Monday 19 October 2009
Thursday 15 October 2009
from a friend
'I was thinking of telling you about my Grandmother. She recently broke her arm. She’s 84 and it has knocked her for six. This has led to her having trouble remembering things, it is most probably not dementia and more likely to be confusion, but my dad was saying she is doing things like eating raw bacon sandwiches as she is forgetting to cook the bacon. Who knows?
It is hard to admit but this is easy for me to deal with as I am so far removed (physically) and not faced with it “out of sight, out of mind”, but I desperately want to put myself in a position where I am with her and want to help her, or just to be with her.
This got me wondered if you could utilise all of these confessions, if you haven’t already. It fascinates me. It’s people letting you in, maybe we don’t think people would be interested in hearing about these experiences.'
Dementia Care Home
This week I visited a dementia care home in Stoke on Trent, to deliver a Museum Outreach project. This involved introducing a group of residents to a series of objects from the museum and encouraging them to talk about them.
The groups were very small, so it was very much a one to one environment. This proved to be very stimulating for the residents that I spoke to, as they enjoyed meeting someone new and talking about their past. It is encouraging that this type of activity is taking place in care homes.
Other things I noticed about the home were yellow signs on every door, explaining what was behind them with text and imagery. They also had out of bounds room disguised by the doors being decorated the same colour as the walls. This means that the doors mostly go unnoticed by the residents. The office to the home was open so residents were free to walk in and talk to staff. While I was there staff were heard singing with one of the residents who had gone to pay them a visit.
The home manager also showed us some photographs of a tea dance they had organised for all the residents, and those from two other homes, in a neighboring building. The residents had all enjoyed getting dressed for a party, going somewhere new and many remembered dances they had not done for years. This seemed like a really positive activity for the residents to be involved in.
The groups were very small, so it was very much a one to one environment. This proved to be very stimulating for the residents that I spoke to, as they enjoyed meeting someone new and talking about their past. It is encouraging that this type of activity is taking place in care homes.
Other things I noticed about the home were yellow signs on every door, explaining what was behind them with text and imagery. They also had out of bounds room disguised by the doors being decorated the same colour as the walls. This means that the doors mostly go unnoticed by the residents. The office to the home was open so residents were free to walk in and talk to staff. While I was there staff were heard singing with one of the residents who had gone to pay them a visit.
The home manager also showed us some photographs of a tea dance they had organised for all the residents, and those from two other homes, in a neighboring building. The residents had all enjoyed getting dressed for a party, going somewhere new and many remembered dances they had not done for years. This seemed like a really positive activity for the residents to be involved in.
Monday 12 October 2009
Difficulty performing familiar tasks?
Difficulty preforming familiar tasks is one of the symptoms or signs of dementia that Joanne Koening Coste mentions in Learning to Speak Alzheimer's. I have used a few quotes from her book to try to get people's attention in unexpected places; this was my first post-it, it hasn't photographed very well.
Saturday 10 October 2009
Mini Mental State test
• What is today’s date?
• What day of the week is it?
• What is the season?
• What country are we in?
• What town?
• What building are we in?
• What floor are we on?
• I am going to name three objects and I want you to repeat them back to me:
• I would like you to count backwards from one hundred by seven (stop after five answers).
• Can you repeat back to me the three objects I mentioned a moment ago?
• (point at an object in the room) What do we call this?
• (point at another object in the room) And what do we call this?
• Repeat after me: ‘No ifs, ands or buts.’
• Take this piece of paper in your right hand, fold it in half and position it on the floor.
• (Without speaking hold up the piece of paper that has ‘close your eyes’ written on it).
• Please write a sentence for me, it can say anything at all but make it a sentence.
• Here is a diagram of two interesting pentagons. Please copy this drawing onto a piece of paper.
• What day of the week is it?
• What is the season?
• What country are we in?
• What town?
• What building are we in?
• What floor are we on?
• I am going to name three objects and I want you to repeat them back to me:
• I would like you to count backwards from one hundred by seven (stop after five answers).
• Can you repeat back to me the three objects I mentioned a moment ago?
• (point at an object in the room) What do we call this?
• (point at another object in the room) And what do we call this?
• Repeat after me: ‘No ifs, ands or buts.’
• Take this piece of paper in your right hand, fold it in half and position it on the floor.
• (Without speaking hold up the piece of paper that has ‘close your eyes’ written on it).
• Please write a sentence for me, it can say anything at all but make it a sentence.
• Here is a diagram of two interesting pentagons. Please copy this drawing onto a piece of paper.
Dementia Training
I went on a Dementia Training course this week with Stoke on Trent City Council. It wasn't really what I was expecting, as I'm going to be doing work at a dementia care home I thought it might deal with how to behave in certain situations, what to say and what not to say etc... In fact, the trainer explained a lot about the different types of dementia, which was actually really interesting for me.
He mentioned some work that they are doing in Stoke at the moment where they create Life Story Books, encouraging family to bring in images and record stories of a resident's past, these are then put together in Windows Movie Maker and played for a resident during times of stress. They have found that this works really well as a comforting technique.
Worryingly the trainer mentioned a few facts:
40-50% of GPs have no training in diagnosing dementia. Many still using the Mini Mental State test, which is a series of questions I have come across before in my work.
750 000 people have dementia in Britain (thought be be an underestimation as does not include the 18000 that are under 65)
In 2010 that will be 870 000, reaching an estimated 1.2 million by 2050.
Yellow is the last colour in the spectrum that dementia suferers lose.
He mentioned some work that they are doing in Stoke at the moment where they create Life Story Books, encouraging family to bring in images and record stories of a resident's past, these are then put together in Windows Movie Maker and played for a resident during times of stress. They have found that this works really well as a comforting technique.
Worryingly the trainer mentioned a few facts:
40-50% of GPs have no training in diagnosing dementia. Many still using the Mini Mental State test, which is a series of questions I have come across before in my work.
750 000 people have dementia in Britain (thought be be an underestimation as does not include the 18000 that are under 65)
In 2010 that will be 870 000, reaching an estimated 1.2 million by 2050.
Yellow is the last colour in the spectrum that dementia suferers lose.
Monday 5 October 2009
Learning To Speak Alzheimer's
As part of my research I've been reading 'Learning To Speak Alzheimer's' by Joanne Koening Coste. Although a lot of the advice is only relevant for those living in America some things she mentions are quite interesting, but the most interesting thing for me has been the reaction I get from other people when they see me reading it. People I have worked with and known for years are suddenly opening up to me about their parents or grandparents, it appears many of us have unspoken worries about relatives suffering from Dementia.
Why am I doing this?
Through a varied medium I discuss how memories make us who we are, how we analyse and edit our past in our minds, creating a labyrinth of feelings, people and moments in time. I am interested in the idea of memory as identity; with loss of memory comes the loss of ourselves, our life’s path slowly erasing behind us.
The work I am creating is a response to my feelings about memory; how I have witnessed my Grandfather’s attempts to hold on to memories that Alzheimer’s threatens to take away; how I struggle to remember a face that once meant the world to me; how an item, an image or a word can resuscitate an emotion and how I can forget the things that I have loved but am haunted by events that I wish I could take away.
The work I am creating is a response to my feelings about memory; how I have witnessed my Grandfather’s attempts to hold on to memories that Alzheimer’s threatens to take away; how I struggle to remember a face that once meant the world to me; how an item, an image or a word can resuscitate an emotion and how I can forget the things that I have loved but am haunted by events that I wish I could take away.
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