Welcome to Namaste Care
I developed Namaste Care in 2003 as a group program for residents with advanced dementia who lived in a dementia unit that was part of the Vermont Veterans Home in Bennington, Vermont. I never considered myself as a writer, but I wrote one article about Namaste Care that resulted in a book “The End of Life Namaste Care Program for People with Dementia”. The book and my speaking engagements at Presentations helped to spread Namaste Care across the United States. Then to my amazement, universities in Australia, two in The United Kingdom, one in Canada and one in The Netherlands received grants to study various outcomes of the Namaste Care program. Namaste Care is now offered in many care homes and adult day programs all over the world.
When I developed Namaste Care, I knew that most care homes did not have money to spend on special programs. I designed the program to use inexpensive supplies and that would not require additional carers or a dedicated space for the group program.
Over 10 years ago I created the Namaste Care Individual Program after Seasons Hospice asked me if I could take Namaste Care to the bedside of their patients. Last year (2019) they brought Namaste Care to all 32,000 patients they served regardless of their diagnoses.
The two basic principles of Namaste Care Programs are creating a calm environment and providing all activities and interactions with an unhurried, loving touch approach. These two principles are included in both the group programs and individual programs.
Namaste Care supplies can easily be placed in a bag and taken to people in hospitals, inpatient hospice units and in their own homes. Now Namaste Care is offered in hospices internationally. Professional caregivers as well as trained volunteers can offer Namaste Care to people in all of these settings.
I’m at a loss to predict the future of Namaste Care as I never dreamed it would be international and could be offered in such a variety of settings. My hope and dreams are that Namaste Care will be part of general caregiving for anyone regardless of age or diagnosis.
Mission Statement
Namaste Care is a loving approach to caring for people, especially those with advanced dementia. It is offered in a variety of setting in many countries and provides quality of life until the end of life.