I was just enjoying a post on LinkedIn, Alzheimer's & Dementia Professionals group. Lorie wrote with an accurate depiction of what a meal can be like in a dementia facility, and others responded with their stories. I was glad to remember this story about my dad, so I'll post it here:
My dad was quite personable, liked by staff and other residents. I came in to see him one evening, and 3 people within 2 minutes told me proudly that he had just enjoyed the ice cream they gave him. Also interesting, his younger brother used to come in every Thursday and bring him a HUGE Hershey bar with almonds. I begged my uncle to bring him a smaller bar because Dad was gaining so much weight that it was getting harder for me to take him out. When my uncle died, despite all of the other things my dad forgot, like that my mom died or who I was exactly, or that I'd been there 2 minutes earlier, he never forgot that his baby brother had died and no longer brought him his Hershey bars on Thursdays.
I'm so looking forward to the Society for the Arts & Dementia Care conference in Worcester, UK Sept. 5 - 8. I'm signed up for workshops with Dr. Richard Coaten, "Going by Way of the Body in Dementia Care" and "‘Finding the Harmony in the Dissonance through Movement, Dance, Music, Voice, Song, Story and
Contact" and "Interactive Theatre with Older People and Staff in Care" by Chris Gage. I am looking forward to meeting folks with whom I've communicated over the years and or whose books I've read, like Dalia Gottlieb-Tanaka and John Killick. I will be presenting on Friday morning "An embodied approach to nonverbal communication training for caregivers of people with mid to late stage dementia: creative dance as the great leveler". It should be a very exciting event with such creative thinkers all together in the same space sharing our knowledge.
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