Creating A Wonderful Day With Dementia

What are their favorites? Favorite drink? Favorite temperature of room? Favorite snack? Favorite ice cream? Favorite sweater? Favorite place to sit? Favorite person? Favorite tease? Favorite blanket? Favorite place to visit? Favorite subject to talk about? Favorite music?
When you find ANYTHING that causes a positive reaction, write it down and share it with everyone! Avoid writing general statements like, ”My mom loves to talk about her brother.“ Write down specific statements such as, ”You have an older brother named Richard. Richard was smarter than the rest. Wasn't he? He walked you to school everyday.“ Mail this list out to family and friends. It will help tremendously when they visit the person with dementia.
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Jolene Brackey has a vision. A vision that will soon look beyond the challenges of Alzheimer's disease and focus more of our energy on creating moments of joy. When a person has short-term memory loss, his life is made up of moments. But if you think about it, our memory is made up of moments, too. We are not able to create a perfectly wonderful day with someone who has dementia, but it is absolutely attainable to create a perfectly wonderful moment; a moment that puts a smile on their face, a twinkle in their eye, or triggers a memory. Five minutes later, they won't remember what you did or said, but the feeling you left them with will linger.