Unlocking the Transformative Power of READING for People Living with Dementia
As the symptoms of dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease progress beyond the early stages, it becomes difficult for people living with dementia to read most of the material that would normally bring enjoyment. Their struggles with memory and focus make it very difficult to follow a story. They are often confused by the context of magazine articles. As they lose interest in reading, they fail to engage in that important exercise for their brains. When they stop reading, their memory decline accelerates.
Yet, if provided with reading material that is optimized for people living with dementia, the results are remarkable—especially if the reading is done in small groups where the process of reading together often triggers conversations that would never happen if the neural pathways were not activated by the reading process.
Join our inspiring panel of experts—including world-renowned dementia expert, Teepa Snow—for this 60-minute webinar. You’ll gain useful knowledge and inspiration from both experts and practitioners of an award-winning program that helps people living with dementia experience the joys and benefits of reading.
The webinar includes Susan Ostrowski, Co-Creator of Reading2Connect®, sharing about how she developed this remarkable program—and why it works so well. Dave Duplay, the CEO of Sociavi, the company that developed the Digital Health Companion™ (DHC) will share about how technology can be integrated into a reading program to bring added benefits and high-value data for reporting. Participants will hear from professionals using the program and see video clips of seniors living with dementia enjoying the transformational power of this reading program.
Regardless of whether you are with a public library, a senior center, an assisted living or memory care community, or if you are a caregiver living with a loved one who has dementia, you’ll gain new insights and practical steps to bring the transformative power of a dementia-optimized reading program into your community and life.
Speakers
Teepa Snow is a renowned dementia care expert and educator. Throughout her over-40-year career, Teepa has led numerous local, regional, national, and international aging initiatives. In light of the growing prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia worldwide, Teepa has partnered with countless families, communities, healthcare organizations, and educational programs to address evolving needs in dementia care. Together, Teepa and her partners have made profound impacts on the lives of people living with the disease and their myriad caregivers locally and globally.
Bill Barberg, a co-founder of the Population Health Learning Collaborative, is the President and Founder of InsightFormation, Inc., a Minnesota-based consulting and technology company that helps communities, regions, and states address complex social and health issues that require multi-stakeholder collaboration. His deep background in strategy implementation has been featured in dozens of conference presentations, papers, and webinars.
Bill was selected to write the chapter on “Implementing Population Health Strategies” for the book, “Solving Population Health Problems through Collaboration” (Routledge, 2017). His recommendations for using strategy maps is featured as a core recommendation in the new report by the National Academy of Public Administration. Bill recently co-authored a paper for the Journal of Change Management on “Leading Social Transformations to Create Public Value and Advance the Common Good”.
Susan Ostrowski, MA, MS, CCC-SLP, Co-Creator/Owner of Reading2Connect®. With an MA in remedial reading and an MS in speech pathology from Columbia University, New York City, Susan Ostrowski has worked in a variety of senior care settings, from skilled nursing to day centers to homecare. Susan is co-creator/owner of Reading2Connect®, an organization devoted to bringing back the joy of reading to adults living with cognitive changes.
Writing on the relationship between reading and dementia, Susan has contributed to multiple publications, including the American Speech and Hearing Association Perspectives Journal and the Thieme Medical Publishers Communication Sciences Case Study textbook. Susan has received several national recognitions, including Mather Institute “Promising Practices,” Beryl Institute Patient Experience Grant, Dementia Society of America SMART Award, and the American Speech and Hearing Association Recent Clinical Achievement Award (2021) and Innovation Leader (2023).
Paula Muller, Founder of Sociavi, has a lifelong passion for technology applied to healthcare, starting with her M.S. in Biomedical Engineering in Chile working with blind people, then her work in Switzerland analyzing EEGs to prevent epileptic attacks, followed by her Ph.D. and Post-doc work at Rutgers with Parkinson patients, and most recently at Authentidate with Telehealth products and services.
Paula has vast experience in technology and software development through her engineering positions at several companies like Sirus|XM satellite radio, Net-Scale Technologies, and Authentidate, among others, and she has extensive management experience through senior positions at Net-Scale Technologies and Authentidate.
Jeanine Woosley, Executive Director, Casey’s Pond Senior Living. Jeanine started at Casey’s Pond as a Life Enrichment Coordinator and soon was promoted to Community Life Director. Her wealth of knowledge, creativity, and dedication to the Community has led to her current position as Executive Director.
Jeanine managed several multi-million federal grant programs including Head Start, The Neighborhood Stabilization Program, and Hurricane Sandy Relief Funding prior to joining Casey’s Pond. She received her BA in Technical & Interdisciplinary Studies, and a Minor in Non-Profit Sector Studies from Wayne State University. Jeanine values continuous learning as demonstrated through her participation in the Administrator Training Program and in her aspirations to obtain her NHA (Nursing Home Administrator) certification.
Andrew Sharp is Director of Community Life at Clermont Park, a Christian Living Community. He began his career in senior living in 2013 as Resident Services Director at a community in his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma. In 2017, he moved to Denver and was a Life Enrichment Coordinator at Someren Glen until the transition to his current role.
Andrew has always had a passion for fostering resident-driven community. He became a certified Eden Educator in January 2020 and is always excited to continue helping to create communities where aging is honored and celebrated.
Lynne Haynes, Coordinator of Home Borrowing and Outreach Services, earned a chemical engineering degree from Missouri University of Science and Technology. After 12 years of working at P&G, she exchanged a challenging and enjoyable career in manufacturing management to share her love of reading with elementary and middle school students in the Kansas City area.
After moving to St. Louis to care for aging parents including her father who has dementia, she began working at Kirkwood Public Library in 2020. She traded working with students for working with older adults, delivering materials to individuals who find it difficult to come to the library. Out of a desire to serve families affected by dementia, she was led to Reading2Connect®. She secured a grant to purchase the library program for Kirkwood. Now, she uses the Reading2Connect® books in several senior living facilities and also makes the books available for checkout. She partners with the Alzheimer's Association for programming in the library, has recently received a grant for reminisce kits, and hopes to begin doing reading activities in a memory cafe format in the library this spring.
Nancy Larson, Adult Services Coordinator. Nancy was born and raised with seven siblings in a very small town in the Western part of Wisconsin. Reading and the visiting bookmobile were favorite pastimes. Nancy went to school at University of Wisconsin Madison and graduated with degrees in Social Services and Library Science. After some time in Mongolia teaching English, Nancy found the perfect job serving the senior residents of Washington County Wisconsin with book delivery service.
After 18 years working as Washington County Library’s Outreach Program Coordinator, Nancy is now transitioning to a new position of Adult Services Coordinator which allows her to work with adults of all ages, while still overseeing the Senior Outreach Program. Her favorite role is to help craft the patron experience at the library, helping people feel this is their second home.
See what our participants said about this dementia-focused event that included Teepa Snow, Bill Barberg, and others.
