhance staff training programs or help build a new and improved program. The model makes the case that creating a Best Friends staff is a good investment that improves census, reduces staff turnover, and has a positive impact on the “bottom line.”
Staff trainers or developers will discover easy-to-use materials and programs for initial staff orientation, ongoing trainings, and stand-ups and huddles. The book also provides reinforcement of class materials, particularly materials now taught with online platforms like Relias. Handouts, worksheets, and exercises are provided in accompanying end-of-chapter Tools that can be downloaded, copied, or adapted and used in training programs and classes. Although not a curriculum per se, the book does offer a framework for staff to do their work with skill, purpose, and satisfaction.
Life enrichment staff will appreciate the book’s philosophy that all staff who interact with residents, in-home clients, or day center participants play a role in activities. A Best Friends program not only enriches group activities, but also suggests ways to make the most of the time between activities on the calendar. Additionally, the book encourages staff to bring their own interests, hobbies, and associations into the activity program.
Clinical staff will appreciate the view that learning the health-related aspects of dementia is important for all staff. The book demonstrates the value of combining behavioral approaches with good medical care to create optimal health.
Volunteer coordinators will find that the Best Friends model teaches them about recruiting, orienting, and motivating volunteers to play a meaningful role in programs. The Best Friends Adult Day Center models this approach through weekly visits from volunteers who are a “Best Friend” to program participants.
Students who read this book may have more meaningful experiences during practicums in long-term care settings. The book can also serve as a textbook for aspiring managers who will someday supervise and lead teams, develop and implement programs, and train and supervise staff.
Start-up programs and communities will find the dozens of Tools in the book invaluable for staff training. Together with the other books in the Best Friends suite, this book provides a road map for creating a contemporary program.
Family members who read this book will find detailed information that can help them become better consumers of services and gain more understanding about how programs work. Several Tools can easily be used in support groups and for educating families about dementia.
Other stakeholders will find that this book challenges many conventional notions about staff development and programming. Leaders in the Alzheimer’s Association, members of independent Alzheimer’s or caregiving groups, public policy makers, geriatric care managers, ombudsmen, discharge planners, staff in university aging programs, and leaders in other settings can all learn from the Best Friends approach. We hope that this model will better inform your work and outreach efforts.
Read the book!
To get started using this exemplary staff training tool and see just how it works for you, get your copy of The Best Friends Staff: Learning to Deliver Exceptional Dementia Care, Second Edition by Virginia Bell, David Troxel, and Tonya Cox. Be sure to also visit the Best Friends website to learn more about our array of Best Friends products and support, including introductory and advanced training!
This post was excerpted from The Best Friends Staff: Learning to Deliver Exceptional Dementia Care, Second Edition by Virginia Bell, M.S.W., David Troxel, M.P.H, and Tonya Cox, M.S.W., LNHA. Copyright © 2024 by Health Professions Press, an imprint of Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., Inc. All rights reserved.