An Enlightening Collaboration: Mirador Magazine, Nana’s Books, and Positive Approach to Care

An Enlightening Collaboration: Mirador Magazine, Nana’s Books, and Positive Approach to Care
By Nikki Jardin, co-founder, Mirador Magazine

Imagine spending three days learning from the best teacher in her field. Now add that the instructor will use your materials as one of the resources to teach the class. Well, that exact scenario played out this past June when myself, Mirador co-founder Tavé Fascé and Nana’s Books creator Laurette Klier were invited to attend and present at Teepa Snow’s Positive Approach to CareⓇ (PAC) Engagement Leader Certification Course in Hillsborough, North Carolina. The training focused on how to be an engagement leader who improves lives by “changing the culture of care,” a primary mission at PAC. Our classmates for this training included Life Enrichment personnel, business consultants, and other professionals within the dementia care field. Our instructors were Teepa Snow herself, along with PAC mentors Amanda Bulgarelli and Kasey Bealer.

The training took place in the heat of summer at the Snow Approach Foundation, a lovely space that acts as a hub for PAC training and a community gathering place for weekly Brain Cafes and other events. This is no sterile classroom environment. From the moment you walk in, you are greeted with an expansive, open space that radiates warmth with inviting couches and chairs, lovely art on the walls, and greenery from the well-loved plants that soak up natural light from the large windows. The vibe throughout is, “You are welcome here.”

We weren’t entirely sure what to expect from the training, but were eager to start. But, before I get into that story—let me backup for those who don’t know about our work.

Mirador Magazine was created for people experiencing brain change. It’s an adaptive-text publication that makes reading easier for people with a dementia diagnosis. Mirador addresses the surprisingly large gap of accessible reading materials for this community—something I discovered after trying to find a magazine for my late Aunt, Rebecca, who had been diagnosed with Young Onset Alzheimer’s at the age of 63.

We published the first issue in June 2021. Since that time, we have learned that Mirador is useful for other communities: people recovering from stroke or other brain trauma, those with non-neurotypical brains, or people experiencing other visual or cognitive issues. Our ad-free pages display an easy-to-read format, engaging imagery, and large print text. Finally, Mirador is not a magazine “about” dementia—our positive stories and activities feature nature, history, nostalgia, travel, cooking, and interviews with people doing the things they love.

Throughout our work these last few years, we’ve met some wonderful people in the dementia care space, and I want to be sure to give Laurette Klier, creator of Nana’s Books, her due. Nana’s Books are mindfully crafted for people experiencing cognitive change, to support their spiritual and emotional wellbeing. She has an impressive library of 40 inclusive books that combine faith and identity-affirming nostalgic art and literature to foster meaningful connections. Laurette, Tavé, and I met in person in early 2023 at the National Association of Activity Professionals Convention in Reno and have been dear friends since. As far as resource providers go, there just aren’t that many of us working in the field of adaptive-text publications, so the bond was pretty immediate. We share a passion for this work and understand the importance of reading for this community. Not only has reading been found to help retain cognitive ability, but it has also been shown to reduce stress and feelings of isolation, and is useful in helping people maintain their connection to their outside world. 

Over these last few years, our respective publications have been fortunate to have positive feedback from readers all over the country and abroad, including professionals like Teepa Snow, one of my personal heroes. 

I was introduced to Teepa’s work in 2017, shortly after my Aunt’s diagnosis. I had turned to a friend for advice, someone who had worked in memory care for two decades, who told me to seek out and watch Teepa’s videos. And I did, learning how the brain is affected by dementia, and how it affects behavior and physicality. I also learned how WE can be better advocates and care partners for those living with dementia by utilizing her Positive Approach To Care Ⓡ methods. As someone who only knew that dementia was fatal, I was beginning to understand that my relationship with my Aunt was going to change, but it didn’t have to be so dire. I became inspired … and hopeful. 

So, it was an amazing honor to have Teepa and her team collaborate with Mirador and Nana’s Books for the Engagement Certification course, using our publications as resources. And, as we learned during that training, our publications are incredibly diverse resource tools for engagement leaders. One of the truly eye-opening elements of the training was watching how Teepa and Amanda used our books and magazines in so many different scenarios, in both large and small groups, and one-on-one. 

It can be a funny thing; as a resource creator we put tons of intentionality, care, research, and heaps of love into what we create, but don’t always do the best job of showing how to use it to its best advantage. It’s something I’ve honestly struggled with in teaching people about Mirador. Yes, it’s a wonderful tool for building connections. Yes, it’s a great bridge for people who want to continue reading, but have a hard time with traditional reading materials. Yes, it is filled to the brim with potential for creating activities within each page. It’s all these things … but telling someone about it, and showing someone how to do it, are two different things. And, I have to tell you, watching Teepa and her team work with Mirador and Nana’s Books gave me a whole new appreciation for our work, which was a surprising outcome!

Laurette came away from the training equally inspired. “What an enlightening experience at the Snow Approach Foundation!,” she said. “Teepa and her team set the tone for true acceptance and collaboration, as well as a healthy dose of concrete skills education. It was a joy to be there to share, but mostly to learn how to engage skillfully and to incorporate our publications into the daily lives of care partners and communities. There was no shortage of fun, while we watched Teepa and Amanda weave our work into activities and purposeful tasks meant to engage everyone present, at their level of interest, and current abilities. There were so many moving parts, but it all flowed so smoothly. Every one of us felt seen and heard, and in the space of a morning, we built community.”

Laurette is referring to the regular Brain Cafes that take place at the Snow Approach Foundation throughout the month, something we witnessed first hand. There was the regular group of 30 or so people who came, but they also had a group  from Brookdale Senior Living. So, with those two groups, plus trainee attendees and PAC staff, there were about 75 people in the building. 

PAC mentor Amanda Bulgarelli led the event and put together a full program of different activities throughout the center. All of us who were part of the training were expected to practice our newly learned skills with the community. Tavé started in the main room with the larger group, while Laurette and I were in a quieter space, set up for those who didn’t want so much hustle and bustle. 

At first, I was a little nervous with our small group, but Laurette, a former teacher, was a natural. She used one of her books (Picture Book Treasury of Patriotic Songs) to start a sing-a-long, which people relished. I took her lead and used one of our Mirador stories about mountains to open up a little Q&A with the group about the kinds of nature they enjoyed, and it was a lovely discussion! 

But, one of my favorite moments came a little later with a man whose verbal skills were affected by his dementia, but found we were able to communicate with hand gestures. We were looking at that patriotic book together, one-on-one, and he saw an image of people saluting. Ken, a Veteran, raised his hand to salute, and we spent a few minutes with him showing me the correct way to hold my hand for a proper salute. It was a lovely moment, filled with smiles and even some chuckles as he corrected me … several times. 

The truth is, for people living with dementia, those moments might fade quickly, but that doesn’t make them less impactful—for either party. My time with Ken was one of the more memorable moments during the training, and something I’ll carry as a reminder about the importance of this work. From spark to creation to how we use these resources to positively impact the lives of the people we create them for. The mind may not remember, but the heart will be made fuller, and that is the true goal at the end of the day. 

Nikki Jardin is co-founder of Mirador Magazine, an award-winning, dementia-inclusive publication. Visit MiradorMagazine.com, Email [email protected]. or call 503-644-2113 to learn more.

To learn more about Nana’s Books: Visit NanasBookSeries.com, Email [email protected], or call 860-227-4218.