Education for health care professionals

The Alzheimer Society of Greater Simcoe County provides the following educational opportunities for health care professionals:

In-Services

The Society offers educational in-services to staff in long-term care homes, retirement homes and community agencies.  Sessions are designed with the goal of increasing knowledge and understanding of the various issues related to supporting a person with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia.  Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Overview of dementia
  • A look at Alzheimer’s disease
  • Understanding the connection between brain and behavior
  • Communication with the person with dementia
  • Research updates
  • Head’s Up (maintaining brain health)
  • Advance care planning
  • Family education: visiting, transition, loss

Me and U-First!

Target Group - unregulated health care providers 

Goal: Me & U-First! is designed to reach a larger number of people working directly with persons with dementia including PSWs, volunteers and family members. 

Me & U-First is a free eight module e-learning program on dementia care designed for unregulated health care providers who are involved in supporting persons with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia. They are intended as a supplementary program to reinforce key messages and reach a larger number of front-line workers. It is strongly encouraged and key to the success of the integration of the education into practice that the supervisors of Front-line staff access the U-First! program themselves in order to support workers and address organizational issues.

Gentle Persuasive Approach (GPA)

Target Group:  staff at Long-Term Care Homes

Goal:  to provide staff with the skill and confidence to respond respectfully to responsive behaviours of a more escalated nature associated with dementia.

GPA is an educational program that the Alzheimer Society of Greater Simcoe County’s Education Coordinator is certified to offer to staff of Long-Term Care Homes. GPA focuses on:

  • Respecting the person with dementia as an individual
  • Understanding the disease process
  • Utilizing supportive care strategies that are compassionate and effective. 

North Simcoe Muskoka Dementia Conference

The Annual North Simcoe Muskoka Dementia Conference is held in the fall for professional caregivers.  The one-day conference features guest speakers with specialized knowledge and expertise in the field of dementia care.  The Dementia Conference is presented by the North Simcoe Muskoka Dementia Network.


Last Updated: 04/04/12