Supportive Care for Dementia

Dementia patient Donna (Dee) Winston plays with mechanical cat

Enhancing quality of life

Family members often feel overwhelmed, anxious and isolated while caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s or other types of dementia. We offer comprehensive support, helping to improve quality of life by teaching new ways to communicate and find moments of joy.

Our Supportive Care for Dementia program is offered at no cost to families and helps patients at any stage of the disease, not just end of life. Some families only need it a short time to learn behavior management techniques. Others want support much longer. Either way, we are here for you.

Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience (GUIDE)

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has chosen Hospice of the Valley to implement an innovative model of care called (CMS) GUIDE (Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience). The program takes a comprehensive approach to providing high-quality, patient-centered dementia care — including respite care — to support family caregivers, as well as persons with dementia who live alone. To qualify, applicants must be enrolled in Medicare Parts A and B (not an Advantage Plan) and have early, moderate or advanced dementia. Learn more about GUIDE, which continues through 2032, by calling (602) 636-6363.

Services Include:

24/7 phone support

Whenever you need help or advice, you can call and talk directly to a nurse or social worker, there's someone to turn to any time of day or night—never an answering service at (602) 636-6363.

Home Visits

Home visits from a dementia educator who teaches behavior management strategies for Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, and helps with medications, placement options and living wills.

Ask the Doc

Gillian Hamilton, MD, PhD, a nationally recognized geriatrician and dementia expert, can answer your questions by phone and consult with your loved one’s physician if desired.

Family Testimonial

Mabel Sawyer gives her husband Bob eight hugs six times a day. It’s the best medicine a wife could offer—especially to a husband with Alzheimer’s disease. “Those hugs mean so much,” she says.

But who’s there to hug Mabel?

After enrolling in Hospice of the Valley’s Supportive Care for Dementia program, the Sawyers receive home visits from dementia educators, 24/7 phone access to a nurse and phone consults with a physician who specializes in dementia.

Plus, once a week, volunteer Roman Obrycki visits to give Mabel some time to herself. “Bob and I play mahjong together on the computer,” Obrycki said. “We look at family photo albums. We sort pens and pencils in his collection. We keep busy.”

Mabel appreciates having a sympathetic ear, even in the middle of the night. “Once I was so upset, and the nurse listened and got me calmed down,” Mabel Sawyer said. “I could talk without feeling embarrassed. I could cry and let it out.”

Dr. Gillian Hamilton, program director, helped with medication issues. Bob suffered from a sleep disturbance that also kept Mabel up most of the night. Now, he is sleeping much better, and so is Mabel.