Dear conference attendees, you’re the first getting these tips, the Really Good Ones for the top issues ringing through our recent tour with CALA.
When confronted with the out-loud question posed by my colleague Dorothy Passarella, “What are your issues working with Alzheimer’s and dementia residents?” a stillness of thought permeated the room. Soon the room was popcorn-ing with comments, and once folks began talking we could hear a recurring theme, “working with the families.”
We know from painful experience that aging and dementia happen not just to one individual, but to their entire family who love and tended them to the brink of what they can handle. They are at the ends of their ropes when they come to us. We’re caregivers not only for the elders. The families need our care too.
How to begin the delicate conversations that can help move and heal families through their feelings of denial and frustration and anxiety and just plain fear? We spoke of the personal space of each of us, and the qualities of safety, calmness, and agitation that can be aroused as we share our community spaces together through movement and other sensory activities. How can use this knowledge to help the families?
We asked for a show of hands for which communities hosted Family Support Groups. Although less than half raised their hands, interest and good intentions to start such programs seemed universal. How to implement such a program was a question left hanging in the air for a future conversation.
I have a few good ideas to get things moving for you. You can get started right away with these straightforward tips.
• Stretch your Wellness program to include the families of residents in health, art, and movement events. Include multi-generational events to help families feel at home. Movement will free up the voice and the feelings and is a good start to any gathering. I can even come and give you a kick-start with our Agile Aging Wellness Partner program, and if you look around you certainly have talented people in your midst to build a worthwhile education series.
• Add a regular monthly Family Club with a trained counselor facilitating a short seminar and/or video and discussion and a nice meal.
• Be the first on your block to screen this heart-felt film (10 minutes) that humanizes our loved ones with dementia, Ten Glorious Seconds, that just launched last week. Be a community leader in bringing latest news and media to share and open the door to those invaluable conversations. (If you follow my tweets on Twitter I am good with relaying special “buzz” that’s out there in our field.)
In my next blogs, I’ll be talking a lot more about activities for men with Agile Aging, and how to Green Your Program.
Valerie Baadh Garrett, from Agile Aging, your Movement Mentor with dynamic wellness and movement programs for all mature adults.
Read more at www.agileaging.org
