Our Caregiver Team
Kae Hammond, Founder
Kae Hammond is a family coach for caregivers and care partners, an author, support group facilitator and talk show host. Above all, she is a vital advocate. Indeed, her extensive work and her company’s services include advocacy, planning strategy and care management for care partners, caregivers and their families.
Kae founded Dementia Help Center in 2009, after she experienced firsthand the inherent challenges of family caregiving. She was certified by the National Alzheimer’s Association as a family caregiver support group facilitator in 2010 and has served since 2011 as the Alzheimer’s Association’s Ambassador to congressional and state representatives on behalf of the industry.
In 2012, she published her widely acclaimed guidebook, Pathways — A Guidebook for Dementia & Alzheimer’s Family Caregivers. The book has garnered tremendous reviews from physicians and caregivers earning five stars on Amazon. Pathways has been recognized by caregivers and members of the medical and scientific communities as an outstanding resource. In 2014, Kae started her radio talk show, The Kae Hammond Show, on 95.9, The Oasis, featuring relevant guests and invaluable information. In addition, she is a certified consultant in the Teepa Snow Positive Approach to Care™, a highly effective program that provides a positive approach to brain change and living well with dementia. Learn more about her personal challenge with her mother’s Alzheimer’s disease in this international story in Epoch Times
Kae is an outstanding individual who helps families and those diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and related dementias. She enhances people’s quality of life, builds relationships, connects communities and makes a difference.
Mary Lou Green
Mary Lou is the Family Care Consultant and Community Liaison. She introduces our services to the medical, legal, financial and senior communities. She has found her deep passion in supporting, educating and coaching family members who are caring for loved ones with Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia.
With a background in education and business ownership for 40 years, Mary Lou brings energy, empathy and experience to Dementia Help Center. Her finely-honed research and coaching skills help people who are facing this new life situation. The reality that patients with dementia will not get better is very difficult to confront. Given appropriate education and problem-solving for each individual situation, family caregivers may find hope for creating a new normal. In this new normal, they may be able to THRIVE, not merely survive. Mary Lou is passionate about helping families find their way along this journey.
Mary Lou has a master’s degree in Science Education, so she’s able to transform complicated medical jargon into language easily understood by everyone. Her skills and experience as an educator translate brilliantly to her work with caregivers and patients. She knows the importance of education, patience and enthusiasm for learning new things, and she is excited to share her knowledge with others. She truly understands the importance of building a caring network of support.
As an inventor, Mary Lou enjoys creating solutions that solve everyday problems in unique ways. As a business owner, she knows that customer service is key to keeping a business alive, and she brings that knowledge and zeal to the families with whom she works at Dementia Help Center. Both the client and the family caregivers are her ‘customers,’ and she is dedicated to finding solutions that bring them comfort and peace of mind. Her #1 goal is to see those in her care smile again.
Mary Lou was fully engaged in her parents’ care needs for many years. For five years, her mother lived with Mary Lou and her husband before they realized they needed to “share the care” with professionals. She then lovingly placed her mother in a residential care home. This allowed Mary Lou to return to being the daughter in the family. Just as importantly, she has been able to lead a healthier personal life and enjoy a happy marriage.
Elaine Simerlink
Elaine Simerlink is proud to be affiliated with Dementia Help Center for the past three years. Elaine shares Kae Hammond’s commitment to an overarching goal: to help the elderly and their families survive and thrive during what can be life’s most trying, confusing and heartbreaking challenges.
As the only daughter in an Italian family, she believed that caregiving and nurturing were part of her heritage and responsibilities. She has always seen her role as the family’s conduit and organizer. Her mother was a two-time cancer survivor. The last six years of her mother’s life, from 1999 to 2006, Elaine cared for her mother.
During this time it became more apparent that her father had dementia. He had been a prisoner in WWII and the doctors felt his dementia probably came on due to sustained beatings. After her mom passed, she cared for her father full time. As she says, caring for her dad for four years was more life changing than anything else she had ever done, forcing her to step out of her comfort zone.
When you are caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s or dementia, it can destroy your spirit. Elaine thanks her husband Jim for his love and support through her many devoted years of family caregiving.
To stay current with all her father’s personal information, Elaine created an Emergency Information Kit, organized in a binder. She kept track of all information, from recent photos and lab reports to a medication list, even including burial information.
Elaine continuously received compliments on her organizational skills from doctors and staff. In fact, the binder she created became a prototype for a similar work-simplifying version she now provides to Dementia Help Center clients. As anyone can attest, she is a great asset to all.
Founded in 2009, Dementia Help Center provides placement, coaching and resources for caregivers of dementia and Alzheimer’s patients.
The mission of the Dementia Action Alliance is to collectively improve dementia care in this country.
The Alzheimer’s Association is the world’s leading voluntary health organization in Alzheimer’s care, support and research.
Kae Hammond is a certified Consultant in the Positive Approach™ to Care philosophy and skills presented by dementia care expert Teepa Snow.
Contact Dementia Help Center Call us for a FREE Consultation 760-636-6355 email: [email protected]