As we head into March, most of us begin longing for the first signs of spring. With spring comes warmer weather and more opportunities to venture outdoors. We all look forward to being able to open a window occasionally and not worry about a blast of cold air hitting us in the face.
For individuals with dementia, the winter months can really take their toll. Sunlight is rare, clouds are abundant, the days are shorter and there are fewer opportunities to enjoy the outdoors.
That doesn’t mean your parent or other loved one with dementia has to spend all his or her time sitting in front of a TV set, however. There are plenty of indoor activities that, if planned properly can help boost your loved one’s mood and keep everyone engaged and entertained. Here are a few ideas to consider:
At Anthem Memory Care communities, we make sure that our residents have plenty of activities to keep them engaged and connected to themselves and those around them.
Consider bringing your loved one to your local Anthem Memory Care community for a short stay with us. Your mom or dad can enjoy our many activities and get a taste of what it would be like to live in our community. It will also give you time to keep those appointments you may have been neglecting and have some time to yourself.
Above all, look at the bright side. Spring will be here soon!
As you may know, the 1950's and 1960's were the heyday of the department store. Many women back in the day would put on their hats and gloves and go “downtown” to shop, have lunch and occasionally enjoy a local fashion show, hosted by a local department store. In more recent years the fashion show has taken a more hip and glamorous turn with TV runway fashion shows. If you have a mom over the age of 70, however, chances are she at some point enjoyed an old fashioned outing to the local department store fashion show.
Chelsea Place Memory Care in Littleton, Colorado partnered recently with students from nearby Regis Jesuit High School to give their residents an opportunity to stage and participate in their own fashion show, complete with a walk down their own red carpet.
Students and staff were happy to take on the make-up artist and fashion designer roles, transforming residents into fashion mavens for a day. The fun activities also gave the residents a glimpse back at memories of the past, days when many of them remember dressing up with gloves and hats to go downtown and enjoy a fashion show.
Engaging individuals with dementia in activities that they once enjoyed in earlier times can have a powerful impact. Not only can it spark a memory or two, but it also can foster a more natural connection between them and those around them.
At Anthem Memory Care communities, when young people participate in our events, they are not only helping to provide a nice social experience for residents, they also gain a greater understanding of those who are challenged with dementia. That is why we have multiple programs geared towards bringing students from local schools through our doors. We also believe that it’s important to the families of our residents to know that their loved ones are involved in a variety of social activities and that they are receiving the therapeutic benefits of inter-generational experiences.
(The image shown with this blog was taken by Aaron Ontiveroz, photographer with the Denver Post, who covered the event. The image shows Chelsea Place Life Engagement Director, Jenni Dill, applying makeup to resident, Susie Thome.)
Related Articles:
Valentine’s Day is, for many, a joyous day to celebrate with the person you love. Flowers, chocolates, cards and kisses are exchanged. For those who have either lost a loved one or are struggling to find a relationship it’s a day to “just get through”. But for those with a loved one who struggles with dementia, days like Valentine’s Day brings special challenges. Your loved one is still physically there with you but may no longer be able to relate to you as he or she did in the past. They are therefore disconnected from the symbolism of Valentine’s Day, a day you may have once enjoyed together.
There are ways you can still celebrate the love you have shared for years without forcing feelings or setting yourself up for a disappointment.
Here are some tips to mark the day in a positive way:
Valentine’s Day is a celebration of love. Caring for a loved one with dementia is the ultimate expression of selfless, everlasting love. Approaching Valentine’s Day in a new way will help you make an important transition in your relationship with your loved one. More importantly, it will turn Valentine’s Day from a day to avoid into a special day to share.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Related Articles:
As we all know, there is no drug or therapy yet proven to reverse the effects of Alzheimer’s disease. There are, however, things you can be doing for mom or dad to optimize their physical and emotional wellbeing and to help them retain as much cognitive function as possible. Here are some tips recommended by the Mayo Clinic as well as our own staff. How many of them are you doing with your loved one on a regular basis?
Of course, adopting a healthy diet and scheduling regular visits to the doctor are key to keeping your loved one as healthy as possible, for as long as possible. Take some time to explore these activities with your loved one and you’ll soon discover which ones they are more naturally inclined to enjoy. For instance, your mom may not be a lover of animals, but may really enjoy the calming effect of hearing her favorite music. Others may be more oriented towards working with their hands. The key is consistency. If possible, try to keep to a schedule and provide plenty of time for your parent to adjust to something new.
At our Anthem Memory Care communities we believe in exposing our residents to activities that stimulate the senses as well as bring joy and a sense of purpose. Providing exposure to art, music and opportunities to interact with animals helps individuals with dementia maintain a better connection to the world around them.
As you continue your journey with your loved one, try to make new activities part of your routine. Explore each one together. You may find some pleasant surprises along the way.
When a parent receives a diagnosis of dementia, such as Alzheimer’s disease, everything changes. Adult children are faced with making decisions they thought they wouldn't need to make for another five or ten years. The status quo has been disrupted.
For many, the goal becomes to keep mom or dad in their home as long as possible. And it’s understandable, given the desire they have to remain in a familiar environment, surrounded by the things and people they love. However, as your parent becomes more impaired by the disease, that environment will eventually fail to keep pace with their needs.
With that in mind, here are five key areas where a memory care environment can keep pace with your loved one’s needs as well as provide many added benefits. These are important points to consider as you begin the process of evaluating what’s best for your mom or dad:
While keeping a loved one at home for “as long as possible” may feel like a loving, caring thing to do, it is important to step back and evaluate what is really best for your parent. It is important to weigh the benefits of having your mom or dad in an environment created specifically to serve those challenged by dementia, versus a once-familiar environment that can no longer keep pace with his or her needs. A healthy, safe environment, supported 24/7 by experienced, compassionate caregivers can provide many benefits to your loved one and to your family.
There is nothing like a live performance to energize an audience. Especially when everyone gets to participate! At Chelsea Place Memory Care in Aurora, Colorado, students from Regis Jesuit High School worked with residents to plan and organize a cavalcade of music and visual presentations.
As so often happens when young people get together with older adults, the young people got much more than they bargained for! “Our job is to liven up the community, but they end up livening up our lives instead,” Regis student, Rene Del Barco, told a reporter for the local station, CBS4 in Denver, who was covering the event.
Everyone comes away feeling refreshed and more connected.
Socializing individuals, challenged with dementia, with young people often elicits reactions that other interactions do not. Whether it’s the act of instructing the young person on how to do something, or sharing a story about their own youth, the experience gives these older individuals a greater sense of purpose. And everyone benefits. This was certainly the case at Chelsea Place, as the young people shared fun stories and played music alongside the residents and staff.
“We talk with them, we have conversation. We serve them breakfast. We feed them sometimes. We do activities and we just have a fun time with them,” explained student, John Miller, to the CBS4 reporter.
And everyone comes away from these experiences feeling refreshed and more connected, having learned something about each other in the process. “Although they have Alzheimer’s, there’s so much that we can learn from them and so much they want to teach us, too,” Rene Del Barco said.
Find opportunities to bring your loved one together with family members and friends.
At Anthem Memory Care, we couldn’t agree more. Finding ways to engage and connect our residents to those around them is so important to their health and wellbeing. It helps remove that feeling of isolation, which can lead to depression. That’s why we encourage those who are caring for a loved one with dementia to find opportunities to bring them together regularly with family members and supportive friends. It creates experiences that are healthy and positive for everyone.
(photo is courtesy of CBS4 Denver)
Related Articles:
Here is a new year’s resolution that probably didn’t make your list this year: Take better care of my brain. Yet it should be part of everyone’s “to do” list. That’s because brain health impacts every corner of our daily lives. Treating our brains with the respect they deserve can help ward off disease, keep dementia at bay and help our bodies thrive. And, for those caring for loved ones with dementia, caring for your own brain holds even greater significance given the challenges of caregiving you face and the concerns for your own cognitive health.
The Alzheimer’s Association has a great list of ways to “love your brain”. We have summarized them below. As you read through them, ask yourself: How many of these brain-loving actions am I taking every day?
It’s never too late to start working on each of the above brain-loving tips. At Anthem Memory Care communities, we stress all of the above to our residents as well as families. We also encourage participation by family members in our many activities and events. Not only are our activities geared towards maintaining as much cognitive functionality as possible for resident, but they can help family members keep their own cognitive levels high and healthy. We invite you to drop by and visit our communities. We will show you how our programs are designed to engage residents, staff and families in activities that are brain healthy as well as enjoyable for everyone.
The holidays are over. For some it’s a welcome relief with the promise of a fresh new beginning. However, many Americans will suffer from what we call “post-holiday blues”. If you are caring for a loved one with dementia, the days and weeks following the holidays can be especially difficult. Why is that? There are many reasons. Perhaps the holidays were an opportunity to “back burner” your own feelings and anxieties for a few weeks. Now you must face them again as the holidays end. Or perhaps, over the holidays, visiting friends and family made some observations about your loved one with dementia that are unsettling for you. Perhaps you, yourself, have noticed that your mom’s Alzheimer’s symptoms have worsened or that your dad failed to remember a close relative’s name or face!
This post-holiday period is a time when, as a caregiver, you need more support than ever as you pack up the decorations and get back to the business of caring for your loved one and for yourself. Here are 4 ways to conquer those post-holiday blues:
It’s also important to understand that, even if your loved one is still able to care for herself/himself, the time will come when you will need to make a decision as to the best care option for them. So, now is the time to begin looking into them. For some, with a strong neighborhood connection and plenty of family around, the in-home care may work, at least in the short term. If you have a loved one with dementia, however, it is important to add skilled and compassionate professionals to your support team. That’s why it’s important to start your search now, before something happens that makes your search more urgent. Take time to evaluate the various types of care and care communities.
At Anthem Memory Care communities, we always welcome drop in visits. We enjoy walking visitors through our bright and cheerful halls and encourage interaction with caregivers and residents. Feel free to reach out to us as you make your plans for this new year. We’re here to help!
As we celebrate the beginning of a fresh new year, most of us have “resolutions” on our minds. And, yes, many of those resolutions involve losing weight or quitting bad habits, like smoking or drinking too much.
However, if you are caring for a loved one with dementia, these resolutions may seem trivial compared to the challenges you have dealt with all year and will continue to face in 2019. What resolutions can you make for yourself that will improve your quality of life and that of your loved one? Should you even try to make any resolutions? Of course you should! In fact, there are things you can begin to do today that can have a positive impact on every day of the new year and beyond. Here are three great resolutions to get you started off on the right foot.
The holidays are coming to an end. But a new year is beginning. That means new opportunities as well as new challenges. By taking better care of yourself and reaching out to family and friends, you will be taking a big step towards making 2019 a better year for you and your loved ones.
Related Articles:
The holidays bring with them plenty of opportunities to reach out and help others. Doing so not only brings some holiday spirit to those less fortunate, it also rewards those who give with a sense of usefulness, having helped another human being in need.
At Grace Point Memory Care in Oak Lawn, Illinois, residents recently got together with nearby St. Linus Church to participate in a special program called PADs (Public Action to Deliver Shelter). The program provides local homeless shelters with much needed supplies, such as warm socks, toiletries and other personal necessities.
Grace Point residents, along with staff members, decided to do something unique and fun for the program. They created and decorated an enormous Santa bag which they stuffed with their collected donations. The event was covered by The Reporter, a local publication serving the southwestern suburbs of Cook County. Grace Point resident, Claire Karcher, summed up the experience in an interview with The Reporter. “I think this is a really nice cause and a great project,” she told the reporter.
In addition to being enjoyable for the residents, activities such as these give them an opportunity to work together for a common cause. Having a sense of purpose is so important for those challenged with dementia. Meredith Morris, community relations director for Grace Point Place told reporters, “We are empowering people with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia to be able to participate in the community and give back in a meaningful way.”
Grace Point Memory care is one of the newest Anthem Memory Care communities, having opened its doors this last spring. Since then they have become active in the local community, reaching out to partner with local businesses and churches, such as St. Linus. The Christmas stocking project, as with others, is a great way of engaging residents with staff and others in the community.
“We’re excited to celebrate our first Christmas in Oak Lawn and honored to give back in a meaningful way to the community that’s been so supportive of us,” Cortney Malinowski, executive director for Grace Point Place told The Reporter.
But resident, Arlette Zimmerman, said it best. “It’s wonderful to be able to help.”
Related Articles:
As we all know, the holidays can be an emotional time of year. For many it is a season of family gatherings, filled with laughter and good cheer. For others it can be stressful and even depressing, depending upon the situation. One thing is for certain. When you have a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease, the dynamics of your holiday family get-togethers will change.
If your loved one is in the earlier stages of Alzheimer’s, he or she may just be a bit more withdrawn and less sociable than in past years. As the disease progresses, however, the behavior will become more pronounced. This can be unsettling for your loved one and those around them.
The Alzheimer’s Association has some suggestions for family caregivers who wish to include their loved one with Alzheimer’s in holiday get-togethers but are concerned about their comfort and wellbeing, as well as those around them. So for those of you preparing for the holidays with a parent who has Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia, here are some tips:
If you decide to send everyone an email, The Alzheimer’s Association has provided a sample as a guide:
I’m writing to let you know how things are going at our house. We’re looking forward to your visit, and we thought it might be helpful for you to understand our current situation before you arrive.
You may notice that [name] has changed since you last say him/her. Among the changes you may notice are [list the key ones]. I’ve attached a photo so you know how he/she looks now. Because [name] sometimes has problems remembering and thinking clearly, his/her behavior may be a little unpredictable.
Please understand that [name] may not remember who you are and may confuse you with someone else. Please don’t feel offended by this. He/she appreciates your being with us and so do we. Please treat [name] as you would any person. A warm smile and gentle touch on the shoulder or hand will be appreciated more than you know.
We would ask that you call when you’re nearby, so we can prepare for your arrival. With your help and support, we can create a holiday memory that we’ll all treasure.
Of course, this is just a template to get your started. You will want to amend it to fit your situation and reflect your own communication style.
Will this holiday gathering be different from past ones? Yes, of course it will. Your situation has changed after all, and it’s important for everyone to understand and accept that. However, with some advance preparation and adjustments, your holiday gatherings can still be an enjoyable and relaxing time for everyone.
For many of us, along with the holidays come gift lists. “What should I get for mom?” can be a challenging question for many adult children, especially if mom struggles with a dementia, such as Alzheimer’s disease.
As you head off to the stores (or laptop) it’s important to consider the level of cognitive awareness mom or dad still has. For instance, someone experiencing mild impairment may still enjoy a book, a gift basket of tasty treats, a pretty scarf or even some cologne or after shave. Those experiencing greater impairment may appreciate gifts that appeal to their basic senses. So, a flowering plant, some recorded music, or soft throw blanket may be more appropriate. You will need to assess and make that determination and let other family members and friends know as well.
With that in mind, here are some gift ideas to get you started:
If your mom or dad is in the mid to later stages of dementia, consider tucking in a small stuffed animal along with your other gifts. If presented properly it can bring great pleasure. After all, most of us will admit to still enjoying the touch and look of a stuffed animal. Those with mid to later stages of dementia often enjoy them, and they find the feel of the soft plush fabric pleasing and soothing to the touch.
Of course, while the above list is great for gift giving, there are many more practical aids you should also consider providing for your loved one to help them with daily activities such as grooming, taking medications and overall comfort.
While you are in the holiday spirit, don’t forget to give yourself the gift of time. Make it a point to schedule a week or two of short term “respite” care for mom or dad. It will give them a nice change of pace and allow you to take some time to recharge and tend to your personal health and relationships!
“The unthankful heart discovers no mercies; but the thankful heart will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings.” – Henry Ward Beecher
November, as you may know, is National Family Caregivers Month. It is a month to show our appreciation and support for the caregivers in our lives. And there are many. The National Alliance for Caregiving estimate that there are 44 million individuals in the U.S. who are caring for a family member, friend or neighbor.
For caregivers, the ongoing act of providing loving care for a family member can take an emotional and physical toll. Especially if you are caring for a loved one with dementia.
As we celebrate Thanksgiving, many families will say a prayer or a few words of thanks to the caregivers in their lives. Thanks that is certainly well deserved.
However, if you are the one caring for a loved one who has dementia, finding your own things to be thankful for can be challenging. You may have had a bad day, or a string of bad days, when nothing seems to go your way. You may be struggling with your mom’s or dad’s inability to remember something as simple as the meal they just enjoyed. It is usually in moments like these that caregivers seek something positive to help them get through the day.
What you may not know is that finding your own feelings of gratitude can work wonders to restore your sense of wellbeing and reduce stress. Studies show that feeling thankful can even help guard against depression. Those who feel grateful are more likely to sleep better and have stronger relationships.
Still it can be hard to find things to be grateful for when every day seems to hold a new challenge or heartbreak. Where to begin? Here are some thoughts professional caregivers and therapists recommend to help you begin the process of cultivating “gratitude” and help turn yourself into a more thankful (and happier) person.
Does all this mean you should simply ignore all the bad things in your life? Of course not! There are times when even your best intentions are no match for a difficult day or people who let you down.
Cultivating gratitude is about finding some positive things in your life, regardless of how bleak your situation may seem at times. Consider keeping a “gratitude journal” so that you can record your thoughts. You will find this comforting at times when nothing else seems to work. Your own words can have a steadying influence that can help you regain perspective when you need it most.
Thanksgiving is a time for family and friends to gather to give thanks, catch up and share a special meal together.
However, when a family member is diagnosed with a dementia, such as Alzheimer’s disease, the family dynamic changes dramatically. Nowhere is this more evident than at holiday gatherings. The hustle and bustle of a typical family Thanksgiving can cause extreme levels of anxiety for someone with dementia, turning a wonderful day into a confusing and agonizing ordeal. Consequently, for the family caregiver, it can become a day full of tension as they watch over their loved one with anxious eyes.
It doesn’t have to be that way. With advance planning and preparation, Thanksgiving can still be enjoyed by everyone, even the family member with dementia. To be successful, however, you do need to plan ahead and structure the day for the best possible outcome.
Here are some tips we’ve gathered, contributed by individuals with dementia, families and caregivers:
If your loved one is living in a memory care community, consider bringing some of your Thanksgiving cheer to them, rather than disrupting their routine by transporting them to your gathering. Anthem Memory Care communities celebrate a lovely Thanksgiving meal each year with our residents and always welcome family members to come and join us.
Related Articles:
As you may know, November is National Alzheimer’s Awareness Month. It has been observed since President Ronald Reagan made the designation back in 1983. The purpose is to spread awareness of the devastating disease and to energize and promote research aimed at finding a cure. It’s important to note that, back in 1983 there were less than 2 million individuals living with Alzheimer’s disease. Today, that number is over 5 million. So awareness is more important than ever!
Many of those who have loved ones with Alzheimer’s disease are seeking resources where they can get answers to some of the challenging questions they have. Others are looking for ways to get more involved in the fight against Alzheimer’s.
With that spirit in mind, here are some resources direct from the Alzheimer’s Association to provide help and support as well as opportunities to get more involved in programs that support research towards making a breakthrough in tackling this disease.
You should also know that our Anthem Memory Care blogs cover a wide range of topics that you will find interesting and useful. Topics include: understanding the signs of Alzheimer’s versus general age related cognitive changes, understanding behavioral issues, such as “sundowning”, keeping a loved one with dementia safe. There are many, many other topics you can browse by scrolling down our home page.
While November is the officially designated month to bring awareness to Alzheimer’s disease, we believe in spreading Alzheimer’s disease awareness every month, as we work together to put an end to this devastating and debilitating disease.
Related Articles: