Tag: caring

Agreeing to Remember: Teaching Dementia Care Through Improv

A friend and I just started a new group, Agreeing to Remember. I’ve been performing improv comedy for over 7 years, and, other than dementia care, it’s my biggest passion. I love being on stage, “playing” with my friends, and creating a world that didn’t exist previously. Improv and positive dementia care have a lot in common. You’ve probably heard this before, though. There are podcasts, online videos, and blog posts detailing the importance and emerging art of teaching dementia care through improv techniques. I live in Pittsburgh, PA, and that’s where we’ve started this group. I’m really excited to be able to bring something new to this community, but I also hope that we’ll be able to travel to other places. I think the techniques that you learn in improv (such as: always agree with your scene partner, say “yes, and”, and help your scene partner to build something awesome) are all things we use in dementia care, too. Our site is brand new, but you can look at it for more information.

August 19, 2016

There’s Friendship in Dementia

A pair of my residents walked down the hall together. Joyce was hand in hand with her new friend, Darlene. Joyce stopped and looked at me carefully.  “Have you seen ‘Melissa’ around here anywhere?” she asked me. I cracked a smile, but tried not to laugh. “Melissa” was Darlene’s daughter’s name. Darlene tended to perseverate on the name “Melissa,” since she was very attached to her daughter. “Sorry, Joyce, I haven’t seen Melissa anywhere,” I said. “Well,” Joyce sighed. “If you see her, can you please tell her that her mother, Darlene, is looking for her?” “Sure,” I smiled back. Joyce, in her new-found friendship and love for Darlene, was attempting to help her find her daughter. Darlene was smiling and happy, holding Joyce’s hand. She probably was not really looking for her daughter at that moment, but instead was comforted by saying “Melissa” over and over again. For Joyce, though, the mission had begun. She wanted to help her new friend feel comfortable. I think, truly, one of the BEST reasons to move a loved one into a long-term care community is because you want to improve that person’s social experience. Dementia care communities foster social engagement and friendship, while keeping a loved one at home tends to isolate them from others. An hour later I found them on one of the hallway’s couches together, sleeping, but still holding hands.

March 22, 2016

Help! My Loved One Won't Sleep

I received a great question from a reader, and I think that a lot of people have struggled with the same thing: getting their loved ones with dementia on a normal sleep cycle. Here’s Eva’s question: “My 96-year-old mother-in-law has some form of dementia, and my sister-in-law is her daily caregiver who lives with her. I am worried that neither one of them is getting a good sleep, because my mother-in-law seems to go to sleep and wake up at all kinds of hours in the day or night. Sometimes she’s up all night and day. I would like to help with some suggestions on how to get her on some kind of regular sleep pattern. Have you any suggestions?” First thing’s first: what is your mother-in-law’s day like? If I were you, I would set up a daily schedule. For example, at my community, we have meals at 8 AM, 12 PM, and 5 PM every day, on the dot. We make sure that all of our residents are up and dressed for these meals. We also make sure our residents get some exercise and are exposed to plenty of light in between meal times. There have been researchers that suggest that exposure to light (even through a window or well-lit indoor room) during the day really helps a person sleep at night. What is her bedroom like? Make sure that she’s using her bed ONLY for sleep and not just for watching TV or lounging. You want that bed to be associated with sleep, not with general relaxing. There should also be some natural light coming in, and the temperature in the room needs to be comfortable. What color is the room? Is it a neutral or warm, soothing tone? Or is it a bright, active color? Discourage napping during the day (a little napping outside of the bedroom is okay) and find some activities that she’d enjoy instead. My Pinterest has a bunch of crafting ideas and another good site, MindStart, has puzzles and games. It would also be great to set up a bathing routine, maybe right before she wakes up or right before she goes to sleep. Another routine you could look into is a “before bed” schedule. What does she do before she goes to sleep? I would also ask her doctor about her medications. There could be something that she’s taking, or the time of day that she’s taking it, that could really affect her ability to stay awake or asleep.

February 25, 2015

Easy Bathing.

I walked into one of our “Spa Rooms” to wash my hands. It’s one of three rooms where we help our residents take baths or showers.  I paused and looked around. No wonder no residents want to bathe in here, I thought. It looks like a hospital bathroom! Think about your bathroom at home. You’ve probably designed it just the way you want it: warm colors, fresh soaps and candles, and a shower curtain you picked out to match the rest of the decor. Now imagine that you just moved into a community where another person (or two) has to help you bathe. You’re taken into an unfamiliar room, it’s cold, it looks like a facility, and someone helps you take off all of your clothes. You would be uncomfortable and upset—or maybe even angry. I picked up a copy of Bathing Without a Battle to get some new ideas about how to renovate our bathrooms.  Here’s what we added, and it completely changed the look and feel of the room: CD player and CDs for residents A corner table Pictures on the walls Flower arrangements A basket A shower curtain Change up your community’s bathroom, or even the bathroom your loved one uses at home, and see the difference it can make.  For personalized tips or answers to questions, leave a comment on this post.

February 4, 2015

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