Speech Language Pathologist Adria Thompson talks about how to communicate better with LOs living with dementia.
Adria Thompson: Okay, my name is Adria Thompson. I am a speech language pathologist and dementia educator. I own be like care consulting and I create daily videos on social media, to help professional and personal care, givers know how to provide really good care to individuals with dementia.
Katie Wilkinson: That's awesome. Can you share a little bit about your journey to becoming a speech language pathologist and how you started specializing in dementia care specifically.
Adria Thompson: Yeah, I definitely wasn't a person who knew what they wanted to do their whole lives. I was actually undeclared going into college, and I waited to the last week before you had to declare a major to do that. But I took a class called Career Counseling and I did a lot of aptitude tests and personality tests and things like that. And it told you what kind of job would be good for you and speech language, pathology popped up multiple times. I had to do a paper on one of the options for myself and I chose that not really, understanding what that meant. But then once I realized, it's just speech I actually received speech therapy until fourth grade for articulation. So I was couldn't say my asses and things like that. And so I had some personal experience knowing what that was like and I was interested in education. And so I was just thinking that would be a good fit. So, all through undergrad and grad school, I thought I wanted to work with children and specifically, I loved working.
Adria Thompson: Children with severe disabilities, that were nonverbal, that needed augmentative, and alternative, communication devices. And I just really loved the challenge of working with people who maybe others Discounted or had felt like, they couldn't do much and I loved advocating for and finding those moments of success for individuals like that. And so coming out of grad school, I was wanting to get a job in the town that I graduated from, which we're pushing out, 40 speech therapists all at once and so it was really competitive.
Adria Thompson: And I ended up applying for getting an offer from a job and a nursing home. And I thought, I'd do that for a little while. It was good money. And so I thought, I'll do this and see and I loved it and I found that it wasn't necessarily children that I was drawn to, it was the challenge and so working with individuals with dementia, I got the same kind of feeling of feeling like that, passion of helping people who other people had just discounted. And Yeah, so I've been a speech therapist for nine years about three years into being a speech therapist. My own grandmother was diagnosed with dementia and so that really ramped up my passion and drive for specializing in that area. And I just did a lot of extra continuing education courses about the area of dementia.
Adria Thompson: And kind of became an expert in the facilities. I was working in and the therapy company that I worked for a couple years ago asked me to and an occupational therapist. I worked with to create a dementia program to train other therapists and being comfortable with working with people with dementia and so we spent three years just traveling and training across 14 different states, a bunch of therapists and then I moved to Washington State from Kentucky and I had to quit that job and I decided I could do this on my own and that's kind of where be care was created.
Katie Wilkinson: Yeah, that's awesome. Thanks for sharing sort of this journey. You've been on how has the transition been for you from working with other people to working for yourself and establishing be care, how's that been?
Adria Thompson: and yeah, being in the medical field, especially during Covid was really Challenging. It was intense and I worked in memory care at that time it's quite a bit different. I am now not necessarily working specifically with individuals with dementia. I'm working with their caregivers and so that's a big change too. Is I really love working with people with dementia and providing those skilled services and one-on-one care. But there's challenges with.
Adria Thompson: Being a Medicare approved, provider and billing and all of that. That's hard to do in a private practice. So haven't gone down that path quite yet, but it is definitely different and I love being an influencer or whatever you want to call it being on social media. In any capacity is never anything that was on my radar and it's not in my comfort zone at all, but it is making a difference. And so I'm just gonna keep running after it.
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Katie Wilkinson: Yeah, I love that. And I think I find that surprising. You're so Confident talking to a camera and that's, a lot of work, but the work you're doing is really important there and…
Adria Thompson: Thanks.
Katie Wilkinson: you obviously have a lot of experience at this point. In dementia care and obviously, personal experience with your grandma. You talk a little bit about Maybe more. So for people that are more recently diagnosed or caring for someone who's been recently diagnosed. What are some of the, misconceptions or myths about dementia care that you've seen or experience and how can we, debunk them or otherwise.
Adria Thompson: Yeah, I think in the medical community. Dementia care is kind of seen as end of life care, and although it is deteriorating, it is a degenerative disease and ultimately people will die. It's not a terminal condition in the sense that it's going to happen soon. So many people, especially who are diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, can live for 20 years with that diagnosis. And so, I think a lot of times, we see, someone being diagnosed with dementia and it's kind of, like, get your affairs in order. And,
Adria Thompson: But they still have to live their life for years and caregivers still have to walk alongside them for years typically and so what the thing that's not happening in the medical community is providing caregivers with practical advice and tips and education and training to know what to do in the meantime. How do we get dressed in the morning when they don't want to get dressed? Or how do we take a shower when I said they already have? And so that's kind of the gap that I'm hoping to fill. is to help care givers, who are trying to do it on their own, who have no training, they didn't sign up for this, this is
Adria Thompson: This is not at all anything that was on their radar. So I think that's a misconception in the medical community. Is once a dementia diagnosis is provided then it's just a matter of time and I think that there's a lot more life, the still needs to be lived a lot more the joyous moments and hope that can still be had and we need to make it a smoother process and I think another myth is that there's no point in being provided. Any care at that point, there's no if someone has been diagnosed with dementia, then why should they get therapy, Why should I see a speech, a physical therapist because they're not going to get any better? And I hear that a lot as a therapist from families and also medical providers of they have to dementia. So there's really nothing you can do.
Adria Thompson: And although, of course, I'm not going to reverse or cure any kind of degenerative disease, but what I can do is maximize, someone's abilities. Keep them as functional maintain those skills for as long as possible and there's a lot of service providers out there who can do that. But we just have to realize that, in the therapy world, there's the rehabilitation model which is restoring abilities after an illness disease or condition. But then there's the habilitative model in Habilitation just says, We're not worried about what you could do before. We know that we can't turn back the clock but what we can do is make you functional now. Keep you safe, keep you independent as much as possible now and so I think that's a huge misconception. Is that a lot of medical providers are useless after a diagnosis of dementia?
Katie Wilkinson: yeah, that's super disheartening to hear there's, can't get better, so might as well not, maintain thanks for distinguishing sort of those two, rehab models.
Katie Wilkinson: I guess sort of, in your line of work you just talked about, someone can have dementia for 20 years, there's, disease progresses and it's gonna change over time. What are some of the common communication? Challenges that people with dementia experience. And how does that change over the course of the disease?
Adria Thompson: Yeah, so at the beginning, in the early stages of dementia even though someone can speak that doesn't mean that they can communicate And so what I mean by that is a lot of times their voice Are the speech clarity or articulation abilities that won't change typically with just a diagnosis of dementia. But what does happen at the beginning is some word finding issues and so This would be more of a language component and so that's where a lot of times, people will get stuck. They'll do the
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Adria Thompson: The thing, And so they get stuck either, they're come up with the wrong word and they don't realize it, or they are doing that kind of process where they're thinking pushing through and so that is called the nomia. Anomia is just word finding issues. And so that's something typically that we might see at the beginning stages of dementia and a lot of people can compensate for it. they can kind of get around the word, they can describe it in a way that you will understand what they're saying, and it can cause issues, it can cause a lot of frustration and anxiety, and individuals with dementia. but often in the very early stages, they can compensate enough to kind of get their point across Then once we move into the moderate stages of dementia, we see them not being able to compensate as well.
Adria Thompson: And not only is communication as far as producing speech and that kind of language component. Start to be affected but also their awareness becomes affected. And so, this is what we're going to describe as a cognitive communication disorder. So being unaware of your deficits is called Anna's agnosia, that means that you don't know what's wrong with you much less do. If you don't know what's wrong with you, you don't know that you need help. And so, what happens here is when you're not aware of your own deficits, then you can't communicate your needs effectively. So, in a moderate stages of dementia, we will see people not communicate that, they're thirsty that they're hungry. That they've gone to the bathroom that they need to go to the bathroom. And so because they have that cognitive unawareness, then they can't communicate to others to get their needs met.
Adria Thompson: And so it not only becomes obvious in those moments of. What's that word? But also they just lose awareness that they are having any trouble at all and that can be difficult. And then in the most severe stages of dementia, we're going to see loss of language and communication across the board so sometimes people will still vocalize so that might just be sounds but also they might be able to have some especially social interaction. So you say hi they can say hi and say How are you? They say Good those things that are really we've done a million times in our lives. But also, we'll start to see where they're talking in words, but the message is not there, there's no content, right? It's just nonsense.
Adria Thompson: And so at that stage as caregivers, we just want to make sure that they feel heard and that we kind of mimic or mirror back, the energy that they're giving. So if they're Really angry. They're just functions of then you're gonna go. Are you kidding me? What, but if they're really Section of frozen. Kind of fun. I don't know. You're gonna reflect that, too. What are you kidding me? That's so great. And so, yeah, it definitely communication changes over the course of the progression of dementia and as care givers because we know that they can't change, we have to be the ones to adapt.
Katie Wilkinson: Yeah, that's awesome. Any other tips for caregivers sort of as this progresses Not really sure. My question is that Can people be looking out for signs is there? I'm sure it's challenging for a caregiver. Also, to be experiencing changes. Every day is different. Don't know what to expect yet. there's an emotional component to this also. Just like any other Wisdom for caregivers, as their care recipient starts to experience. Either these changes
Adria Thompson: Yeah, I mean that is a good question because that's the thing is with dementia, you feel the You feel like you have your head wrapped around where they are and you're providing them all the appropriate support and everything, then they change, it's like a moving target. And so I think the best advice when it comes to communication or really any struggle that you exist in that exist in caregiving, is to just don't be afraid to fail a lot of these skills and these tips and tricks and things, it's all about trial and error.
Adria Thompson: And so, a lot of times people come to me and say, Mom is having difficulty with word finding she can't think of the word she wants to say. So what do I do? And I fill in the words for her. Do I give her time to think? And my answer is always, we'll ask her, in the very early stages we can ask people. What do you want me to do in this moments and later? They might not be able to answer that and then that becomes If you can't ask the person, what they prefer. Then you just try one thing and see how it works out. So you might try to fill in the words. How does that look like? Does that frustrate them does that make them feel relief? Do you see their shoulders? Kind of relax and they're like thank goodness, someone's helping me.
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Adria Thompson: So we always just need to try something, but be aware be in investigator. And look at what is the outcome and that'll tell you if those things worked or not. So if I was given a percentage accuracy in the types of things that I have tried with individuals with dementia would be 10% accurate, one out of 10 times, I get it right, but it's still Those nine out of 10 times that we tried to see this, that's not an effective tip.
Katie Wilkinson: I think that's encouraging. I'm sure for people to hear that you as a professional Still, have a 10% success rate in what you're trying, when you're communicating with people living with dementia and I guess in addition to what you've just shared, are there any tools or resources? You can recommend to care givers who want to improve their communication like books or courses, any suggestions?
Adria Thompson: I recommend most importantly for individuals and specific recommendations for the person. You love to have a speech language pathologist consult with you. So that is by and large my biggest recommendation because everyone is so different. And something that might work for Bob isn't necessarily going to work for Mary because they have different stages of dementia. But also even if someone has exact same stage, they're the same age. Everything's exact on paper, they could still look so different. And so giving a speech language pathologist is really the best way to make sure that you are providing the right level of support especially when it comes to communication.
Katie Wilkinson: I don't know. This is true or not. You can debunk this for us. But I think there's an assumption that speech therapy can be costly. I think you hear the word therapy and just assume this is going to cost a lot of money. and we know that a lot of care givers are, struggling or stressed by finances. You just talk a little bit about the cost of speech therapy and if there's, assistant, programs or insurance, what goes into this?
Adria Thompson: Yeah, many people who have dementia are over the age of 65, not everybody, but the majority of people are. And so therefore many of these individuals in the United States have Medicare and based on the specific need, there's a lot of behind the scenes insurance like qualifications, but in general, Insurances, including Medicare will cover the cost of speech therapy services. Now, there are always limitations in the number of visits the
Adria Thompson: there are many different places you can go to get speech therapy. So for example, there is home health therapy. That is where a speech therapist can come into your home. That is covered by Medicare Part. and the requirement here is that the person is considered homebound, and the definition of homebound, is that it takes a considerable taxing effort for someone to leave their home. And that's not just physically but cognitively. So if you have someone with dementia that can physically walk everywhere, but it takes a considerable texting effort inner with your energy mentally to make sure that they don't wonder when you go out. there's a lot of difficulty there that they can still qualify a lot of times. So, the air considered homebound and A primary care physician has requested speech therapy services in their home for a reason. So it has to be a change in status. That could simply be
Adria Thompson: Me, mom used to be able to tell me her needs and now I'm noticing more word, finding issues at this point. We just have to have some kind of qualifier to say She was okay before but now there's a problem. If those things moving through the referral through of primary care, physician, those things can happen. Then many times people qualify for home health services, that is covered 100% through Medicare Part A so those services are essentially free in the home.
Adria Thompson: There's also outpatient services that sometimes can look like going to a clinic, going to the local hospital, outpatient, therapy or sometimes some outpatient therapists can come to your home too, which that's a little confusing. But just know that that option is out there that is covered by Medicare Part B. And usually there is a 20% coinsurance so you have to pay 20% of the therapy cost but often that is picked up, if you have a supplemental insurance. So let's say a blue shield or something like that. They will often pick up the other 20%, making therapy free. So like I said, they will always limit the number of visits that speech therapist can come but typically at least an evaluation is covered by insurance. So I wouldn't necessarily worry about figuring out the stipulations of that allow you could call your insurance and just ask.
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Adria Thompson: What your situation would be, but for majority of people over the age of 65, especially speech therapy, services are covered.
Katie Wilkinson: Yeah, that's awesome. Thank you for sharing that. And thank you for your knowledge in the Medicare realm. It does get complicated, You started to talk about,…
Adria Thompson: Yeah.
Katie Wilkinson: you need a referral from your PCP to speech, therapy and caregivers are obviously playing an important role here in managing care. Can you talk a little bit about how caregivers can advocate or ensure that speech therapists are collaborating with the rest of the health care team? And obviously you're doing this day in and day out. Can you share any examples of seeing this happen well in collaboration or where there's room for improvement?
Adria Thompson: So yeah, the first thing if you want a speech therapist to be, coming to your home or whatever, just to meet with individuals, with dementia in your life, to give you specific recommendations, the first thing you're going to do, is go to the primary care physician. And communicate that request, we often think that doctors will know what's best and that do the referrals, they will assume what you need. That's not always the case because they're not brilliant. Not because they're not great at what they do, but they don't know your everyday life, right? You come into a doctor's office and they see
Adria Thompson: They see quickly just very little of what's going on in that moment. They don't know what you're dealing with at home. They don't know. All of the communication difficulties, so it's okay to ask a doctor. Hey, I've heard about speech therapy on this podcast. And I would love for my mom to receive The breakdown that happens. Sometimes is what I described earlier where some medical professionals still, don't understand the benefit of therapy for individuals with dementia. And so I live in a rural town and I can tell you, I've seen it here that doctors don't understand, they'll say, she's not gonna get any better. Her speech is not going to improve, so I don't think that's necessary.
Adria Thompson: And it's okay to say, I understand, and I respect what you're saying, but there's a model called Habilitation that's going to keep them independent to maintain their skills. And I would prefer a speech therapist to come out and evaluate and they be the ones to determine if their services are necessary or not, and that can feel really weird, and I think it's a generational thing. Sometimes, that my parents and grandparents don't question their doctors as often, They don't advocate and In those moments as much but it is perfectly appropriate to ask for that. And you don't have to know all the specifics and everything but asking is going to be the first line of defense and so that will be a referral is necessary from a doctor for insurance to cover, speech, therapy services.
Katie Wilkinson: I think we need just a sound bite of what you just said, the people can take that with them to their doctor.
Adria Thompson: Yeah. Yeah.
Katie Wilkinson: It can be hard to advocate and doctor's office, even I think Generationally I've experienced it myself from a fairly confident person and I get into doctor's office.
Adria Thompson: Yeah.
Katie Wilkinson: I'm nervous.
Katie Wilkinson: I guess. if a doctor won't get on board with this, or is it interested in it, any advice for finding a new doctor at what point How do you manage a care team? That's really looking out for the patient's best interest.
Adria Thompson: Yeah, I think that if finding another doctor is an option often in inside of a doctor's office, you will have multiple doctors that are there, maybe a pa, And so, even if one like the MD, the Peter, if a pa says no, then you can move up to an MD and maybe they will say, yes. So that's kind of the line that exists there, but it's always okay to ask, kid. I would like a second opinion to make an appointment somewhere else, but like I said, many times generally, I'm seeing that a lot of my grandparents are very loyal to their doctors. they've had been there for years and years. And so that feels really uncomfortable for some
Adria Thompson: But it's possible to get it to get a new doctor and get the referrals you need. Especially when it comes to with getting a dementia diagnosis. Sometimes doctors are unwilling to give that diagnosis and we know that getting a diagnosis gives you access to certain resources. It gives you access to insurance reimbursement for services, like therapy. If I don't have a diagnosis on a chart to provide speech therapy for it's not going to be covered and if a doctor is saying, no I don't want to Put a label on them of dementia, that can be problematic. So,
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Adria Thompson: Finding a doctor that aligns with what your needs are, and this is really important. So just, Go through your insurance. who else are approved providers in your area and make another appointment. It's not nobody's gonna get their feelings This is profession, as a medical professional, It's not gonna hurt my feelings. I will sleep at night Just fine. If a patient of mine goes to another speech therapist. sure it might be a moment of reflection, but For a lot of physicians, it's not gonna hurt their feelings.
Katie Wilkinson: I think that's encouraging to hear. So we've talked about speech therapy obviously and that's your expertise. But in your, experience I'm wondering about what are other critical pieces or key components of a dementia care program and how can care givers like implement these or include them in sort of daily life.
Adria Thompson: Yeah, so just pretty much everything I just said about speech, therapy is also true for physical and occupational therapy as far as the referral process and the habilitation model. And so, I think it's really important for caregivers to understand that physical occupational, and speech therapy services can be helpful to not only
Adria Thompson: Come in during emergencies like a fall or, a hip replacement or something, but also for prevention before those terrible things happen, If you are starting to notice that the client that's affecting their function, you can have an occupational therapist. Maybe I'll give a quick overview and occupational. Therapist helps with activities of daily living. So that's like dressing self-feeding. All of those occupations, they help with safety. They find motor skills. They can recommend adaptive equipment or products or pieces of technology that can help caring for yourself or caring for someone else easier. Physical therapists are experts in movement so they can help with assessment range of motion strength.
Adria Thompson: Endurance of moving throughout their environment. They can recommend wheelchairs or walkers or rollators the specific one that they need and help you through the insurance process of getting it covered. Physical therapist, also help with safety, they help with pain management and speech therapists we help with all areas of communication, cognition, and swallowing disorders. So, although I'm biased, I think therapists are the best part of a dementia care team, and the most underutilized one as well.
Katie Wilkinson: Do you have any insight into? I mean, I can make a guess, but why they're the most underutilized?
Adria Thompson: Yeah, it's that same The belief that they have dementia. We can't make them better. And for families and medical professionals to see therapists in the rehabilitation model which is restoring tomorrow. My husband's getting a surgery done on his foot. He'll be non-white-bearing for a few weeks, he'll have to do therapy and he's doing the rehabilitation model before the surgery. He could run three miles, then he has the surgery because he broke his foot but after that the goal is for him to run three miles again, we want to get him back to what he was doing before and that's not what we're doing with people with dementia. And so we just assume that it's not appropriate. We assume that therapy is not helpful and that is so untrue. and one thing that I haven't mentioned, which is very unfortunate, is that there are sometimes therapists who don't understand this,
Adria Thompson: And so sometimes I hear caregivers send me a message or I've seen it and with my own eyes of therapists evaluating someone with dementia and saying they're not appropriate for therapy because they can't follow directions. They're not a good candidate for therapy. And I just sometimes scream in my head of that is a symptom of the disease. that is not just a behavior, that's not a choice that they're making we still have to get care done for them and I think therapists are the best people functionally to help care givers figure out. Yeah, they can't follow directions but we still have to get them on the toilet. So how do we do that?
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Adria Thompson: And so often just we might encounter doctors who don't want us to give us that referral. We might also encounter therapists who don't see the benefit and everybody specializes in different things, physical therapist who is you still working with athletes and recovering from sports injuries. Might not be the best fit for someone with dementia. So we just have to continuously advocate and find the medical professionals that are going to Serve our loved ones best.
Katie Wilkinson: Is there anything that people can? Do that are on board with Disabilitation model. How can we shift this? Sort of, perception of therapy as being not worthwhile for dementia patients. I don't know what is there to be done by way of advocacy to change this sort of, narrative
Adria Thompson: know what I'm doing is creating lots of content surrounding that topic for therapists for other medical professionals for families. But I think also, just family saying I understand your kind of we described before I understand your stance on this but I am passionate about believing like that an occupational therapist can help my mom and so if you aren't going to be able to provide me this referral or you can't provide these services Thank you for your time. Do you have a referral for me for someone who might be able to help me better? and I think just continuous
Adria Thompson: On the small scale in your own life, just keep advocating on the big scale. It's going to take. Also a lot of education for insurance because a lot of insurances over the last nine years, I've been a speech therapist, the reimbursement rate for individuals with dementia is steadily declining and so that's going to take policy change. That's going to take, White House, kind of stuff like we have to. Dementia is not going away, anytime soon. And so we have to continue to provide the best care and be a voice. So raising up people who are trying to be that voice sharing my videos, when it comes to things like that, that's advocacy but then also in your own life, just don't stop.
Katie Wilkinson: Yeah, thank you for sharing that. I'm gonna put you on the spot a little bit, but, is there any policy that we can be looking out for that?
Adria Thompson: Okay.
Katie Wilkinson: People can be supporting or writing their Congress people about I don't know if that's something, off the top of your head.
Adria Thompson: I think That my best recommendation is to follow caring across generations. That they are a platform that are raising up advocacy in government. And using celebrities also to raise awareness of Caregivers being supported and in doing. So that is also the medical professionals that can provide care givers. Respite and education. So I highly recommend following on Instagram Facebook, just Googling carrying across generations and they are going to be a great resource to help. what you could be doing in your own neck of the woods.
Katie Wilkinson: Yeah, we'll be sure to link them to this episode also We've mentioned A lot of moving parts in dementia Speech occupational therapy, dealing with doctors etc.
Katie Wilkinson: I know we work with all the time care givers who feel, overwhelmed or even frustrated by this journey advice for Caregivers and how they can prioritize their own While managing all of these moving pieces and working tirelessly to advocate for their loved one, how can they care for themselves as well?
Adria Thompson: And the first thing I want to validate is dementia sucks. Like it does, it's hard.
Adria Thompson: Mentally physically. So challenging to see someone, you love change before your eyes and to change a relationship. That has existed for a long time, change how you communicate change, how you interact change, the fact that they may be once cared for you and now you're caring for them. It sucks. So, we never want to minimize the fact that just be happy and you're doing great. I think sometimes we provide encouragement, without realizing the fact that, we need to validate the fact that it's hard and it sucks. So that's my first thing I want to communicate. But secondly, I think the most loving thing you can do. The most compassionate thing you can do for someone. You love with dementia is to learn more about the condition.
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Adria Thompson: And understand them better through learning about the disease itself. taking time to educate yourself to put names to, some of these experiences like,
Adria Thompson: Instead of just believing that they're in denial or they refuse to believe, they have dementia hearing a medical term, Anna's ignosia kind of lifts that denial. they're just being ornery to it wipes that away and says, wait, they have a medical condition where their brain is dying, and they can't help it. So, sometimes when we learn these terms, we learn these concepts, we can take a step back and realize that we don't have to take it personally, that this is not an attack on us or, disrespect for us as a caregiver. that they're not thankful. It's that they're completely unaware. And so I encourage all caregivers as much as you can.
Adria Thompson: Learn About the Disease I also am very acutely aware that when you're caring for someone with dementia all day, the last thing you want to do in your free time is to do a three-hour course about dementia. But that is why, for example, I've created videos that are anywhere from 30 to 90 seconds. One a day, learn something. And over time, your perspective will start to shift and I said, Educating yourself is the most loving thing. You can do for the person that you care for. And also just have a sense of humor, but the name of my company is Be light care. For a couple reasons. I use the term light because I love that it reflects. I want my passion to illuminate, the topic of dementia to bring a dark, kind of scary topic to light.
Adria Thompson: But then also to bring some lightness about it right to make it not so heavy to decrease that burden that weighty feeling that a dementia, diagnosis can come. And I think that bringing levity humor and just a sense of this sucks. Yes. But sometimes it's funny or sometimes, we have this new relationship. We have is lighter than the one we had before. Finding those little bits of light, I think are important.
Katie Wilkinson: Yeah, I love everything you just said and thank you for starting that with. dementia does becoming a caregiver for someone for any disease, can suck in many ways and thank you for sharing. Tips that are real and not just Be happy, it's gonna be okay because even if that's true, it's helpful to hear actual, …
Adria Thompson: Yeah.
Katie Wilkinson: self-care tips. You have talked a little bit about the content that you create, which is incredibly helpful. If people want to learn more from you, where can they find you online?
Adria Thompson: You can find me on Instagram Facebook and tiktok at Bee Lite Care B, E L I G H T C A R E. So just be care on any of those platforms. And you'll see that I have hundreds of videos about caring for individuals with dementia, whether you're professional caregiver or personal caregiver things about how to get them dressed, how to keep them hydrated, what you can do for your own brain health, All of those things exist there and I have it broke down into categories so you can find exactly what you need. and you can email me at info at Be like Care.com. And then on my website, be like Care.com, you will see that. I do caregiver consultations. So if someone wants to sit down with me for an hour on zoom and just explain your situation, I can walk you through some potential tips and tricks that could help you.
Katie Wilkinson: Yeah, that's awesome. Again we'll be sure to link you everywhere. So people know where to find you and how to contact you. Thank you much information from your own experience, and I think this will be really valuable to people.
Adria Thompson: I've had a lot of fun coming here. Thanks for having me.
