A Deeper Perspective on Alzheimer's and Other Dementias ─ Practical Tools With Spiritual Insights

Soul-searing, life-testing situations have what some call fall-out blessings.” This book is about understanding some of the deeper lessons we are exposed to through caring for individuals with Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia.

We all want a cure. But in the meantime, while this illness is still with us, how can we create a quality of life for each person in each stage of the disease? How can we look deeper into situations that, at first glance, look hopeless and destructive in order to find opportunities for insight, inspiration, and greater understanding of ourselves and those we love? How can we allow the full measure of the experience to unfold and be felt with as much of ourselves as we can bring to bear?

We wish for people who care for those going through the difficult dementia journey that they strive, through the tumultuous waves, to remain awake and open to the blessings of a journey that opens our hearts, nurtures our compassion, and ultimately enables us to be better human beings.

For those brave individuals living with memory loss illnesses, we wish that they be supported and allowed to live their experience fully in their own unique way, to express themselves, to love and be loved, and to be sheltered from harm. In later stages, they are no longer involved in mundane worldly existence and are in a deep, internal state that we as caregivers generally cannot reach into and share. Dementia has built a wall around them, as if they have entered a cloister. Rather than think of this wall as an imprisonment, MeganCarnarius views it as a final honoring of the life this individual has led and of the body or vessel that housed them. Allowed to "cocoon," it affords the time needed for the soul to attend to deeper aspects of the self on a spiritual level. So that, when ready, the individual can let go and be allowed to let go, when they know it’s time.

Coming from a rich professional background in caring, Megan Carnarius clearly outlines the different stages of dementia and highlights many practical aspects, suggesting accessible tools for caregivers, family and professionals alike. She also addresses the more subtle, spiritual dimensions of this illness with much compassion and understanding, offering new insights into hitherto little explored areas.

Megan Carnarius is a registered nurse (RN), a licensed nursing home administrator (NHA), and a licensed massage therapist (LMT) who has completed trainings in both Europe and the United States. In 1989, Megan managed the first skilled memory care nursing setting in Boulder County, and ran it, deficiency free, for 6-1/2 years. Megan served on the Alzheimer’s education committee for 15 years, and continues provide trainings and lectures on all topics related to memory care. She started consulting in memory care design in 1996, which resulted in an award-winning memory care facility, and she continues to assist owners with building designs as well as program and operational development. She served as an adjunct faculty member at Naropa University in their masters program in gerontology and healthcare administration. Certified by the Colorado Health Department to operate Assisted Living/Board and Care Homes for the elderly, Megan is the executive director for Balfour Cherrywood Village, a secure memory care, assisted living residence for 52 elders that also provides adult daycare to participants from the surrounding community. She has served in this position for 12 years.

The unconventional side of Megan’s education started after graduating from high school. She completed the certification program for Curative Educator, a Waldorf method training for teachers of children with disabilities in Camphill Special Schools, a worldwide network of Anthroposophical communities following the teaching of Rudolf Steiner. During the four years of that program, she lived and worked in Camphill communities in the United States, as well as Norway, Scotland, England, and Switzerland.

After completing nursing school in the United States, Megan returned to Europe and studied painting at the Assenza Malschule in Dornach, Switzerland, for two years. During this time, she also completed her studies in Rhythmical Massage and Hydrotherapy in the Margaretha Hauschka Schule in Bod Boll, Germany; she returned as a guest teacher there the following year. She was also able to secure an internship with The Lukas Kinik in the massage and hydrotherapy department in Arlesheim, Switzerland.

Returning to the United States, she completed the renowned 1,000-hour massage program at Boulder College of Massage. She was an adjunct faculty member at the massage school for five years and during that time, provided geriatric field placement supervision to students and hydrotherapy courses for the curriculum. She continues to provide training in massage and aromatherapy approaches for caregivers to draw upon in their care of individuals with dementia. Megan Carnarius lives in Boulder, Colorado.