This section brings together stories about providing care to persons living with dementia with research about dementia care. I value things that help me learn, and I learn about my passions in three ways. Learning for me isn’t about just knowing things; its about making the world different, better, more caring.
First, when I am curious about my own experiences in this body. I can get in touch with what sensations come up for me, how I feel, and what I am thinking. Second, when people tell me stories about a topic I care about, the stories and the lessons that they teach stick with me. They help me recognize and appreciate my own life and similar situations in my life I find myself in. Third, when people share with me philosophical views or scientific knowledge this helps me recognize knowledge that I can generalize across contexts. I can say that perhaps my experiences link up with the experiences of others in places that are far distant from my own home.
I am curious about dementia care for practical reasons. I want to help myself and others learn more about dementia care, because I believe that we honor people we love by doing this work as well as we can. Many people who provide care to people with dementia do this kind of work well even though it is thankless much of the time because it is not often recognized as valuable in our society. I want to encourage excellent care in two ways. I want to point out what is often already done really well. I want to hold up to greater scrutiny what is not done well. I want to recognize excellent care so that we can keep doing it, and I want to show what fails so that we can do better.
