Caring for someone with dementia begins with understanding their unique needs and having the right supports at hand. Whether you’re caring for someone living in a private home or an assisted living community, the right resources can help ensure their safety, well-being, and quality of life. This page provides practical tools, guides, and supports to help navigate daily challenges, coordinate care, and create meaningful, person-centered experiences for individuals living with dementia.

Resources

Case Study: Candid Discussions Illuminate Value of Simple Pleasures in Elderly Woman With Severe Dementia. (2023). Nunez, C. J. Consult QD. Cleveland Clinic. Available at https://consultqd.clevelandclinic.org/case-study-candid-discussions-illuminate-value-of-simple-pleasures-in-elderly-woman-with-severe-dementia.

  • This case study from Cleveland Clinic illustrates how candid goals-of-care conversations helped guide end-of-life decisions for an elderly woman with severe dementia, ultimately centering care around what mattered most to her—enjoying her favorite food, French fries. Through a compassionate, person-centered approach, invasive procedures were avoided, and hospice care was embraced to preserve her quality of life.

Discovering the 4Ms: A Framework for Creating Age-friendly Health Systems. (2018). John A. Hartford Foundation. John A. Hartford Foundation Blog. Available at https://www.johnahartford.org/blog/view/discovering-the-4ms-a-framework-for-creating-age-friendly-health-systems/.

  • This blog post from The John A. Hartford Foundation highlights the development and impact of the 4Ms Framework—What Matters, Medication, Mentation, and Mobility—as a foundation for building Age-Friendly Health Systems that consistently deliver high-quality care to older adults. It emphasizes how the 4Ms help healthcare teams align care with older patients’ goals and needs, fostering system-wide transformation and combating ageism in medical practice.

How Do We Achieve Person-Centered Care Across Health Care Settings? Expanding Ideological Perspectives into Practice to Advance Person-Centered Care. (2024). Heid, A. R., Talmage, A., Abbott, K. M., Madrigal, C., Behrens, L. L., & Van Haitsma, K. S. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 25(8), 105069. Available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2024.105069.

  • This article explores the ongoing challenges of implementing true person-centered care (PCC) across health care settings, despite decades of advocacy and research. It reviews key PCC frameworks and argues for a unified, evidence-based approach to move beyond ideological concepts toward consistent, integrated care for older adults.

Identifying Patient, Care Partner, and Clinician Needs for Functional Recovery Following Hospitalization When Dementia is Present. (2025). Gustavson, A., et al. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 0(0), 105534. Available at https://www.jamda.com/article/S1525-8610(25)00051-9/fulltext.

  • This study identifies the needs of veterans with dementia, care partners, and rehabilitation clinicians regarding home-based care following hospitalization. Key findings emphasize the importance of collaborative decision-making, thorough follow-through in transitions, and the potential of alternative care models, including technology, to improve post-acute outcomes and support independence at home.

What Matters Most: Case Study of Successful Patient-Directed Gabapentin Taper to Improve Mentation, Mobility, and Medications. (2025). Paulsen, M. R., Navalurkar, R., Tunoa, J., Bartlett, B., & Ritchey, K. C. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. Available at https://agsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jgs.19482?af=R.

  • This article presents a real-life case study showing how a patient-centered approach improved a person’s thinking, mobility, and medication use. The case follows John, a 68-year-old man taking gabapentin for neuropathic pain, whose caregivers used the Patient Priorities Care (PPC) model—part of the Age-Friendly Health Systems’ “4Ms” framework—to align treatment with his personal goals. With support and shared decision-making, John gradually tapered off gabapentin over 22 weeks. Throughout this period, his neuropathic pain remained stable, but he experienced noticeable improvements in alertness, reduced sedation, better balance and physical function, and overall medication simplification.