Mr. Pearce is currently COO for Bloom Senior Living and is an expert in the senior living industry and dementia related care. He has three decades of experience working with over 200 communities in 33 states encompassing over $880 million in annual revenue. Mr. Pearce has extensive experience as a published author of several books and as a public speaker for caregivers and supervisors. His book, Senior Living Communities: Operations management and marketing for assisted living, congregate and continuing care retirement communities was first published in 1998, and a second edition in 2007 by Johns Hopkins University Press is now the go-to handbook for effective senior residential facilities. It has also been converted into an online classroom for the certification of assisted living administrators in several states. He is also the author of 27 eBooks on Amazon Kindle and iTunes covering industry related topics. He is a frequent contributor on senior living for publications such as Provider, Contemporary Long Term Care and Assisted Living Success. Mr. Pearce also serves as an expert witness for assisted living and skilled nursing litigation. He shares his expertise as an adjunct professor for Johns Hopkins University and New York University, while teaching a variety of courses about senior living development and operations. He is also a professor at the Institute for Senior Living Education, based in Connecticut, as instructor for the Executive Director Certification Course; and an instructor for EasyCEU.com, a continuing education provider. His courses have been approved by the National Continuing Education Review Service of the National Association of Boards of Examiners of Long Term Care Administrators (NAB) in all fifty states. Formerly East District Vice President of Operations for Holiday Retirement, Benjamin oversaw operations and marketing for 71 independent and assisted living communities totaling over $290MM in annual revenue and enhancing the lives of over 9,000 seniors daily in 14 states, across 6 time zones. He has also served as President & CEO of Potomac Homes, Senior Vice President, Senior Housing, of Genesis Health Ventures, and Vice President of Operations for Classic Residence by Hyatt. Mr. Pearce has received a number of awards including the Contemporary Long Term Care Order of Excellence in 1990, 1991 and 1994. The Contemporary Long Term Care Order of Excellence is awarded to recognize outstanding operators and is an elite fraternity whose members have been judged by their peers to be the nation's best.
Revered for centuries for their restorative properties to the body, mind and spirit, essential oils have been used by healers to treat a multitude of symptoms. It has been proven that the sense of scent combined with the sense of touch will reach the inner most parts of the person through the fog of Alzheimer’s disease.
Maintaining (or adapting) old family rituals and traditions helps all family members feel a sense of belonging and family tradition. For an Alzheimer’s resident, this link with a familiar past is reassuring and builds self-esteem. Activity Ideas to celebrate the holidays.
Ninety percent of the more than 352,000 hip fractures in the U.S. each year are the result of a fall. The remaining 10 percent of the hip fractures occur spontaneously due to low bone density or osteoporosis. Learn about how to lower your risk.
A complaint is not always a criticism. It is not always a simple matter to identify the real problem behind a complaint. Loved ones may be experiencing difficulty adjusting to the aging process which may also be complicated by feelings of rejection and guilt. Learn how to deal with family complaints proactively.
Dementia is a neurological disorder that affects your ability to think, speak, reason, remember and move. While Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia, many other conditions also cause these symptoms. Some of these disorders get worse with time and cannot be cured. Other types can be treated and reversed.
In a recent study researchers found that depressive symptoms were more than twice as common among assisted living residents with mild or moderate dementia than among those without dementia. Depressed residents often do not have positive outcomes and are greater risk of discharge to nursing homes and death.
According to the results of a new study of the health of caregivers, there is mounting evidence that explains why caregivers often become patients themselves while caring for a loved one.
Learn how to recognize the risks and how to cope.
Part of the art of being a successful caregiver in the ability to set expectations, see one’s own limitations and learn to care for ourselves as well as others. Learn some coping strategies to maintain your sanity.
Clearly elderly that are at risk for weight loss who are treated with additional emphasis during meal times and throughout the day can greatly benefit, even avoid the early onset of nutritionally triggered catastrophic health failures. Learn to recognize the signs of anorexia and dehydration.
There are few people on earth better equipped with the natural innate ability to make us feel guilty than our mothers.In our culture guilt has been instinctively crafted to an art form designed to influence our behaviors. It is a learned behavior passed on from generation to generation. Feelings of guilt can be self-inflicted or can be imposed upon us by other people. Here's how to quiet the guilt
Families that hire caregivers or outside contractors such as home health aides or home companions to perform a variety of services may unknowingly be exposing themselves to a variety of risks that may not be covered through their homeowner's or general liability insurance policies.
Living well in our later years is all about quality of life. People who are active and social generally avoid depression that can lead to health complications and dramatically affect the quality of one's life. People who spend their time isolated from others their own age can become depressed and find that they are continually facing one health crisis after another.
" I’m not ready yet." Translation: I'm afraid of giving up my home, independence and lifestyle for an unknown. What if I don't like it? What if they don't like me? Seniors will often look for ways to avoid making the final decision. It is often out of fear or an unwillingness to commit. Learn how to help them become more comfortable with a move out of their home.
The most common form of dementia is Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's disease is a progressive, degenerative disorder that affects tissues in the brain, eventually resulting in abnormal brain function.
Learn about early diagnosis, what to expect with the progression of the disease and how to cope.
If you are feeling bad about your lack of knowledge regarding legal choices for your parents, go easier on yourself. Few people are prepared for the responsibilities of caring for an aging parent, preferring to procrastinate difficult discussions hoping the time may never come but it usually does.
This brief provides some definitions so you will know what you don't know and what questions to ask.
Today's seniors, who often consider themselves among the best informed, would do well to learn about three crucial areas that pertain to their future health care needs: the potential that they may need long term care, the cost of long term care and the limited federal and state aid available.
Over the years I have been asked countless times by residents and families “Are the costs associated with the care they receive tax deductible?” While much of the tax code is subject to varied interpretations, and each individual should seek competent advice from their own professionals, it appears that the answer to this question is “likely.”
Today's seniors, who often consider themselves among the best informed, would do well to learn about three crucial areas that pertain to their future health care needs: the potential that they may need long term care, the cost of long term care and the limited federal and state aid available.
Left unchecked, sufferers of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias are expected to increase are expected to increase in epidemic proportions. There is no known cure, and little is understood definitively about the cause of Alzheimer's disease, which afflicts about 4 million Americans. This number is expected to increase to a staggering 14 million people in the next 50 years.
Learn the basic facts about Alzheimer's Disease. Until less than ten years ago, public awareness of Alzheimers was limited and there was still a widespread belief that senility was associated with old age. Scientists now know that the loss of mental capacity during the aging process is not inevitable. Not all older people become senile, however short term memory does decline with age.
A complete family guide to making an informed decision regarding retirement communities and senior living options. Written by a 30-year veteran operations expert in Senior Housing and author. Learn about the different types of facilities, how they are priced, and how to choose which one is right for your situation.
Explore Colonial Central Mexico. A few miles upstream from town the mirror surface of the water seems barely to reflect the passage of any time at all, though the kiss of many years is evident in the erosion along the river’s banks. Señoras wash their family’s clothes on the banks of the Rio Laja, which drains the central highlands while children scamper among the burros.
This is a story about family and love on Catalina Island off the California coast. This island paradise was inhabited by different groups of Native Americans for over 7,000 years. In 1542 they greeted the first European explorer, Don Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo. Sixty years later, Don Sebastian Viscaino of Spain stopped by the Island while exploring the California coast looking for good ports.
While blue water sailing through Hurricane Bob, the sailing seemed spectacular for the first several days and nights. Thick moonlight, the viscous night light that marks the passage of twilight, gives the great blue sea swells their animation under a gentle wind. The swells, rising and falling seemingly without end, could have originated from some storm thousands of miles away.
Cruising through the San Juan Islands in Puget Sound. Often in the late summer, before the sun dips low on the horizon, the warm moist air of the San Juan Archipelago condenses into a fine mist that rises off the surface of the ocean to shroud these islands above the clouds.
Sailing and history of the Chesapeake Bay. A Great Blue Heron led our sailboat downriver between banks of the lush green foliage of Back Creek on Elk River at the northern entrance to the Chesapeake Bay. As we rounded each bend, the solitary bird would be floating on the brown mirror of water.
The empty bell tower at the stone ruins of Iglesia de Nuestra Senora del Rosario has withstood the test of time. This grand sentinel and has overseen the birth and death of this once busy shipbuilding center since 1792 from its hilltop perch.
Sailing the Mayan trade routes in Belize, Mexico and Guatemala from their earliest prehistory until today, each generation of the Maya people has seen new ideas, change and the slow incursion of the modern world. They are themselves like their own sacred Ceiba tree thrusting upward for light while straining their roots down into the dry ruins of their past.
The sun climbs high on an azure sky, and on the flats it’s easy to empty your head of everything except instinct and sense that my life had become complicated. The easy pace of the Bahamian people is addictive and I could easily see myself slipping into the natural progression of this place.
We arrived at the 25000 hectare reserve just in time for an ice-cold drink on the terrace of Long Lee Manor. My exhaustion quickly disappeared as the bush rolled out before us with antelope littering the almost endless plains. It was the African bush and it smelt good.
They lie on the edge of the province's collective memory like a dream scarce remembered; mythical and elusive, full of meaning and great beauty, yet incomprehensible to the waking mind. Impossible not to marvel at, and revel in, these are the Queen Charlotte Islands, arguably one of the most beautiful and diverse landscapes in the world.