Art Therapy for Seniors With Dementia Can Be Beneficial

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With all the other struggles that my mother suffering with dementia had faced, I always found that when she was in her creative mode, she thrived. Her creativity seemed to blossom as she began her decent into dementia and there were times that it kept her busy for hours during the day. That’s not to say that she didn’t get creative before dementia, she did, but I think that her life of working, left her with no time for much else. Now, at this point in life, I believe that art therapy for seniors can be a wonderful thing.

When my mother lived in San Diego, over the years, she would send cards for special occasions that always had her special touch on them. Sending store bought cards as is, just signing her name at the bottom wasn’t ever good enough for her. She always had to make them just a little bit more personalized, more colorful and more special for the person receiving the card. She wasn’t able to buy expensive gifts, but her cards were an envelope full of love, thoughtfulness and happiness.

After she came to live with me, she of course didn’t send any more embellished cards, but while she was able, she would make little cards and notes with her colored markers and white paper, always trying her best to put thought into what she was saying, which you could see became a struggle for her after awhile. But it didn’t matter, she still shined through in spite of the struggle. One autumn day while I was at work, I came home to find brown paper bags cut into the shape of leaves and scotch taped to white paper. There were even 2 that were reversed, showing the brown paper through the diecut in the white paper. I thought that they were so creative considering the stage of dementia that she was stuck in, that I hung them on the wall in her room, just as you would your child’s artwork. I was glad that she was still able to engage herself into something artistic and follow through to complete the project. She was making a connection with the brown leaves falling from the trees outside her room and created something out of that thought. It was child-like, but just knowing that she was able to do that in her steady void, made me happy.

Photos: Cut out leaves from brown paper bags taped to plain white paper made by Eleanor Van Meter, Eleanor Sarter, in the throws of dementia. Good job!
Below: Mom looking very young and pretty with her whole life ahead of her. Who knew what the future was to hold for her?

leaves3 leaves2Some days while her Home Health Aide, Cardine was here, they would sit and color together in the afternoons, when the sun was coming in from the back of the house where her bedroom was. Cardine would encourage her to do puzzles, games and various other things but she really seemed to get a kick out of putting color on paper…or clothes…or sheets or her blankets, haha. After awhile she would just put her markers on anything, which isn’t really where I wanted her to go with this, but after all is said and done, if it made her happy, why not.

She liked to have notebooks and purple and pink pens where she would try and create characters for a children’s book that we had once planned to write together. Since she was the writer in the family, she was going to write the story and I was going to do the illustrations. Of course, we never got to that point, she’s was no longer capable of doing that, but I still have hopes in trying to write that little children’s book, with the help of her ideas that she had left me with. Why purple and pink, I’ll never know, but it occurred to me on how ironic that purple is the also Alzheimer’s color…very symbolic. Once a dementia patient gets fixated on something, far be it from me to try and change their mind….she wanted purple, I found all sorts of purple pens for her every time I went out.

mom_young5She was also once, a very good poetry writer and had folders of poems that she had written in the past. She would look over them for hours, organizing the pages and just staring at each page and I know in my heart, that she wanted to write more poetry, but her brain wouldn’t cooperate, which I found very sad. Even though she wasn’t able to write, she wasn’t done yet! She still had that need for creativity in all different forms, but she was no longer able to handle anything more than scribbled color on white paper. What can be sadder than losing brain function and knowing it’s happening to you? I know that she knew because we had talked about it at times. She knew it was happening…how awful to know the things that you want to do and say, but not being able to do it?

So, what I have learned from caring for my own mother with dementia, my advice for caregivers of Alzheimer’s and dementia sufferers would be, to get them involved with the creative world, in direct line with the capacity that they are able to handle without getting frustrated. There are so many different forms of creativity that can be introduced to them…there is something for everyone. It doesn’t have to be complicated, but just something simple where they can express themselves and will make them feel as if they accomplished something. There are special programs out there that focus on music and art therapy for seniors. Some actually come to the house for home bound patients and others can be found in adult day care facilities. You can research this for your own area, or you can set up your own ideas with your family member since you know them best. With stores like Michael’s and Joanne’s
Fabrics, there are all sorts of ideas for simple projects to try. It stimulates and challenges their brains, which is very healthy for people in brain failure. It can help to slow down the progress of the disease, plus make it a good day for your loved one. And we all want a good day!

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Should You Consider Adult Day Care For Your Aging Parent?

schoolAre you considering sending your parent to Adult Day Care? It’s a hard decision to make with so many considerations. You must go to work everyday without worrying about your loved one constantly…are they okay, are they roaming outside of the house, are they a danger to themselves and to the house?

If you are lucky enough to be a stay-at-home caretaker, then you are one of the lucky ones, although some might not think so. Going to work while care taking a parent with Alzheimer’s or dementia, can be a painful and overwhelming dilemma, leaving you mentally exhausted and leaving your boss at work, scratching his head. Frankly, you aren’t able to do either of those important jobs well because your main thought everyday while at work is about what is going on at home with your parent while you are not there.

If they are nearing the stage of being a roamer or wanderer, then you are really in trouble, since they can get seriously injured, lost or create a dangerous situation for others while out of the house. If this happens a lot and you don’t have understanding neighbors, they can report this activity to the Adult Protective Services, which is also not a good thing. At some point, we all come to the reality of the situation, which is that we can’t leave them alone in the house anymore because they are a danger to themselves. It’s easy to find yourself in denial about your parent’s progression in this disease. It’s not easy to admit that they won’t be the person that you remember and it’s very sad. But, when it becomes so obvious, or something bad happens to make you know exactly that you must take action…that’s when we start researching our options.

In my life, I found myself in this same situation. For the 5 years before, my mother with dementia was able to be home alone without an issue or concern while I went to work. Everything seemed perfectly normal…then, what seemed to be overnight, she started to mentally decline and was leaving the house in search of her mother, or to look for an apartment, or look for a job. The first time it happened, one of my wonderful neighbors brought her home. Then on another day, she left the house, in search of lord knows what, was on the main road when another kind neighbor saw her talking to a complete stranger who had pulled off the road to help her. Again, the neighbor brought her home and called me at work to alert me. The last time it happened, she walked about 2 miles from the house, when one of my neighbors spotted her while on her way home in the car. She of course pulled over and brought Mom home. When I got the call at work that last day, I had to literally break into a meeting to tell my boss, the CMO of Marketing, that I was leaving for the day. I just told him…see ya…gotta to go. It happened that fast.

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Photos: Eleanor Van Meter on her first day of Adult Day Care looking happy and ready
for her day…getting on the Van that came to pick her up.

From there, I had to research our options, which lead me to a social worker through the Visiting Nurse Service network. Through working with her, she was able to get me onto the fast track for financial aid to affording Adult Day Care. We got her into the local Center in my area, which I knew a neighbor had used for her mother a few years before. It came highly recommended and I felt secure in leaving my mother there while I was at work. Only one thing…Mom didn’t take to it. She consistently tried to leave the building, so an aide had to be assigned to her in order to keep her there. Of course Mom was very argumentative at that point of her disease, so it became a difficult situation. After a few weeks of Adult Day Care, I had to try and find another way to keep her safe while I was at work, as I was having to leave work everyday to pick her up early. She was a handful.

As it turned out, we were able to get her a home aide, Cardine, who became the angel in our lives until her death last September 28, 2014. She was with us for a year and a half giving my mother exceptional care 5 days a week. Every situation has a different solution. Some people take very well to Day Care and others like my mother didn’t. I definitely recommend giving it a try. They have all sorts of activities, arts and crafts, music, games, mealtime, plus they have a chance of developing friends and having somewhat of a social life. Social life in itself is an important consideration because it’s so important to keep their minds engaged with this disease. There are doctors and nurses on staff if they are needed, god forbid. I found the staff to be very compassionate and caring which was a comforting. Whatever works best for your situation is the way to go. There is no straight answer..not one size fits all when it comes to Adult Day Care. I hope this helps you.

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Can Music Therapy Help Soothe Dementia Patients…it did for my Mom.

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Mom at a very young age sitting on the
stoop at the family house.

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We work all week long, getting up on Monday wishing our lives away for it to be Friday, only to have a hard weekend dealing with dementia attacks from Mom over the weekend. This weekend however, has been quiet and normal thanks to music therapy. She had a wonderful Saturday listening to Pavarotti cds all afternoon, which I can honestly say is her favorite thing to listen to. I actually feel it makes her normal, calm and puts her into a completely different head set making her thoughts clear. She can sit and listen to him all day and never tire of it, just sitting there as if in a trans, swaying back and forth to the music. She came to live with me with a love for Pavarotti’s music and in her mental void, that has held true.

Today, she is passing the time going through all of her papers, which of course, she loves to do. I know it makes her feel like she is in the office, which is her second love to Pavarotti. I enjoy seeing her involved in the things that she loves and although it’s not what we would choose to do for ourselves necessarily, it works for her life. Helping to make a dementia patient engaged and involved is helpful in that, they are not stressed, leading them away from dementia attacks. That helps both the patient and the caretaker to have a better day. Keeping a person with dementia engaged is key to helping to slow down the progression of the disease.

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Photos Above: (1) Mom as a little girl sitting on her front steps, (2) Mom out in California sitting at her home typerwritter.

She also has a lot of games and puzzles, but she much prefers the paperwork and music therapy. I have recently been given some brochures and information about people coming in to the house to give her music therapy during the work week when Cardine, her home aide is here. I think that would be a wonderful idea and would help to keep her mind moving during the day, while also give her something to look forward to. With spring coming on, it would be a good idea to start new things which will engage and stimulate her in different ways. There are probably organizations that would come in for arts and crafts as well. I think that Cardine would love that tool….she loves to color!

So, it’s a sunny and tranquil Sunday, and I find myself appreciating the day knowing that Mom is having a good day. Bring on Spring!

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