Valentine's Day Gifts For Those With Dementia and Other Long Term Care Residents

Activities directors, caregivers, and healthcare professionals,here is some great information

Here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professinals,

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Here are more interesting dementia brain boosting activities

Here is a great Valentine's Day Activity for those suffering from dementia

Healthnews-stat.com

Over 5.1 million Americans are living with dementia. Is one of them someone you know or work with? Get him/her or anyone with Alzheimer's disease a Valentine's Day gift that will keep on giving long after the holiday is gone.

First on the list of gifts is a book by Susan Berg called Adorable Photographs of Our Baby -- Meaningful, Mind-Stimulating Activities and More for the Memory Challenged, Their Loved Ones and Involved Professionals, This book features baby photographs that seniors with dementia love. This book shares a plethora of ideas and resources for you.

Another gift dementia persons will fancy is a love classic musical video or DVD. They will enjoy watching something from the good old days and singing the songs played throughout the picture. Here are a few suggestions: Singin' in the Rain, Meet Me in St. Louis, or Shall We Dance

Next is a sing a long CD or audio cassette of their favorite love songs. There is a series of these called, Old Time Favorites by Nancy Pitkin

You may want to get a sing a long video where your loved one can see and hear performers singing songs they love and are about love. A good one is, Sing-Along with Phil Bernardi: Songs We Know and Love

Here is another idea. Give a friend with dementia some hand lotion. Any kind will do. Just be aware of any allergies or pain issues he/she might have. If he/she can tolerate it, those with a pleasant scent work well. Give him/her a relaxing hand massage talking about how good the hand massage feels, how much you love this person, and a Valentine's Day experience you both share from the past.

If you cannot afford or do not have time to get these gifts before Valentine's Day, give the gift of yourself. No matter how hard it is for you to visit a dementia person, he/she will appreciate your company even though he/she may not be able to express it. Take him/her for a walk, sing some of your favorite songs together, or share some messages of love. Just spend some quality time with a dementia person. Both of you will feel better. Do remember to be upbeat animated and excited about visiting.

A phone call or a Valentine's card will do if there is no way you can visit in person. At least they will know you are thinking of them. Then visit on another day.

So no matter what you do, do not forget the person with dementia this Valentine's Day because it will make you and him/her feel good. What could be better than that!

Order any of the products mentioned in the article at Amazon.com. Order the book, Adorable Photographs of Our Baby -- Meaningful, Mind-Stimulating Activities and More for the Memory Challenged, Their Loved Ones and Involved Professionals, the audio CDs and cassettes and the videos and DVDs at seabaygame.com

These gifts are simple, inexpensive or free, and can be enjoyed by all.

Leesburg facility keeps Alzheimer's victim, spouse under same roof

Activities directors, caregivers, and healthcare professionals,here is some great information

Here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professinals,

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Here are more interesting dementia brain boosting activities

Here is a great Valentine's Day Activity for those suffering from dementia


Orlando Sentinal

LEESBURG - Henri Couture believes a husband and wife should never have to live separately because one of them comes down with Alzheimer's disease, so he has opened a community for people with the degenerative brain disease.

At the 22-villa Hammock's Promise Community, an Alzheimer patient and the non-afflicted family member can live together with 24-hour on-site assistance. The villas have two bedrooms with conveniences such as a washer, dryer and garage.

This is different from typical facilities for Alzheimer's patients, which don't generally allow a loved one to live with the patient, Couture said.

"Separation causes unnecessary stress on married couples," he said. "I can't change the disease. I can't change the slow degeneration of the disease, but I can do my darndest not to remove them from your life."

Through Couture's setup, the non-afflicted family member can live with the afflicted one, and at the same time go out in the day to play golf, attend social groups, etc., while knowing their loved one is safe.

Well-minded family members "can have their life and not have guilt," said Kathy Haviland, executive director of Hammock's Promise.

Couture, 63, opened his first senior assisted-living facility in 1985 and has attended to the special needs of seniors such as those with Alzheimer's ever since. He and his wife, Ann Marie, currently operate Hammock's Promise and The Wedgewood Community in Leesburg, a senior independent-living community.

Couture said it can be hard for Alzheimer's patients to be separated from loved ones in a locked facility, but because the disease can cause these patients to wander off and/or get lost it's usually necessary they be in a secured facility away from family members.

He said forcing an Alzheimer's patient to live apart from their close family member or significant other can even worsen the effects of Alzheimer's because it causes the patient added stress.

"When you remove their loved one, they feel uncomfortable in that environment," he said. "You've removed that security blanket."

He touts Hammock's Promise as the solution.

For the Alzheimer's patient, there's a ......read all of Leesburg facility keeps Alzheimer's victim, spouse under same roof

Valentine's Day Activities for Those Suffering from Dementia

Activities directors, caregivers, and healthcare professionals,here is some great information

Here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professinals,

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Here is a great Valentine's Day Activity for those suffering from dementia

Associated Content

With more than 5.1 Americans living with Alzheimer's disease or another dementia, loved ones and healthcare professionals need to take every chance to make the lives of those stricken better and happier.

It is also important that while doing this, you stimulate a dementia sufferer's mind to make his or her decline slower.

What can you do this Valentine's Day that will be engaging, fun and exciting for someone with dementia?

What you do depends a lot on the likes, dislikes and interests of the person with dementia. Make sure you do something fun together, no matter what it is.
First before the holiday even begins, you and persons with dementia can create and send valentines.

If you decide to make the valentines, you can use construction paper, stickers, or doilies. You can precut hearts out of paper if necessary. Then ask the dementia person to place the stickers on the hearts. You may have to hand those with Alzheimer's disease, one sticker at a time. If this is too difficult, just ask the dementia person where the sticker should be placed. You can have fun with the stickers also. Stick one on your nose. Then laugh. As you know laughter is the best medicine.

Use your imagination to come up with other materials you can use to create a valentine such as: magic markers, lace, ribbon, or photographs

Remember even if the valentines do not look that good, it is the process not the product that counts.

In addition, you do not have to make the valentines. You can buy an inexpensive box of valentines. There are many that are appropriate for adults. Encourage those with Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia to sign the cards. Often a person with mid stage dementia can still sign his name. If not, have him just look at the valentines. You can comment on the colors and objects on the valentines. Ask the dementia person what these things remind him of. If he needs help tell him what the objects remind you of

You can use the.......read all of Valentine's Day Activities for Those Suffering from Dementia

Music and rhythms connect people to the past, to each other and to their souls (part 2)

Activities directors, caregivers, and healthcare professionals,here is some great information

Here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professinals,

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Here are more interesting dementia brain boosting activities

Alzheimer's Products

Sounds for the mind and the brain
Natural sounds are probably the best for mood and meditation. A gentle rain, or the wind blowing through pine trees, can work magic. To stimulate cognition, a Mozart symphony is probably better. And the music that the Alzheimer's patient enjoyed when he or she was younger is best to stimulate reminiscence. Therefore, a variety of sound stimulation is important.

Sound doesn't have to be pleasing or melodic to be effective. Rattles and other percussion musical instruments are also good, especially if the Alzheimer's patient is playing them. The physical activity and the stimulation of listening to and following a rhythm both add to the benefits of the passive auditory stimulation. Even "white noise" has been shown to improve memory in Alzheimer's patients.

Here is a dementia music activity

Music and rhythms connect people to the past, to each other and to their souls

Activities directors, caregivers, and healthcare professionals,here is some great information

Here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professinals,

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Here are more interesting dementia brain boosting activities

Here is a dementia music activity

Music is everywhere!
Alzheimer's Products



Auditory Stimulation – Our ears probably provides us with our second most vibrant source of sensory stimulation. Our eyes allow us to enjoy the paintings of Rembrandt and the sculpture of Michelangelo. Our ears allow us to share in the genius of Mozart and Beethoven; to wake up to a symphony of birds on a spring morning.

Auditory stimulation for people with Alzheimer's and dementia is as effective for mood enhancement, relaxation, and cognition as it is for everyone else. The calming effects of music are well known. Farmers play music to their cows and the cows produce more and better milk. Music makes plants grow larger and healthier. Music is good for living things including people.

And it's not just music that benefits dementia patients (and everyone else, as well). The sound of water, from a babbling brook or from an artificial waterfall, is to the ear what a camp fire is to the eye. Both are mesmerizing and calming, as is the sound of a well tuned bell or wind chime.

Ground Hog's Day Activity

Activities directors, caregivers, and healthcare professionals,here is some great information

Here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professinals,

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Here are more interesting dementia brain boosting activities

Here is a dementia music activity\\

Play with shadows using your hands and a bright light. A portable lamp or a flashlight will do.

Shine the light on your hands or resident's hands so that the shadow of their hands falls on a smooth surface like a wall or table. Invite all to move their hand closer to the light and farther away from the light. Notice what happens to the shadow.

Have them turn their hands in different ways to see how the shape of the shadow changes

Haha.nu

Here is a great site that shows you how to make hand puppets with your hands and a flashlight

This can be a fun activity for those with dementia.

National Activity Professionals Week

Activities directors, caregivers, and healthcare professionals,here is some great information

Here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professinals,

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Here are more interesting dementia brain boosting activities

Here is a dementia music activity

How did things go for you during National Activity Professionals Week?

Our residents really enjoyed the activities I planned
You can see them by clicking here

However the administrator and other managers were oblivious as to the significance of the week.

I guess sometimes Activities Directors and the Activities Department get ignored especially if you run a quality program that the Department of Public Health finds adequete or better

Anyway onto more activities for the end of January and February