22 International Long-Term Care Conference

The biggest event regarding long-term care in Europe!

18-20 September 2019

Dementia consistently gives rise to many fears and to much controversy. We see just how important this problem is, and this is why dementia will play the leading role in the International Long-Term Care Conference, which, for the 22nd time, will take place in Toruń. We will present many inspiring examples as well as tried and tested solutions from all over the world.

What should be done to better understand the behavior of persons with Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia? How can their environment be adjusted? In what way can the negative symptoms of this condition be minimized? How can the quality of life of a person with dementia be improved? – These are just a few of the questions that will be addressed by the specialists participating in the conference. Close to 1000 directors of European care facilities and long-term care specialists will debate the topic of improving quality of life for those living with various forms of dementia.

The International Long-Term Care Conference is a global event that not only allows participants to engage in networking and exchanging ideas – it serves, above all, as an excellent source of inspiration to take action and offers a prime integration opportunity for the care community. Each year during the conference we show each other just how much connects us. In all of Europe and across the globe we face the same challenges: personnel shortages and a growing population of seniors. These are problems that we must resolve, and I am convinced that we can resolve them only by acting together – Markus Leser from the Old Age Department of CURAVIVA in Switzerland stated at the 2017 conference.

We encourage you to familiarize yourself with the program of the 22nd conference. We’ll be waiting for you in Toruń.

A RARE OPPORTUNITY

Teepa Snow is phenomenal. A therapist with no equals and a brilliant educator as well – a teacher of carers. Nobody explains complicated issues connected with dementia as simply and effectively as her. For years she has traveled throughout (mainly) the United States conducting training seminars for professional caregivers as well as for informal carers who do not posses so much medical knowledge. As in the theatre, she reenacts behaviors typical of those under her care, she explains the causes thereof, and shows how to manage with such problematic behaviors. She explains the complicated changes that occur in the brain of a person with dementia in the clearest possible way, she repeats out loud the most important rules for her seminar participants such that they walk away having mastered the material. Teepa Snow records her training seminars and makes them available in the form of films. She works with institutions of higher learning and with professors, though she herself is an excellent practitioner who finds practical solutions in difficult care-giving situations.

The Laurentius Foundation in Olsztyn heard about Teepa Snowa almost three years ago thanks to its work with probably the only certified Positive Approach to Care trainer in Poland. Since that time, the staff of LAURENTIUS Care Facilities have participated in these training seminars multiple times. It rarely happens that employees decline to participate. After such training, many of those who participate feel the need to come to me and to share their impressions and enthusiasm – they finally understand why our residents with dementia behave as they do, everything begins to make sense! With such knowledge they are more understanding and patient with our residents, and they are able to avoid their own improper behaviors and reactions.

There is yet another interesting aspect to Teepa Snow’s work, namely her collaboration with associations of persons (not families) living with various forms of dementia. In the United States, such conditions are diagnosed faster than in Poland, and therefore there are many people who are aware of their worsening state of health, people who are still active in both their professions and their daily lives. Some have found a calling in teaching society about dementia. They travel the country telling others about their experiences and feelings. Sometimes they travel with Teepa Snow, being another authentic source of knowledge for her as to what people living with dementia feel and experience.

Every individual who works professionally with persons living with dementia should learn about these things. Now we have the incredible opportunity to hear from Teepa Snow herself.

Ewa Kordaczuk
Director of LAURENTIUS – The Laurentius Foundation in Olsztyn

Sarah Brown

USA

As Executive Director, Sarah oversees the development, deployment and diffusion of Empira’s signature quality improvement programs, as well as the ongoing pursuit of applied evidence-based research. She presents Empira’s work at state and national conferences. With 16 years of experience in healthcare, Sarah has held a variety of roles and knows senior care from the inside out. She has worked in direct patient care, leadership, education, and consulting in a variety of settings, including long-term care, transitional care, clinics, large health systems, and partnerships. Sarah has always been passionate about serving those in need through the continuous improvement of care practices to achieve better clinical outcomes and aging experiences.

Piotr Krakowiak

Poland, Scotland

Piotr Krakowiak works currently as Professor of UMK University in Torun, Poland being Head of the Department of Social Work and also National Chaplain of Hospices in Poland. He has lengthy career in hospice-palliative care as chaplain, psychologist, volunteers' coordinator, managing director of Gdansk Hospice, and Hospice Foundation Poland, before moving into a teaching & research career. His Research interests focus on using mixed methods to explore end-of-life care in different settings, from social work through spirituality & bereavement, as well as various aspects of volunteering and community involvement. He is currently leading research regarding prisoners as palliative care volunteers in Poland. Living and working in Scotland since 2016 he is studying concept of Compassionate Communities in the UK and issues of migrant workers from Poland and other EU countries.

Teepa Snow

USA

Teepa Snow is one of the world’s leading advocates and educators for anyone living with dementia. Teepa Snow is an occupational therapist with 40 years of rich and varied clinical and academic experience. She presents with extraordinary expertise and humor to audiences large and small throughout the world. Her company, Positive Approach® to Care (PAC) provides on-line and in-person services, training, and products to professionals, family members, the lay public, and people living with brain changes internationally. Her GEMS® State Model for understanding progression and change in ability, combined with her PAC™ Skills, form practical and effective strategies and techniques for individuals and agencies seeking to optimize care and support for those living with dementia and their care partners. These user-friendly approaches provide guidance and leadership to national efforts to promote best practices. PAC is collaboratively working to change the culture of dementia care, one mind at a time in over 30 countries worldwide.

Debbie Tolson

Scotland

In 2013 Debbie was appointed as the Alzheimer Scotland Professor of Dementia and inaugural Director of the Alzheimer Scotland for Policy and Practice at the University of the West of Scotland. She is a registered nurse with an international reputation as a nurse leader and educator. Her professional standing is reflected in her Fellowship of the Royal College of Nursing, Honorary Fellowship of the Queens Nursing Institute Scotland and Principal Fellow Status with the UK Higher Education Academy. Research interests include caring interventions and practice based research designed to inform and improve advanced dementia care in the community and within nursing homes within Scotland, Europe and beyond.

Agnieszka Guligowska

Poland

A Doctor of Health Sciences, dietician, and promotor of healthy eating, Agnieszka is a graduate of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences, the University of Łódź, and the Medical University of Łódź. Her research projects in the Clinic of Geriatric Medicine at the Medical University of Łódź concern the impact of diet on the human body’s ageing process. She is a member of various academic associations, and for 20 years has been professionally involved with diet therapy. She applies a personalized approach when working with patients, combining counselling with effective education. Agnieszka has many years of experience in educating adults. She lectures for institutions of higher learning, universities of the third age, institutions of culture, associations, and foundations. She strives to continuously deepen her knowledge and to perfect her skills by participating in training programs and conferences.

Justyna Mazurek

Poland

Educated as both a doctor specializing in medical rehabilitation and as a physiotherapist, Justyna works as Assistant Professor in the faculty and Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at Wrocław Medical University and as a physician in the Rehabilitation Unit in the Jadwigi Śląska Hospital in Trzebnica. Her main interests concern a holistic approach to rehabilitation, geriatrics, neurology, and psychiatry. Justyna is currently carrying out research on the needs of seniors, broadly construed, including the needs of seniors living with dementia.

Jayne Murphy

England

Jayne Murphy started her NHS career as a Health Care Assistant in the 1990s and continued on to undertake her registered nurse training at the University of Wolverhampton School of Health. She developed an affinity for community nursing and her first registered nurse post was a community staff nurse. As her career progressed she worked as a Specialist Practice District Nursing Team Leader and Community Matron, eventually moving into the role of Practice Education Facilitator to support the workforce in education and training. This is where she developed a special interest in dementia care and she took the opportunity to take on a project lead role for dementia. She joined the Community Nursing Team at the University of Wolverhampton in April 2014 where, as well as teaching on specialist practice and prescribing programmes, she was able to continue with her interest in dementia, joining the University Centre for Applied Research and Education (CARE) and supporting their work in promoting dementia care throughout the University.

Beata Bugajska

Poland

Associate Professor of Social Sciences in the field of Pedagogy (2016). Place of work: Faculty of Social Pedagogy at the University of Szczecin. Since 2016 – head of the Department of Social Issues of Szczecin’s City Hall. Research interests: social pedagogy, social gerontology, social aid, and social work. Vice Chairperson of the Board of the Main Polish Association of Gerontology. Author of over 60 titles, including, among others: The Identity of Man of Antiquity: a Social Pedagogy Study (Szczecin 2005) (in Polish: Tożsamość człowieka w starości: Studium socjopedagogiczne); A Future Perspective of Time in Antiquity (Szczecin 2012) (in Polish: Przyszłościowa perspektywa czasowa w starości) co-author; A Trip in Time (in Polish: Podróż w czasie); Workshop for the Personal Development of Seniors (Szczecin 2014) (in Polish: Warsztat rozwoju osobistego osób starszych) co-author. This title was awarded the Theophrastus Prize for best popular-science book in psychology for the year 2015; “The Ninth Stage in the Cycle of Life – Reflections on E.H. Erikson’s Theory”, Ageing & Society, 37, 2017.

Maria Barcikowska

Poland

Professor Maria Barcikowska of the Mossakowski Medical Research Centre is the head of the OUN Degenerative Disease Research Team as well as a neurologist and neuropathologist with 30 years of professional experience with dementia. She is the organizer of Warsaw’s first multispecialist “Alzheimer’s Unit.” For thirty years she has championed the provision of care for those living with different stages of dementia and has fought for state medical and social support for families touched by such issues. Professor Barcikowska has authored chapters in many monographs and textbooks and has authored or coauthored 193 original texts concerning dementia as a medical problem, broadly construed. She is a founding member of the Polish Alzheimer’s Association as well as its vice-president, while also being a founding member of the Polish Association for the Assistance of Persons with Alzheimer’s, and a member of the Polish Brain Council.

Leszek Guga

Poland

Psychologist, graduated from University of Łódź and a MATRiK Management Trainers Programme. Since the start of his professional career he worked with pharmaceutical and health sector. He specialises in stress and burnout management and self-effiacy. In his spare time he is fascinated by games and their educational potential.

Ewa Kądalska

Poland

academic tutor, since 2002 at the Medical University of Warsaw and since 2011 – in the Józef Piłsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw. Since 2015 she has been the Assistant Professor at the Geriatrics Department of the National Institute of Geriatrics, Rheumatology and Rehabilitation, a specialist in the geriatric and palliative care and clinical nutrition. Since 2018 she has been the state consultant in geriatric nursing. She has been involved in the Geriatrics and Senior Support Task Force operating by the Polish State Development Council operating by the President of the Republic of Poland as well as in the project consisting in the liaison with the World Bank in modelling co-ordinated care in geriatrics. Authoress of scientific and research dissertations and publications in nursing and management. Since 2016 she has been actively involved in the international projects of the European Union, such as: JA ADVANTAGE and CHRODIS PLUS representing the partner establishment – the National Institute o Geriatrics, Rheumatology and Rehabilitation in Warsaw.

Agnieszka Cysewska

Poland

Dorota Szcześniak

Poland