Driving and Dementia Toolkit
The content of this blog has been reposted with permission from Laurie Blanchard at InfoLTC blog, at http://infoltc.blogspot.com/. Ms. Blanchard is the librarian at the Misericordia Health Centre Library, University of Manitoba Health Sciences Libraries in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Prior to working at the Misericordia Health Centre, Laurie worked at the J.W. Crane Memorial Library, Deer Lodge Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba for 20 years. She authors the InfoLTC blog for which she won a Manitoba Library Association's Innovation Award and the People’s Choice Award for Best Poster at the CHLA/ABSC 2009 Conference in Winnipeg. Ms. Blanchard is a former editor of the Bibliotheca Medica Canadiana (now the Journal of the Canadian Health Libraries Association (CHLA) , and currently serves on the board of the CHLA. Ms. Blanchard's views are solely her own and do not necessarily represent the views of Clinical Geriatrics or of HMP Communications, LLC.
The toolkit is published by the Regional Geriatric Program of Eastern Ontario in 2011, with the help of the Alzheimer's Society and a team of health professionals from different backgrounds (including medicine, nursing, social work and occupational therapy) to assist persons with dementia (PWD) and their caregivers, in planning for retirement from driving. This toolkit is divided into four main sections:
- A general overview of dementia and driving and a road map (algorithm) to help you understand the health professional’s assessment process
- A description of the assessment process
- What to do depending on the outcome of the assessment (a safe-to-drive “green” section; an unsure “yellow” section and an unsafe-to drive “red” section, including tips for an alternate transportation plan)
- Resources, including a sample advance directive (reprinted with permission from The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.), a sample letter from the doctor and a list of additional resources.
At the back of the toolkit, there is a separate section for pamphlets that may be helpful for caregivers/families and a list of resources in your region: http://www.akeresourcecentre.org/files/Driving/Driving_and_Dementia_Toolkit_Caregivers.pdf
A recent letter titled "When it is time to hang up the keys: the driving and dementia toolkit -- for
persons with dementia (PWD) and caregivers -- a practical resource" was published in the journal BMC Geriatrics and provides more detail on the project: http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2318-13-117.pdf
