Why have a garden for people with dementia

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

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

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Designing Gardens for People with Dementia
About.com
 
Having access to a nice garden can meet so many needs for people with dementia and their caregivers. Good garden design can be part of a treatment plan for people with Alzheimer's who are very restless or agitated and who like or need to walk a lot.

Aims of Garden Design for Alzheimer's

Provides exercise, opportunities to relieve tension, frustration and aggression.

Provides personal space for reflection and privacy.

Provides a different social environment.

Provides stimulation with color, smells and sounds of wildlife.

Good Design for Alzheimer's Garden
First you need to think about the garden's design. One of the best is a figure-of-eight looped path, or similar, simple returning-path system. You can plan a garden that allows access outside but always leads the wandering person back to their house or building.
Think about visibility and observation so caregivers can relax if they use the time for separate pursuits. Good dementia garden design should cater for the able bodied as well as those who have problems with mobility.
In your garden design you will need to include places to sit and shelter from the sun and the wind. Bushes and trees provide structure and direct movement. Maximize perennial plantings, annuals do take up more time. Fill the garden with bright flowers. Place herbs, lavender and other plants so that when brushed they will release their fragrance.

Providing a Safe Garden for Alzheimer's
Safety issues are central to good garden design for people with Alzheimer's or dementia. The design should include;

Pathways that are smooth, and low in glare.

Steep gradients are not a good idea, neither are steps or low planters.

Appropriate proportion and path width is very important if you are catering for wheel chair users. As people with Alzheimer's and dementia do tend to lose physical skills and ability over time it may be a good idea to cater for mobility aids at the outset.

Use upward bevel edges on concrete walkways. This can keep wheelchairs from rolling into lawns or landscape beds.

Handrails can be used along the pathways to help those who have difficulty in walking.

In gardens you need protection from the sun and the wind throughout the four seasons of the year. Protection from the sun is very important as certain medications, such as largactil, (thorazine) or mellaril (thioridazine), can make the skin more prone to sunburn.

Use of nonpoisonous and nontoxic plants. Plants can harm people if they eat parts of the plant. Others can cause skin rashes and irritation.

Avoid dark, shadowy areas. People with Alzheimer’s or other types of dementia can mistake it for negative events.

Too much light reflection or dark areas are not helpful to older people who can have problems with their sight. A number of degenerative eye conditions are common in old age.

People with Alzheimer's Love Gardening Too!
Include people with dementia in planning and designing the garden. Many people with dementia will have built up a lot of knowledge and experience about gardening. They can contribute in varying ways, from active involvement to picking their favorite flowers.

Sensational ideas for those with dementia and other nursing home residents(part3)

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

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

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

USA Today

The truth is, when it comes to our senses, we have no sense. We bolt our food, blast our iPods, freeze our feet, have to be reminded to breathe, and generally can't see the forest for the trees. Add environmental and age-related factors, and it's no wonder that "differentiating and distinguishing sounds, sights, flavors, tastes, and touches becomes more challenging every day," says Robert Butler, M.D., Ph.D., president and CEO of the International Longevity Center-USA. It's time to change all that with our sense-stimulating tricks and treats. Here's how to celebrate your senses -- and be healthier for it.
Sound
A friend laughing. Water lapping against the shore. The mellifluous harp notes in perfect sync with your sister's steps down the aisle. You can hear all those lovely sounds (and the less-pleasant -- but helpful -- screech of a car tire or rumble of thunder) thanks to a bunch of little hair cells in your inner ear. Each ear has about 15,000 of them, and they're responsible for transmitting sounds to your brain to be processed. But thanks to age and exposure to loud noise (yes, we're talking to you, the person whose iPod is so loud we can hear it from here), you're losing your (ear) hair. And that could be the precursor to hearing loss.
"As we get older, those disappearing hair cells affect our ability to distinguish high-pitched sounds, including consonants such as s, t, and f," says Marjorie R. Leek, Ph.D., of the National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research in Portland, Oregon. In fact, about 30 percent of baby boomers have already suffered hearing loss. But you don't have to be one of them. Here's how.
Train your ears. You can exercise and stimulate your hearing by listening to different kinds of music. Add jazz or blues to your classical repertoire. Concentrate on what you're hearing and try to identify the different melodies or single out the different instruments.
Turn it down. Normal conversation is about 60 decibels. A portable music player with the volume at one-quarter is 85 decibels; at full volume it's 120 decibels. Enough said.
Muffle it. When you can't avoid noise exceeding 85 decibels (a subway train is 90 decibels, for example), wear earplugs or earmuffs (which can cut 15 to 30 decibels). In a pinch, donning a hat or sticking your fingers in your ears is better than nothing.

Come back soon for more

Sensational ideas for those with dementia and other nursing home residents(Part 5)

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

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

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

USA Today

Taste
Lucky us: The brain recognizes five different taste sensations -- sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and savory -- all located on the 10,000 taste buds scattered on the back, front, and sides of the tongue, and on the palate. Women naturally have a more-developed sense of taste than men (on so many levels). As we age, though, our taste buds experience wear and tear. "We also produce less saliva, which makes it difficult for the brain to recognize taste," Doty says. Fortunately taste cells regenerate about every 10 days. And you can help.
Get intense. Try tasting flavors such as horseradish and dark chocolate, which have more intensely irritant components to them. They may stimulate your taste receptors more quickly. The bitter taste of dark chocolate provides a more powerful flavor burst than white chocolate, and it's healthier for you, too.
Mix it up. Variety is the spice of life. Add curry, rosemary, or cinnamon to your dishes. Taste-test an assortment of apples. Or try combining flavors. In a salad with fruit and nuts, you'll sense sweet, salty, and bitter. If you add a dressing that's got a little kick, you can also get a bit of savory.
Slow down. Chew slowly to enjoy taste. Eating leisurely gives the molecules in any food greater exposure to your olfactory nerves, which increases the intensity and pleasure. And keep your mouth moist, too: Saliva gets those molecules to your taste buds. A stick of gum or a bottle of water will get the juices flowing.
Lighten up. What you consider sweet or salty enough is not hardwired. If you drench your French fries with salt or add 2 heaping tablespoons of sugar to your espresso, cut back. With patience, you can savor the taste of food without overdoing it.

I hope you enjoyed this series

Come back soon for more great information

The President’s Volunteer Service Award

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

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

Your residents will love the Amazon Kindle Fire

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Here is a way for nurses administrators, social workers and other health care professionals to get an easyceu or two

Follow alzheimersideas on twitter

The Dementia Caregiver's Little Book of Hope [Kindle Edition]

Points of Light

The President’s Volunteer Service Award was created to thank and honor Americans who, by their demonstrated commitment and example, inspire others to engage in volunteer service. It is also the only presidential award that is available to the general public without having to be nominated or judged on criteria. It is an award that allows citizens to be honored and recognized for service that is important to them.
The President's Council on Service and Civic Participation (the Council is nonexistent) was established in 2003 to recognize the valuable contributions volunteers are making in our communities and encourage more people to serve. The Council created the President’s Volunteer Service Award program as a way to thank and honor service-minded Americans.
Recognizing and honoring volunteers sets a standard for service, encourages a sustained commitment to civic participation and inspires others to make service a central part of their lives. The President’s Volunteer Service Award recognizes individuals, families and groups that have achieved a certain standard – measured by the number of hours served within 12-month period or cumulative hours earned over the course of a lifetime.
To date The President's Volunteer Service Award program has partnered with more than 80 Leadership Organizations and more than 28,000 Certifying Organizations to bestow more than 1.5 million awards to the nation's deserving volunteers.
The Award
Depending on which award package is ordered, award recipients can receive:

• An official President’s Volunteer Service Award lapel pin
• A personalized certificate of achievement
• A congratulatory letter from the President of the United States

Award Criteria
Any individual, family or group can receive presidential recognition for volunteer hours earned within a 12-month time period or over the course of a lifetime at home or abroad. The following are the eligibility requirements for each age group:

• Kids: Age 5-14
• Young Adults: Individual Age 15-25
• Adults: Individual Age 26 +

To apply and track your hours visit The President's Volunteer Service Awards official website.

Types of Bread

Types of Bread 

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

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

Your residents will love the Amazon Kindle Fire

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Here is a way for nurses administrators, social workers and other health care  professionals to get an easyceu or two

Follow alzheimersideas on twitter

The Dementia Caregiver's Little Book of Hope [Kindle Edition]

More information to go along with the March article in Activity Director Today

Common Types of Bread

White
Wheat
Rye
Marble Rye
Pumpernickel
Tortilla
Pita
Matza
Mantou
Cornbread
Sourdough
Hardtack
Strucla
Naan
Baguette
Pain de Mie
Pan Dulce
Roti
Chapati
Puri
Paratha
Challah (my favorite bread ;p)
Rghifa
Plain Bread
Focaccia
Stottie Cake
Brioche
Lavash
Biscuit
Pretzel
Bagel
Papadum
Pain aux Noix
Tin Vienna
Dinkelbrot
Barley
Appam
Ciabatta
Damper
Phulka
Puran Poli
Boule
Chocolate Babka
Cinnamon Babka
Panettone

For a more extensive list go to check out the wikipedia on bread

Tea Sayings (part 2)

Activities directors, caregivers, and healthcare professionals,here is interesting information
Here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professionals,

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Iced tea is too pure and natural a creation not to have been invented as soon as tea, ice, and hot weather crossed paths.  ~John Egerton

Our trouble is that we drink too much tea.  I see in this the slow revenge of the Orient, which has diverted the Yellow River down our throats.  ~J.B. Priestley

Tea...is a religion of the art of life.  ~Okakura


All true tea lovers not only like their tea strong, but like it a little stronger with each year that passes.  ~George Orwell, "A Nice Cup of Tea"


Tea does our fancy aid,
Repress those vapours which the head invade
And keeps that palace of the soul serene.
~Edmund Waller, "Of Tea"


A Proper Tea is much nicer than a Very Nearly Tea, which is one you forget about afterwards.  ~A.A. Milne


The first cup moistens my lips and throat.  The second cup breaks my loneliness.  The third cup searches my barren entrail but to find therein some thousand volumes of odd ideographs.  The fourth cup raises a slight perspiration - all the wrongs of life pass out through my pores.  At the fifth cup I am purified.  The sixth cup calls me to the realms of the immortals.  The seventh cup - ah, but I could take no more!  I only feel the breath of the cool wind that raises in my sleeves.  Where is Elysium?  Let me ride on this sweet breeze and waft away thither.  ~Lu Tung, "Tea-Drinking"


tea leaves
tea loves
loves tea
lives tea
leaves tea?
never.
~Uniek Swain


The best quality tea must have creases like the leathern boot of Tartar horsemen, curl like the dewlap of a mighty bullock, unfold like a mist rising out of a ravine, gleam like a lake touched by a zephyr, and be wet and soft like a fine earth newly swept by rain.  ~Lu Yu


Top off the tea... it lubricates the grey matter.  ~Good Neighbors, quoted from stashtea.com


Stands the Church clock at ten to three?
And is there honey still for tea?
~Rupert Brooke, "The Old Vicarage, Grantchester," 1912
(Thanks, Helen)


As the centerpiece of a cherished ritual, it's a talisman against the chill of winter, a respite from the ho-hum routine of the day.  ~Sarah Engler, "Tea Up," Real Simple magazine, February 2006


The perfect temperature for tea is two degrees hotter than just right.  ~Terri Guillemets


It is very strange, this domination of our intellect by our digestive organs.  We cannot work, we cannot think, unless our stomach wills so.  It dictates to us our emotions, our passions.  After eggs and bacon it says, "Work!"  After beefsteak and porter, it says, "Sleep!"  After a cup of tea (two spoonfuls for each cup, and don't let it stand for more than three minutes), it says to the brain, "Now rise, and show your strength.  Be eloquent, and deep, and tender; see, with a clear eye, into Nature, and into life:  spread your white wings of quivering thought, and soar, a god-like spirit, over the whirling world beneath you, up through long lanes of flaming stars to the gates of eternity!"  ~Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men in a Boat


Remember the tea kettle - it is always up to its neck in hot water, yet it still sings!  ~Author Unknown


Tea, although an Oriental
Is a gentleman at least;
Cocoa is a cad and coward,
Cocoa is a vulgar beast.
~G.K. Chesterton, "The Song of Right and Wrong"


Tea is instant wisdom - just add water!  ~Astrid Alauda


When the news reporter said "Shopkeepers are opening their doors bringing out blankets and cups of tea" I just smiled.  It's like yes.  That's Britain for you.  Tea solves everything.  You're a bit cold?  Tea.  Your boyfriend has just left you?  Tea.  You've just been told you've got cancer?  Tea.  Coordinated terrorist attack on the transport network bringing the city to a grinding halt?  Tea dammit!  And if it's really serious, they may bring out the coffee.  The Americans have their alert raised to red, we break out the coffee.  That's for situations more serious than this of course.  Like another England penalty shoot-out.  ~Jslayeruk, as posted on Metaquotes Livejournal, in response to the July 2005 London subway bombings


The first sip of tea is the always the best... you cringe as it burns the back of your throat, knowing you just had the hottest carpe-diem portion.  ~Terri Guillemets


Harry found the [tea]... seemed to burn away a little of the fear fluttering in his chest.  ~J.K. Rowling


Tea! thou soft, thou sober, sage, and venerable liquid,... thou female tongue-running, smile-smoothing, heart-opening, wind-tippling cordial, to whose glorious insipidity I owe the happiest moment of my life, let me fall prostrate.  ~Colley Cibber, Lady's Last Stake


Never trust a man who, when left alone in a room with a tea cozy, doesn't try it on.  ~Billy Connolly


You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.  ~C.S. Lewis

Additional games and activities for Nursing Home 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

by Pamela Veselinovic
Additional games and activities for Nursing Home Residents:

Bingo!
Wheelchair bowling.
Simon Says.
Sing-a-longs.
Wheelchair races.
Manicure parties.
The “list anything” game. For instance, list all the animals you can think of, or birds, or cars, or states, or?
Memory game. For instance, “Who wants to tell a special birthday story?” Or, “A wedding story.” You can choose anything they might remember.

In Closing, please make sure you do not over exert the nursing home residents. This is for circulation and fun, not for losing calories! And having fun is what you are there for!