Meet your care recipient where s/he is.
Remembering what you learned about your loved one’s disease or illness (Caregiver Tip #1) and with strength from support from other caregivers (Caregiver Tip #2), connect with your care recipient by meeting him/her where s/he is.
If she’s happy, smile and greet her enthusiastically.
If he’s sad or angry, speak to him in a lower and more calming tone.
Touch him or her and share a hug, if appropriate.
Connect with direct eye contact.
Oftentimes, we talk at one another.
We don’t really connect.
To connect, we must look into each other’s eyes.
Visualize lovers gazing into each other’s eyes–attention focused on each other, really connecting. As the disease progresses, people with dementia struggle to make sense of their world, and need the same quality of connection.
Without establishing a connection first, through direct eye contact, we cannot know how our care recipient is feeling or thinking. To have a conversation, we must establish contact.
This is the art of getting through to others–connecting first, before we can take the next step.
To connect with your care recipient, first establish eye contact and then determine where s/he is. Mood? Thoughts? Concerns?
For more information, search for these topics: caregiver, caregiver support, Caregiver TIPS, dementia
Brenda, us uaual, you are right on. Make eye contact. Otherwise the person may not know you are talking to them.
I discovered this with Marie. In the early stages she told me she had no idea who I was talking to if I didn’t look at her. I often would hold her hand and tell her something.
A tip I would offer to people is get out and do things.
I just returned from a 8-day cruise and that helped my grief more then anything. Now I’m home and I have come to realize, she is not in this house but rather in my heart. I have pictures all around that constantly remind me of my grief so I have put some away.
It’s not that I have forgotten or ever want to forget, but some pictures only cause more grief.
Thank YOU for the supportive comments, Don.
Also, thank you for offering insight into life after you lost your beloved Marie. But not really, because she still remains in your heart and lives on with your memories.