Living Well With Dementia

Apr 20, 2021 | Jodi Melius | @jodimelius | Comments (1)

Here are some tips on living well from the recently published book Mayo Clinic on Alzheimer's Disease and other dementias

"Having dementia doesn't automatically make people helpless and unable to do the things they used to do - or unable to learn new things. For many people with dementia, the disease progresses slowly, and they can continue to do most of the things they've always done."

Know you strengths! Many strengths are retained for quite some time; these are often related to job skills, hobbies and life long interests.

Try new things! Creativity and imagination can also be an area of strength.

"The ability to appreciate, produce and participate in art isn't significantly affected by dementia." Some examples of art that can enrich the lives of people living with dementia (including friends and family!) include:

Music:
- listening and singing
- playing piano or other instrument: draw on long term and procedural memory
Cultural events:
- movies, museums, community events
Mixed media art
- painting, drawing, sculpture, photography
Dancing
Story telling
Art discussion with groups or partners
Writing or recording poetry

Many communities are working to engage people with dementia in arts and creative programs. You may be the spark that starts a new idea in your community!

Interested in more newsfeed posts like this? Go to the Dementia Hub blog.

horowitz71 | @horowitz71 | Jan 23 10:58pm

Having been a pro-international surf bum and martial arts enthusiast for more than sixty years, as well as a high level tennis player, I had a relatively easy time adjusting to being able to simply get around on my own after being diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease seven years ago. I even had to learn to comfortably walk again, was unable to get in/out of bed/cars. I joined a pool exercise group for MS/PD people and enjoy socializing with them a couple of days a week. My favorite activity is my art therapy group, even if it's only once a month via Zoom. I'm also studying foreign languages on-line and riding my e-Trike to a nearby park to continue with my tai chi. Sure, I get depressed, but keeping busy, especially getting out of the apartment is my big accomplishment for each day. It's not easy living with dementia, especially knowing that the way I've been regressing means I may not have more than a year or two to go before I'll need assisted living. The wait for help from the VA is longer than I care to wait (way to treat your drafted Vietnam vets, Uncle Sam) and I refuse to be a burden on my wife. We've agreed on a suicide plan depending on how bad I get, but the help I'm finding in the community has been nothing short of fantastic, and with my life experience, I've even been able to share as a volunteer--teaching ESL, got a resident gardening project going at a nearby nursing home that was formerly a large abandoned atrium full of weeds, and also paid for my liability insurance to be able to teach chi gong and tai chi at the same facility (and we're on a tight budget living in coastal CA with me not able to work due to age and condition and my wife licensed only in this state). I never got credentialed to teach, but nearly a half-century of practice and some recommendations from my former Grand Masters and Masters got me in. Most credentialed people shouldn't be allowed to teach as it is; seen enough credentialed fakes around the world to know. Tomorrow's my pool class--yeah!