Providing Information
By Nicole Batsch
Consultant to ADI
Agenda
•
•
•
•
Various audiences
Various methods
Skills of those providing the information
Keeping track of unmet needs (i.e.: what
information do people need from you)
• Making decisions about reputable sources
• Quantifying information and services
• Confidentiality policies
Various audiences
• Who is your audience or ‘client’?
• What expertise do they already have?
• Do you need different methods for different
‘clients’?
– i.e.: is educating a doctor different than educating a
caregiver or person with dementia?
– How so?
– What would you do differently?
What is your message?
• What is your message?
• Which messages go with which audience?
• Planning a strategic plan with a purpose for
each method/tool of information delivery
would be helpful.
Various methods/tools
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
More general
Website
audiences
Fact sheets
Newsletter
Lectures
More
Helpline
specific
audiences
Resource guide/directory
Other methods or tools?
Website
• General information
–
–
–
–
–
What is dementia
How to get a diagnosis
What services and supports does the organisation offer
How is the organisation funded; when founded ‘about us’
Where to click to donate
• Categories
–
–
–
–
For people with dementia (what are the needs in this section?)
For caregivers
For health care professionals
Specific issues (communication, behaviours, personal care issues)
• Information that needs updating
– (i.e.: Support group days/times/locations; lectures
days/times/locations)
– How often does it need to be updated?
– By whom?
– How much time? Cost?
Fact sheets
• Use the website as a model
• Each section could be a fact sheet
– Communicating with a person with dementia
– Mealtime
– Identifying and managing behaviours
• Cultural adaptations
– What cultural changes might you make to sections?
• Where would you take/use these fact sheets?
– Health fairs, doctors offices, support groups, send in the
mail to callers, etc.
– Be sure to include the organisational contact
information
Newsletter
• Organisational newsletter – general public
– What might go in this?
• Specialty newsletters
– Support group participants (i.e.: caregivers)
– Newsletters especially for people with dementia
– For doctors; written by a doctor
• What are costs? How long might the document
be? How often might the document be
published? How long does it take to gather the
stories?
Lectures
•
•
•
•
Who is your audience?
What is your message?
How long do you have to speak?
What resources and materials do you need to
bring with you?
• Logistics:
– Have you thought about accessibility for people with
disabilities to attend? Physical, hearing, sight issues
– How far away are the toilets?
Helpline
• Managing your data
– Rolodex (i.e.: index files)
– Electronic
• Excel spreadsheet
• Database
• Create your own or purchase
• Categorising your data
– Similar to website; helpful to keep things similar so you
don’t have to reinvent the wheel
– Using the website to provide information – even better then
everything is linked (not always practical)
• Types of information
– Contact information for memory clinics, hospitals, doctors,
nurse specialists, government resources, abuse hotline,
counsellors, social workers, support groups, attorneys,
hospices, adult day centres, assisted living or supported
living, nursing homes, etc.
Resource guide/directory
• This can be used by helpline to offer
assistance to callers and the rolodex or excel
database can turn into a resource directory
• Be careful! What information is internal and
what is external?
• Can also be linked up with the website
• Information constantly changes
– Should be updated once a year to keep up
– Phone numbers change; addresses change; support
group times and locations change, etc.
– Its helpful if you can get provider to make changes
directly (i.e.: password protected section of website)
• Be sure you have approval power before information is put
on your website
What else goes in the resource guide?
• Brainstorm
• Specialists such as occupational therapists,
speech therapists, dentists who work with
people with special needs, etc.
• Where to find:
– Assistive technologies
• clocks with large print
• special plates and cups for easier eating and drinking
– Incontinence and bathing products (i.e.: dry
shampoo, incontinence pads)
– Activity products such as puzzles, crafts
Making decisions about
reputable sources
• Static information should be fairly consistent
across ADI members with cultural adaptations
– I.e.: What is dementia
• Local providers will change regularly
– How do you know they are reputable?
– What’s the difference between endorsing, marketing or
providing information?
– Do you have rules in place to recommend several
providers and provide information to callers about how to
choose the best one for them?
– Are there any legalities to consider?
• i.e.: recommending a non-licensed in-home care worker?
Keeping track of unmet needs
• What information do people need
and when?
from you
– Early, middle, late
– Younger onset (under 65) versus later onset
• Do they know what they need? Do you know what they
need?
– Sometimes people call for something specific, but need
something else
– Sometimes they just need someone to talk to
• Track non-personal information and use it for education,
policy and fundraising initiatives
– Ie: does your organisation provide the funds or support to
families who need help paying for a wheelchair? Does your
government pay for the wheelchair and if not, is this a policy
initiative for you if you receive enough requests?
Skills of those providing the
information
• Dementia knowledge and expertise
– Generalists versus specialists
•
•
•
•
Giving lectures
Facilitating a support group
Answering helpline calls
Providing counselling
– What qualifications and continued education and
training do your staff and volunteers need?
– Ongoing support? Debriefing after particularly tough
interactions in a support group or on a call?
Skills of those disseminating
information
• Technical knowledge
– Writing a newsletter (tech, design, formatting,
editing, writing)
– Managing a website (tech, design, formatting,
uploading, editing, writing)
– Content should be written by specialists
It’s a ‘numbers’ game
• Get in the habit of collecting non-identifiable data on
your lectures, newsletter recipients, website hits,
helpline callers
• This will help get funding support if potential funders
and government know how many people you are
helping and how you are helping them
• It will also help you make your services better if you
understand who you are serving
• Such as: unmet needs, met needs, number of callers,
gender, ethnicities, religion, type of caller: person with
dementia, caregiver, health care professional, media
Develop policies for
confidentiality of data
• How are you tracking your ‘callers’ or lecture
attendees?
• When does someone switch from ‘caller’ to
‘client’? How do you manage this data and what
data do you need? Who has access to it?
• Do you have permission to re-contact a ‘client’ in
the future to follow up and see how they are
getting on?
• Should you use a list of callers, lecture attendees
or participants in a support group for fundraising
appeals? Do you have their permission?
Group work
•
•
•
•
Group 1: Fact Sheets
Group 2: Newsletters
Group 3: Lectures
Group 4: Helpline
Group Work: Website Example
–
–
–
–
–
–
Who is the audience?
What is the content? And where will you get content?
What is static and what changes?
Who will manage the changes and how often?
What knowledge, expertise and training is needed?
What are your organisational costs for managing this
method?
– Where might you find the expertise in your country to
carry this out?
– Where are you now?
– How might you improve this method when you return?
Individual action plans
• List 3 things you plan to do when you return
to your country
• Who will you talk to?
• What are the steps to implementation?
• What is an estimated timeline for making this
happen?
We can be out on the ledge alone, but
it’s more fun if we do it together!