Maintaining dignity with dementia.
This is what struck me while I viewed this video from The Alzheimer’s Disease Foundation Malaysia (ADFM).
Sometimes, it takes a different culture to help us see what’s possible in order to reaffirm what we’re doing or even stretch our boundaries.
Such is the case with the Alzheimer’s Disease Foundation Malaysia (ADFM) Adult Day Care that for the past seventeen years has been committed to care for loved ones with dementia.
When I was at a loss for how to keep my father’s brain and body stimulated as dementia progressed, I took him to a local adult day care center. There he flourished while socializing with others, engaging in activities, enjoying lunch and more before returning home from his “job.” He felt useful.
In An Alzheimer’s caregiver’s journey with ADFM, Joanne Yong describes her mother’s memory loss and explains how the services ADFM provide are benefiting her mother Shak Ah Lan. ADFM’s Patron, Puan Sri Wendy Ong, appears in the video, presenting details of ADFM’s day care center. Click to view video below.
What a joy to see Shak Ah Lan enjoy her time at the adult day care center and see herself as far younger than her years–a typical, perspective for a people with dementia. Although her body has slowed down, she still dances and identifies her daughter as her sister.
And did you notice toward the end of the video, the pebble-textured floor?
Now, there’s an idea for us to include here in the United States–a stimulating barefoot walk (with a handrail to prevent falls)!
Sometimes, it’s the smallest details that make all the difference in the world.
Thank you, Alzheimer’s Disease Foundation, for sharing this video in your monthly newsletter.
Greater awareness
leads to more knowledge,
less fear,
greater understanding, and
eventually, more funding.
A person with Alzheimer’s makes a dignified plea to the POTUS
Maybe I’m biased as a citizen of America, a country acknowledged by much of the world to be one of the forward-thinking advanced nations around the world, we have to feel a tinge of embarrassment when a person with Alzheimer’s makes a plea to the President of the United States (POTUS).
If the embedded video doesn’t play, click on Dear Mr. President, and members of Congress to view on YouTube.
Michael Ellenbogen was diagnosed with Young Onset Alzheimer’s Disease and helps raise awareness while serving as an outspoken advocate regarding policy.
The thoughts entered my mind about taking my Marie to ADC but with the Parkinson’s she could not be left alone. She was a great fall risk and no one wanted to deal with it. The county told me I made too much money to put her in ADC. It seems other countries may have long lines for health care but at least they take care of the elderly and ill. I wish I had known of a place like this. Who knows, it may have helped Marie’s dementia which may have helped with Parkinson’s but we will never know. I blame the FDA for delaying the trial which may have reversed some of the Dementia and Parkinson’s for Marie. The trial is supposedly going very well but of coures the FDA locks what the people can say about it. I am bitter against the FDA.
Dear Don,
It’s so hard not to feel remorse and even regret.
After my mother died due to years living with Congestive Heart Failure, there was an announcement of some surgical procedure that could have extended her life. I felt remorse that she passed and yet, after 13 years of being raced to the emergency room to clear her lungs so she could breathe, I realize her body was so weakened that it was her time.
Please keep helping others by raising awareness because of your experiences, but try not to feel regret.
You did the best you knew how and Marie… she was a real Navy Soldier’s wife–she hung in there as long as she could.
Brenda, I share your embarrassment that a country with such riches has to be begged, shamed and cajoled into supporting this cause. It can be disheartening, yet, as Margaret Mead once said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Ultimately, that is what puts change into motion. Unfortunately, It won’t be the politicians….
Thank YOU, for taking the time to comment and to remind us of Margaret Mead’s inspiring message, Judith. While we have hope and share the labor of our efforts, we can make change happen, despite the politicians! 😉