Continuing Education Sessions
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Session 39 | How to Provide Innovative, Evidenced-Based Dementia Care Through Direct Care Staff
Time: 10:15 to 11:45 a.m.
Type/Topic: Clinical/Person-Centered Care Practices
Room Location: Regency V
Session Summary
The Botes Memory Method dementia pathway is an evidence-based clinical approach to care and supported through research done in partnership with the University of Florida Occupational Therapy Doctorate program. Attendees will learn how this approach has impacted the lives of over 3,000 persons living with dementia, as well as over 1,000 care partners through innovative assessment, dementia education and implementation of clinical solutions and interventions. Explore how this approach can successfully be adopted by long term centers and care staff.
Presenters
Sira Botes
Founder/Creator | Botes Memory Method
About the Presenter
Sira is an Occupational Therapist and dementia specialist who graduated from the University of Pretoria in South Africa in 1993. She moved to the United States in 1996 and currently resides in Gainesville, FL, with her husband and two girls. Sira developed a passion for people living with dementia as she observed her mom’s ongoing struggle with memory loss as well as her grandfather’s battle with Alzheimer’s, complicated by Korsakov’s syndrome. As a clinician and director of clinical services, treating people living with cognitive impairment inspired her to create a communication platform, the Memory Bouquet, that could impact everyone involved with dementia care. Sira’s discontent with the current tools available to clinicians for assessment and treatment purposes moved her to create her own unique evidence-based assessment tool. The Botes Analysis of Functional Cognition focuses on the role of executive function during activity engagement. As a result, the Botes Memory Method was born and has impacted seniors and their loved ones and caregivers across the state of Florida. This method has been successfully used over the past 6 years throughout the state of Florida, touching the lives of more than 3000 people living with this disease. Sira has been invited to speak on podcasts, webinars and live events as well as presenting to her peers at a state level. She has trained more than 1000 Occupational Therapists, healthcare partners and caregivers alike in the use of the Memory Bouquet to elevate the quality of life and decrease the burden of this disease for everyone involved. Sira won the prestigious NBCOT Innovation award in 2023 for her work with Botes Memory Method.