Senior Care Academy - A Helperly Podcast
Senior Care Academy is the podcast for caregivers, senior care providers, and families with aging loved ones. Hosted by experienced professionals, we explore essential topics like elder care planning, dementia support, financial advice, and emotional wellness for caregivers.
Each episode offers expert insights, practical tips, and resources to help you navigate senior care with confidence. Whether you're a healthcare provider, a family member supporting aging parents, or a senior adult seeking guidance, this podcast delivers actionable advice tailored to your needs.
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Senior Care Academy - A Helperly Podcast
Pioneering Change: Dr. Lord’s Journey in Dementia Caregiving
Explore the promising Good Shepherd Healing System with us, as explained by a practitioner trained by Dr. Rankin. This energy-based healing method has shown remarkable benefits for individuals with advanced dementia, as evidenced by a successful 2015 study. We also discuss the ICA's global impact on improving dementia care practices and tackling workforce burnout through rigorous assessments and tailored training programs. Discover how consistency in care and the nurturing of potential leaders play pivotal roles in providing high-quality dementia care.
Finally, we delve into the transformative power of Transactional Dementia Intelligence (TDI) and the importance of coaching in dementia care. Dr. Lord’s innovative ideas on consistent, hospitality-driven care and the significance of influence in leadership offer a fresh perspective on improving dementia care facilities. We wrap up by reflecting on Dr. Lord’s inspiring legacy and ongoing impact on the field, leaving listeners with a sense of hope and a deeper understanding of the challenges and breakthroughs in dementia care. This episode is not to be missed for anyone invested in the future of dementia care.
Hey everybody, Welcome to the Senior Care Academy podcast, a podcast focused on leaders, innovation and insight from professionals just like yourselves. Today, we have the honor of welcoming Dr Etel Lord, a true pioneer in dementia care and the founding president of the International Caregivers Association. With over 15 years of experience, Dr Lord has dedicated her career to transforming dementia care through innovative approaches and comprehensive training programs. Her expertise extends from coaching and training to energy healing, making her a multifaceted leader in the field. We are so happy to have Dr Lord today and to hear about her journey and her groundbreaking work with the ICA and her vision for the future of dementia care. Dr Lord, thank you so much for being on the show today. We are blessed to have you.
Speaker 2:Thank you for the introduction.
Speaker 1:I appreciate it. Of course, of course. Tell us a little bit about where you're from, maybe your story of getting into dementia care and being one of the pioneers of innovation in that field.
Speaker 2:Well, I was born in French Canada and I moved to the United States around 1977, 78. And I've been in the United States since then. I've worked in different areas and I in that time I also studied. So I got to the doctorate level in management with a focus on leadership, and in the meantime my husband, my late husband, got sick in about the year 1999. In about the year 1999. And from that point on I had to be, because of the circumstances, be his personal caregiver for 21 years. And that's how I got interested in the field that I'm in and I saw the problems and I wanted to help the world to resolve some of these problems not all of them, but certainly a large part of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I guess did your degree at the time play a big role in motivating you to have this idea to change the world? Like that's a pretty, that's a big, that's big to me, that's a big feeling to have what was kind of like the sentiments behind that.
Speaker 2:Well, it was really everything that I've done since I was a young child, I would say, led to what I am today, and so my bachelor's was in psychology.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:My master's was in counseling mental health counseling and my doctorate was in leadership. I mean the management focused with leadership and everything that I do today. I need all of that, plus the experience.
Speaker 1:Yeah, can you maybe talk a little bit about what inspired you to found the International Caregivers Association?
Speaker 2:Yes, before the International Caregivers Association, I had rememberingforyoucom, which described exactly what I was going through at the time and what many other people were going through mostly to help and support other people and be supported myself. Yeah, and then I went to, turned it over to the International Caregivers Association a real business at that point, where I was not only coaching but consulting with businesses. And just last year, late last fall, after working on this transactional dementia intelligence business model of dementia care, I decided to let it out publicly last fall and so now we're promoting that for businesses all around the world.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's amazing. I'm curious when your husband passed, did you feel that founding RememberYoucom and starting the ICA helped you to remember him? Help his memory live on? Did you feel like you were honoring him in a way with your work?
Speaker 2:Actually, I honored him every day of his life. I always tell people to live as though you don't want to have any regrets, so live fully every day, which I did. So remembering for you was a real pleasant thing to open up. And then the International Caregivers Association. I was in the middle of that when he died and I was proud because I think he was my teacher. I was a student, I felt I graduated. At the time that he died I graduated.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you were one of the first, world's first caregivers for dementia, specifically, the world's first caregivers for dementia. Specifically, at first did you feel a little in over your head, so to speak, or did you feel like you had?
Speaker 2:a good grasp of what to do intuitively. Well, by that time I had a mental health counseling background. I had coaching background as well and I had this background in psychology. I was not the first one to provide caregiving, I was the first one, the pioneer, in dementia coaching. So I felt that when you got the diagnosis that I was better off than perhaps 95%, 98% of caregivers because of my background, even though I had all that was very uh, demanding. It was, uh, I was tired a lot, uh, I felt isolation, which is absolutely the worst thing you can feel, and um and I I seek some help. You know, I went around and I fortunately, like I say, I had the background.
Speaker 2:When I got tired, I had family close to me that came and helped me to make some decisions that I had to make, because one of the worst decisions that you have to make is to place that loved one into long-term care. Long-term care is not ideal for anyone. Most everyone refused to go there or would rather not go there. Refuse to go there or would rather not go there. But with family caregiving you only have a period of four to five years maximum before you actually get sick yourself or you could die. So it doesn't give you much time, and my husband lived for 21 years, so I had to go to assisted living with him and I had to go to long-term care skilled nursing with him.
Speaker 1:Did you feel I'm sure many people in our audience have employees, or maybe themselves have felt at one point isolation and the difficulty of determining where to place your loved one. When you made these decisions and you saw the positive outcomes that came as a result, did you feel stronger as an individual? Did you feel like you were growing? What type?
Speaker 2:of experience. Was that for you? It was all new for me. So I can't say I had wrong and erroneous information. To begin with, I depended a lot on the information, for example, from the Alzheimer's Association at that time told us that a person that was diagnosed with Alzheimer's or dementia lived maybe up to eight years, nine years. So I had geared everything to that period of time, which was completely erroneous. So I moved him the first time away from home and therefore I had to take an apartment close to him and finally, when I saw that was not the right information, at least for us, I moved him back close to me and then I had more control over where he could go.
Speaker 1:Actually, right, that's. Thank you for sharing all of that. That's amazing how I'm always amazed at the ability of a human or an individual to adapt to their situation. Oftentimes I have the opportunity. I guess some people would view it as a challenge, but I like to view it as an opportunity. I often have the opportunity in my day-to-day life to adapt to something. I'm going to school and I live with roommates and I'm working at a startup company, and so each day there's a new challenge. This new obstacle and what you shared really has inspired me. Invoked a positive emotion because of your ability to adapt and to grow despite the circumstances. You're kind of, although you may feel forced into the situation, it's amazing to see how you grew and what became of you as a result.
Speaker 2:Well, you always learn something with new opportunities, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And not everybody's mature. I happen to be mature. Let me describe maturity for you. What it means. Okay, maturity means to do what needs to be done at the time. It needs to be done whether you like it or not, and so I didn't necessarily like this, but I took it and I did the very best that I could, as many caregivers do.
Speaker 1:My dad shared a similar quote with me, the same exact words. He said that a boy does what he wants to and a man does what he has to. So I really resonate with what you've just described. Yes, let's talk a little bit about the Good Shepherd Healing System. Can you describe what that is and its unique approach to dementia care?
Speaker 2:Right In about 2014,. I was introduced to Dr Rankin from Arkansas. He's the only doctor. He was a trained engineer and a trained chiropractic doctor and he invented the Good Shepherd Healing System. He had been using it for probably 30 years by the time I met him and I asked him to teach me. So he taught me and so I have the skills now. As a matter of fact, just two weeks ago, I helped a woman in the Netherlands from Maine. I'm sitting in Maine, but I was able to help that woman who happened to have cellular confusion, not dementia, although they diagnosed her with Alzheimer's. Most of the cases of Alzheimer's and dementia are really cellular confusion and those cases can be helped greatly. Matter of fact, I spoke to her on the phone this morning. Speaks just like you and I.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:And she had a lot of problems. Those problems are all going away because energy medicine the Good Shepherd Healing System I used on her brought back her organs, her systems, all up to as far as 99%, and so if they slide back, you can bring them back up again. That's what Good Shepherd Healing System is about. So a lot of cases can be helped with the Good Shepherd Healing System and I learned that from Dr Rankin. He taught me and we did a study in 2015 with seven participants, all in advanced stages of their dementia and all different types of dementias, and all of them benefited cognitively, physically and spiritually. They all did better of them benefited uh, cognitively, physically and spiritually. They all did better. My husband started speaking. My husband was able to open his eyes, to move and all that or before he couldn't, okay, so uh the good the good shepherd healing system, along with nutritional supplements, is of great help to anyone with dementia is that's what I concluded yeah, is the healing system?
Speaker 1:is it like a regimen, is it a program? Is it like what does? What exactly happens when an individual begins to utilize the healing system? The good shepherd healing system?
Speaker 2:nobody utilizes the healing system, except myself that knows how to do it. And when I do it with people, it's not me, I'm not doing anything. I ask their body to heal them. I just know how to do that. So I ask the body to heal whatever area I see that is needing healing, and the body will do that or refuses to do it, it can. I've had cases where people were near you know, ready to go, ready to die, and I found that out as well. So it's, it's, it's. It takes training to do it. Uh, energy, as you know, can go through anything space, time and anything yeah material.
Speaker 2:So it's it's energy that I use, uh and uh to the specific person that helps me to heal them, but they do the healing. The body does the healing for them.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Your body is perfect the way it is.
Speaker 1:Right? Is this healing system like for everybody, or do you kind of have like an ideal place, an ideal patient to work with? Are there conditions that need to be met?
Speaker 2:It's for everybody.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Everybody that's in the body.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and can you describe how you got into like energy healing? I've I've heard very little about it. I'd love to kind of hear your thoughts and your story on that.
Speaker 2:Right Energy healing or energy medicine. There's different forms of that. I also have Reiki, two degrees in Reiki. Reiki is a form of energy medicine. There's soul link that I also have two degrees in. The soul link is to erase any negative thoughts that you may have that bother you, and every time something comes up it kind of freezes you. It bothers you for years and years. I can erase that in seconds. So there's different forms of energy healing. I happen to be trained in those three forms and I know that from my research with the Good Shepherd Healing System in 2015, that this is no joke.
Speaker 1:It works and it's possible to heal from something yeah so that's what I do does the ICA utilize these energy healing, these energy healing, I guess systems approaches with their patients? Or does the ICA kind of just train on, like on caregivers, kind of does like reporting on them? How are they connected at all?
Speaker 2:No, they're not connected at all. Okay, it's just that I have that knowledge. Yeah, and if one of your family member had dementia and you came to me and said how can I communicate with my loved one because my loved one doesn't talk anymore, I would say I would recommend probably a master Reiki person to work with you and they would find everything that you need to find. So I can recommend some things like that because I've used it, but I know there's others out there. But it's not related, because the ICA is truly a consulting firm and also a licensing firm for the TDI all over the world, and we have a lot of specialists on our teams.
Speaker 2:We have three different teams we have a leadership team, we have an advisory board and we have a team that's consultants that open doors of long-term care all over the world, and they represent different areas of the world. There's six different regions in the world and we trying to fill them up now. So the ICA is really focusing on training training people in dementia intelligence, because that's what I saw in my experience of 21 years dealing with my husband and his needs that people were not educated. They were overworked, but they were not even educated, and the more overworked they become, the more neglectful they become and the more abusive they become. Yeah, interesting, the more neglectful they become and the more abusive they become.
Speaker 1:Yeah, interesting. What would you say is some of the major issues that the ICA counsels on.
Speaker 2:Well, it's mostly turnover and burnout of the workforce, healthcare workforce and mostly bad care. Yeah, we hear a lot about bad care and with the transactional dementia intelligence systems, a business approach to dementia care, those things go away.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:They simply go away because we have enough people on staff and the team and in the middle of the organization we have a dementia coach. That's part of the organizational chart and that dementia coach takes responsibility for all issues, all training, all coaching, even for family caregivers that come into that community.
Speaker 1:in consulting for someone, does your team do an inventory of how the community is running? Do they kind of interview people to understand what's going on? What's the approach the ICA takes?
Speaker 2:We do an assessment. It always starts with an assessment. We've refused communities already In New York, I remember that, and another one in Miami. We refuse communities that we know are in it for the money and they don't want to improve services. So we immediately tell them that's not for them. Large, large organizations that refuse to even look at it. They keep pushing back. Those people are making enough money. How we deal with that? We just go over them, we just simply pass that spot and so we do an assessment. We want to do a personality assessment of the whole team to see how they work and if there's anything missing in there, because the dementia coach is going to know that person. He or she must know who she's dealing with, at the management level and at the lower level as well. But that's a different thing. When we do the assessment, we look at the organization as it exists now and the TDI can go in there with the existing system, except they have to know it's going to change. Yeah, there are going to be major changes.
Speaker 1:Okay, what would you say are a few of the red flags that you look for in communities to determine whether they're in it for the money or they're in it for the care?
Speaker 2:Well, one of the biggest flags is when they say everything is perfect, because we know there's no such thing as perfection, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So just some systems are more perfect than others. So when they say they're perfect, we know immediately to push back and see what's going on and we may not be taking them as well. The other thing is, if we see that some people have even lied in the introductory call, they would lie you know, and say during COVID? I remember somebody saying during COVID they never lost one worker. Well, we know the workers were dropping right, left, and center, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So that was not a truthful answer. So I'm inspired enough to see what is true and what may not be and if I need more information, but definitely the assessment. We want to look at their organizations as they're now. We want to assess the weaknesses they may have and see how we can reinforce that. Naturally, even with the TDI, a lot of these things are naturally reinforced, For example, the ability to continue to realize a profit and even a larger profit. We can show them that Because in the United States, here, right here in the United States, over 100% of CNAs turn over. So if you could stop that, can you imagine the profit you would make? And we can stop that. Let me tell you how we stop that. Cnas under the TDI work six hours but are paid for eight.
Speaker 1:Interesting.
Speaker 2:Interesting. You know what. They're going to be at the door tomorrow morning.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what kind of got you started paying your TDIs like that. Was it just a good?
Speaker 2:No, TDI is the license program. But yeah, because after six hours of you lifting someone, feeding them, changing them, giving them a bath, putting them to bed, taking them out of bed, six hours of doing that, that's enough.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:They do 90% of the work and they're asked to work eight hours to 12 hours. So imagine, after six hours, what kind of service are you going to give? You're going to become neglectful. You're going to become neglectful. Naturally. You may even become abusive, like stop calling me, stop ringing the bell.
Speaker 1:That's abuse. Yeah, so when you and you mentioned earlier that some of the biggest problems would be like turnover, burnout and poor care, would you say that poor care is mainly a result of overworked people, or would you say it's genuinely people just being abusive, like what tends to be the root cause of poor care?
Speaker 2:No, it's not the latter, it's not the latter. They really want to do well, but listen, they're overworked, they're underpaid, they're under-trained. Dementia care is a specialty. There's nobody trained in that. That's why we offer two courses. One is fundamental, one is advanced, and then there's another one train the trainer. So there's three courses that dementia care a dementia coach will have to have and then train the staff. That person trains all the staff. That person also answers to the ICA. So we check on them regularly to see if they meet the requirements of the license and we help them. We are there to support them. I'm a master adventure coach, so the adventure coach can always come to me with any problem and I'll figure it out.
Speaker 1:Wow, let's kind of flash forward to now and the future. What is the gold standard of dementia care? What does that look like?
Speaker 2:The gold standard of dementia care. I'll compare when you go to uh to get a hamburger at uh. You know it could be any name me a famous burger place that you like to go to oh, I personally enjoy eating burgers from in and out in and out.
Speaker 2:In and out is everywhere yeah so you can go to california and you can go, let's say, to maine, and it's going to be the same hamburger, right? So gold standard is the same. We want people to be treated as guests. We call it the guest stay care. Any TDI licensed community offers a guest stay care, and so it could be in China, it could be in Japan, it could be in the UK, it could be in the US, canada. If you see that the place is licensed under TDI, you know you're going to get the guest stay care.
Speaker 2:It's like a hospitality. When you go in there to see your relative, it's going to be like a hospitality. They'll welcome you, they'll offer you a cup of coffee or tea. They'll ask you how was your day today? Because you know, family caregivers are as important as a person that's in your community, a person that's in your care. As important as that. And you may even be one of the TDI care partners. If we have been able to train you and you were willing to join the club, join the team and we'll work together Very important.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that sounds wonderful. I really like what you said about training the trainer and making sure that everything is uniform across the board and, just like you said, I could go anywhere in the States, outside the States, and receive the same degree of care, the same degree of hospitality. I'm sure working on this has been it's your life mission and your resume reflects that and what you've done reflects that. What motivates you to continue working in the field of dementia care, despite its challenges?
Speaker 2:Yes, despite the challenge, because I've known, I've seen that and I've experienced it. And even though my husband's no longer here, I still have all that knowledge, all that experience, and it is. I've made it my life purpose to change the course of dementia care. That's my life purpose and I'll do it till I see it in reality. Life purpose and I'll do it till I see it in reality. And I already have a person in Australia that has been applying the same sort of theory and philosophy to her care. That will replace me eventually, and I've already spoken to her about that. I'll be in the background of it because I've done it for so many years. Now 's actually not 15 years, but it's 25 years oh, wow, we misspoke.
Speaker 1:Sorry about that. That's amazing 25 years is. I'm going to turn 24 next month, so I I haven't even been around long enough, as you have been in dementia care, which is mind-boggling. I kind of want to shift focus and talk about your PhD and your background in leadership, and especially with all of the trainings that you've given, all of the degrees that you have, and energy healing, as well as traditional school or traditional studies. How do you identify potential leaders among caregivers and what steps do you take to nurture their growth?
Speaker 2:True leaders can be counted on one hand in the fingers of one hand in the world, visionary leaders, especially. I'm a visionary leader. How can you tell that? Well, look, I just started an innovation that is bigger than myself. So leaders are not born leaders, but we can make them leaders. That's why part of the assessment we do at the beginning when we look into a community is we look at their profile and we want to make sure that whoever is leading there has the uh as the knowledge and the ability to lead, and we'll we'll support them to do that. In my, in my company, I put in a leader uh, as far as marketing and general manager, he's a leader. I've profiled him and he didn't realize that that was his result, and when he found out, he was ecstatic, simply ecstatic.
Speaker 1:That's nice.
Speaker 2:So you want to make sure that leaders in the healthcare field, especially in dementia care, appreciate the value of a dementia coach with all their training and all their experience, and so it's relieving a lot of pressure on this leader. They don't have to work at the. You know presently, if there's a challenge in dementia care, here's what happens. They don't really know how to deal with it because they're under trained. So what they do is they tolerate it until something breaks. Either the person is hurting somebody else or hurting themselves. And what they do? They send them out for an evaluation. You know what that means. It's a psych evaluation. They come back like zombies. They're drugged so much and it's called drug restraints, which is illegal, but they do it.
Speaker 2:And when that person comes back, they don't live that long. You know, because what's the point of living Even though they're drugged right up? They know internally, because a person with dementia is just like you and I. There's no difference. You can't tell. I could have five people here, three with dementia and two normal, and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. So they're still human. They have a heart, they have a mind, they have a body, and that's what we teach is how do you keep those people in the best quality of life? You can don't send them to evaluate them there's no need for that but the dementia coach could intervene when challenges come up like that. So they save money there too. You see that? And the leader doesn't have to be blamed for bad, bad care, because they didn't even know what they were doing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, do you. When you identify a leader and or, I guess, identify the potential for a leader, I would say, since leaders aren't born, they're made, what do you do to ensure that they know how important education is? Do you teach them and then they teach others? How do you get that cycle going?
Speaker 2:coach because I was a management coach right after I was a mental health counselor. I decided to go into coaching and I specialize in management coaching, so I would coach them and I would have the dementia coach work with them as well. They need both of that kind of support and I've seen some that are really very difficult to change because maybe the lack of education and maybe they've been too long and it's hard for them to be influenced. That's the only thing you can do is to influence someone. You can't make them, so you can influence them through knowledge or teaching or support yeah and that's what I do that's a very, very powerful sentiment.
Speaker 1:I relate to that idea of influence very strongly because growing up, I grew up in Virginia and the people who are important in my life were all much older than me 50s and 60s, the fifties and sixties so I was very familiar with just being around older adults not necessarily like people entering into dementia or entering into a place in their life where they need outside care and I was always in awe of their ability to just live happy and normal lives. They loved their families, they loved their children, they loved me and they influenced me just by who they are and what they stood for. And that's amazing to me, that what you just said, that you can't force someone to change but you can influence them to be better. I think personally I really strive to be open, to be influenced.
Speaker 1:It's a double-edged sword because sometimes you know you listen to something or you witness something and that source may not influence you for the good, but you learn from those things and you learn, maybe, what not to do, what not to think, what not to say things, and you learn maybe what not to do, what not to think, what not to say. But I really love speaking to individuals who influence me for the better, whether that be personally, emotionally, in my work environment, in school. That's pretty awesome that you said that. Did that kind of come from when you learned that you can only influence people? Is that during your mental health coaching, or has that been something that you always just understood?
Speaker 2:No, I think it was mental health certainly taught me really strongly that that was important.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I think you need both when you were saying you may be influenced for the worse or the better. It's all meant to be, so you have to welcome that and thank the universe for sending you that experience, and if you know it's not good, then you walk away with some knowledge. At least you know that's not good right Definitely. You can't do well unless you know both sides of the coin.
Speaker 1:Yeah, when you would work with people. I guess we're kind of backtracking a little bit to your mental health coaching days, but when you would work with people who were maybe closed off to change what, what happened to them to get them to open up to change. Was it something that they chose to do? Was it something that you invited them to do? What sparked change?
Speaker 2:in people. I would definitely have invited them to, but you know what? I accepted that they didn't want to. You have to accept what is, not what could be. So I would accept that because if people always get something, it's called the exchange theory. So you get something from a bad situation. That's an exchange. If they were refusing to change, they got something for staying where they were. Maybe they wanted the pity, maybe they wanted the understanding. But I was a different type of coach I mean a counselor than you probably would think of mental health. If I saw that case, I remember often saying I'm so sorry Today I don't have a pissy pot. If I had one, I would give you one.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's pretty awesome to be able to say that to people. That's a bold statement. That's pretty. That made me laugh, would people? When you accepted that they wouldn't change, did they feel comfortable around you? Did they feel more like open and that you knew? You kind of accepted them?
Speaker 2:yeah, you have to take people where they are. You're not. You're not here to change, you know, um, you're not here to be a martyr. You're here to do something different and leave the world in a different place. But each person that comes to this earth comes here for a purpose. Maybe their purpose is to do nothing and sit there and be pitied. Who knows? I'm not their maker, I don't know what they came here for. So I always accept where they are and if it's like you said, if it's for the worst, you just turn around and you go the other way. That's why, when I was in counseling, I decided I didn't want to hear the same stories week after week from the same people. Instead, I went to management coaching, where you actually ask questions. Laser coaching, for example. You go right to the source of the problem and you ask a question and the person completely shifts.
Speaker 1:So that that's a very different approach in counseling yeah, what metrics do you look for in people that are changing, or people that you ask questions to or coach? What do you look for in them to do to measure success?
Speaker 2:I look how curious they are and how willing they are to listen, you know because, they come to you either for counseling or coaching.
Speaker 2:They come to you for your expertise and they expect you to help them. There's something that's you know everybody has inside with coaching. It means you have the answer. You just don't have the right question. So I'll get, I'll get to the question, I'll give you that. I'll give you the question and I'll pull out the information. But it comes from you, just like the GSHS, the Good Shepherd Healing System. I don't. I don't heal anyone. Their body heals them. I just know how to do that.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So I know the question in coaching and I'll ask that In counseling you have to listen more, you have to show more empathy. It's just not my style. Once I got into it I said there's not enough movement, there's not enough. And see, today I created that transactional dementia intelligence that's revolutionizing the way we provide dementia care all over the world. That's big.
Speaker 1:Yeah, talk a little bit more about that. Talk about that system and its impact. What changes have you seen in the field of dementia care because of it?
Speaker 2:Well, the system. That's why you see a lot of programs in dementia care. You see a lot of programs every day and they're fine. You see a lot of programs every day and they're fine. They're like programs to engage people into activities or programs to maintain the best health possible. They're what I call programs or models, but in the transactional dementia intelligence that's a systems approach. I look at the management, I look at the leadership, I look at the ownership, I look at the janitor, I look at everything, everything, the whole system, which is unique. So when they get a license in TDI, they get a whole makeup. The whole business is transformed so that they operate differently. And imagine having on your door, outside on your placard or whatever, guest stay care. You're going to want to say what is that? And they'll go in there and they'll have a long waiting list. That's exactly what's happening, because people are trusting that it's a different system. We're into the 21st century.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:We upgrade them naturally into the 21st century.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's wonderful. I think that's a pretty good place to kind of wrap up. Is the system work and all of your experience and expertise, whether the good experiences or the bad experiences, and your ability to help others learn and grow and heal or, I guess, recognize that they can do that themselves? I think that's powerful to mention. What type of legacy do you hope to leave behind as a result of all all that you've done?
Speaker 2:My legacy was that my I was able to change the course of dementia. Care for everyone.
Speaker 1:You know, man, that I got goosebumps. I just I that felt right to hear. That's a. That's a powerful statement. That's a powerful statement. Everybody. This has been Dr Atel Lord, visionary leader, healer, coach, dementia care master. Please check out her socials. Please look at the ICA and see if their organization is a good fit for you. Dr Lord, thank you so much for being on the show today. Your presence has been amazing and I think this has been a very rich episode.
Speaker 2:I appreciate you very much, Alex, and good luck to you in your studies and your life.
Speaker 1:Thank you, thank you.