Geriatrician, author Allen Power to speak at Texas State on dementia

Posted by Jayme Blaschke
University News Service
October 20, 2014

Dr. Allen Power, an internationally-renowned geriatrician and author, will present two lectures at Texas State University's Wittliff Collections Friday, Oct. 31.

Power will speak on "An Experiential Approach to Decoding Distress in Dementia" at 12:30 p.m., and "Dementia Beyond Disease: Enhancing Well-Being" at 3 p.m. The event is free and open to the public, although pre-registration is required through the Continuing Education website at www.surveymonkey.com/s/CZSTVYD.

Drug research for Alzheimer’s has produced no new therapies in more than a decade, yet it is possible to create better lives today for people with dementia and those who care for them, Power said. In these sessions, he discusses a social model of care that can be applied to all types and stages of dementia to make lives of persons with dementia more meaningful.

Power is the author of Dementia Beyond Drugs: Changing the Culture of Care, named a 2010 Book of the Year by the American Journal of Nursing. He has served on the technical advisory panel for the U.S. Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services for the national antipsychotic reduction initiative. He received a 2012 Bellagio Fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation for his work with Dr. Emi Kiyota on innovative responses to global aging, and was named one of "Five Leaders of Tomorrow" by Long-Term Living Magazine in May 2013. 

The event is sponsored by theUniversity Lecturers Series, Department of Sociology, Department of Communication Disorders, School of Health Administration and Office of Distance and Extended Learning. For more information on the Dementia and Aging Workshop Series, visit www.txstate.edu/continuinged/Events/Dementia-and-Aging-Seminar-Series.html. For information regarding the online M.S. degree in Dementia and Aging Studies in the Department of Sociology, visit www.gradcollege.txstate.edu/das.html.