On the dining room floor at work, crumbled cornbread from lunch.
"Do you have a broom?" asked a resident walking by. "I'll sweep that up."
"Oh, great," I said, and went and got a broom and dustpan for her.
Her friend scolded her. "Don't do that, you've got a bad back."
[She doesn't, this was a figment of the friend's dementia.]
"Hush!" the woman scowled. "I want to do it!"
Wow--a resident said what she wanted to do!
The Big A (not all people with dementia have Alzheimer's, but a lot do) erodes people's ability to communicate clearly in words. Getting to know them is like playing a clue game, usually without words.
But in this case--a free card!
Time for some more "therapeutic fibbing": I will get some popcorn or something and sprinkle it on the floor and see if it works a second time. There's no guarantee: the Big A is a cunning one.
"Do you have a broom?" asked a resident walking by. "I'll sweep that up."
"Oh, great," I said, and went and got a broom and dustpan for her.
Her friend scolded her. "Don't do that, you've got a bad back."
[She doesn't, this was a figment of the friend's dementia.]
"Hush!" the woman scowled. "I want to do it!"
Wow--a resident said what she wanted to do!
The Big A (not all people with dementia have Alzheimer's, but a lot do) erodes people's ability to communicate clearly in words. Getting to know them is like playing a clue game, usually without words.
But in this case--a free card!
Time for some more "therapeutic fibbing": I will get some popcorn or something and sprinkle it on the floor and see if it works a second time. There's no guarantee: the Big A is a cunning one.
