Cameo Rogers is the Corporate Life Enrichment Manager at Immanuel. She is also a certified Alzheimer’s and dementia care trainer, a featured author of a chapter on older adults and therapeutic recreation in the textbook Foundations of Recreation, co-host of the “Kickin’ Podcast”, and 2024 Women of Distinction honoree. She is a passionate advocate for dementia education and elder care.
After first receiving her CDP in 2009, Cameo obtained her CADDCT and has been teaching the NCCDP curriculum since 2011. NCCDP Co-Founder Sandra Stimson became a mentor and guide to Cameo. She has since trained thousands of staff through the Nebraska Health Care Association in eastern and central Nebraska. She has taught the ADDC class with Leading Age and independent citywide sessions in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, rural Nebraska and Iowa.
At Immanuel, she has helped to promote the certification of approximately 50 certified dementia practitioners, with more applicants coming soon after her most recent training in mid-May where she trained more than 40 employees in Des Moines, Iowa. Her next class at Immanuel will be in June in Lincoln, Nebraska. Whenever she announces a new session, they always fill up. All Life Enrichment and Recreational Therapy employees are expected to receive this credential at Immanuel. They have created a culture of learning and growth, and there is a real passion for learning across all disciplines. Training is at least quarterly, and Cameo is doing more sessions than ever.
“The NCCDP curriculum is forward-thinking and exceeds all of the state dementia education requirements,” she noted.
In addition to the NCCDP curriculum, Cameo and her social work colleagues facilitate sessions on problem-solving, empathy and communication, and triggers for behavioral expressions. Using positive re-framing, she has also created tools to communicate in different care situations with more clear and positive language. She has developed a series of situational recorded modules and a follow-up online curriculum for approximately nine additional hours of caregiver training. She has facilitated brain fitness and dementia education sessions for residents in independent and assisted living communities.
In addition to the training provided at Immanuel, Cameo has crafted life enriching experiences for community residents. Since 2018, the Immanuel Explorers have been touring across the country. The next trip will bring 40 residents to Chicago this September. The program is a wellness motivator for residents to build their strength and endurance in preparation for the trips with support from Immanuel’s on-site Wellness staff.
“One of the neatest things about the program is watching the friendships build among residents across Immanuel communities,” Cameo remarked.
Another unique program Cameo introduced is Social Drumming. Immanuel caregivers participated in facilitator training focused on creative expression and health outcomes brought forth by drumming together. Drum kits are circulated into the communities at all levels of care. Tubano, lap drums, tambourines, and other percussive instruments accommodate each person’s ability and preference. Each session uses rhythm and movement to promote healing and self-expression while residents and employees make great music together.
With 55 plus active living, affordable communities, independent and assisted living, memory support, long-term care and skilled nursing, PACE, and home health & hospice, Immanuel’s communities and programs cover the full elder care spectrum throughout Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska, as well as Council Bluffs and Des Moines, Iowa.
