Stuffed Animals Bring Comfort to Dementia Patients

Lexington, KY – (February 22, 2012) In a time where families can often feel helpless in reaching their loved ones a new company, Memorable Pets, has released a line of plush stuffed dogs and cats to bring joy to dementia and Alzheimer’s patients and to serve as a connection point for family members.

The company, started by sisters Bettina Dickson Rusher and Frances Dickson, came to fruition after their mother began her battle with Alzheimer’s.  “Our mother had a real cat which she loved, but once the Alzheimer’s set in she was unable to care for it properly, so we bought her a stuffed cat to keep her company,” Rusher said. “We were amazed at the joy the cat brought her and how attached she became. Before we knew it we were producing animals and handing them out to other patients on her floor.”

Memorable Pets are based off the most popular cat and dog breeds and are lap-sized so they are large enough for adults to hold, flexible so they can be easily carried  and soft so they are soothing. Their eyes appear alert to keep patients engaged and a portion of the proceeds from every Memorable Pet sold goes back to fund Alzheimer’s care and research.

“Several studies have shown that interactions with a stuffed animal increase happiness  and provide a calming effect. They’re also a great way to allow patients, who often have to rely on everyone else for care, to be able to care for something themselves,” Dickson said.

Nurse Sarah Burdine noticed a strong attachment between one of her Alzheimer’s patients and Memorable Pets. “The Memorable Pet helped to calm my patient, especially when she was feeling agitated. Their special bond has been a true gift for the patient and for us to watch,” she said.

Aside from soothing the patient, Memorable Pets also provide a connection point for young children and their grandparents who may be suffering from dementia or Alzheimer’s. When both the child and grandparent have a similar stuffed animal it gives them something to talk about that is familiar creating a special bond.

The company’s goal is to gain non-profit status for their Pets to People program which allows individuals, organizations and corporate sponsors to purchase a Memorable Pet for someone unknown to them. To participate in the Pets to People program or to order a Memorable Pet, which retails at $29.99 including shipping , visit  www.memorablepets.com.

About Memorable Pets: Memorable Pets was created by two sisters who are passionate about making a difference in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease. After losing their mother Betty Dickson, who deeply loved her Memorable Pet and held it in her arms when she died from Alzheimer’s disease, the sisters founded the company. Their goals are to provide therapeutic, realistic pets to help enhance the lives of people with Alzheimer’s or dementia, educate and raise awareness and money for Alzheimer’s care and research,  and honor their mother’s legacy. More information at www.memorablepets.com.

1. Do it alone!

Whether by plane, train, bus or auto, when there is no one to help you manage luggage, get through security check points (UGH!), manage rest room needs (especially when the elder is of the opposite sex), help elders navigate narrow isles, it is only a set up for an emotional break-down.

I remember standing in the middle of an airport in San Diego, my father in a wheelchair, enormous amounts of luggage at my side, and me in tears! Don’t think that airport personnel, or any other type of transportation worker is going to assist you – because they aren’t. Do NOT do it alone.

2. Help an elder pack their suitcase.

Just let your loved one pack their suitcase and then REPACK it (in stealth mode) when they are otherwise occupied.

This is especially important when dealing with an elder who has dementia and may pack 10 pairs of jeans and 1 shirt, no coat, and 45 pairs of socks and who also cannot understand why their medications aren’t sorted out into their pill boxes as usual (medications must be in the prescription bottles when traveling by air). It’s no use explaining; just repack and get the luggage out of their sight quickly.

3. Assume that when the elder says they don’t need to use the restroom, they don’t.

Apologize for “drinking too much coffee”, “having a weak bladder”, “being worried that rest room facilities won’t be available later”, whatever you can come up with in order to justify your frequent restroom visits. Just stop frequently. Enough said about that.

4.  Forget to take photos.

Sometimes in the rush of the moment and the desire to “get there” or get somewhere else, we forget to stop and capture memories of our elders.  Take “way too many” photos.  That’s the good thing about digital cameras – we can delete the not so great ones later.  You’ll also find that these photos will become treasured by your elder loved one, as well and can serve to remind them who is who.

5.  NOT ask a hotel or motel if they have handicapped accessible rooms.

More and more hotels and motels have at least one ADA (American Disabilities Act) equipped rooms.  These rooms can make life a whole lot easier for both you and your loved one because they are generally larger with over-sized bathrooms featuring walk in or roll-in showers, grab bars, and higher toilets.  They also feature lower door knobs, lowered “peep-holes” and specialized emergency plans.

6. Forget that traveling can be worrisome and even scary for an elder.

I’ll never forget the time when the TSA agent insisted upon giving my 86 year father a pat down because he couldn’t go through the check-point with his pacemaker.  I was FURIOUS.  But my father put on his best smile and cooperated as well as he could.  The pat down took 30 minutes.

This kind of thing actually happens all the time and elders are not used to people “violating their spaces”, are not sure WHY they are being singled out and are usually already having a difficult time maintaining the stamina it requires to travel.

They may be afraid of things that might happen while traveling such as falling, not remembering people, not being able to tolerate the trip (or the visits by family members) physically, becoming separated from you or having an incontinent episode. 

Those with dementia, especially those who live in assisted living or memory facilities, may continuously remind you that they must get back to their room before dinner is served.  Redirection can help.

Although traveling with an elder is much more difficult than traveling alone or with family members who can function on their own, it can still be a pleasant experience and will create wonderful, lasting memories.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

by Shelley Webb and Tonia Boterf

Tonia Boterf is a licensed clinical social worker.  Several of her e-books (and her brand new print book) can be found on our website under products.

Last night I watched On Golden Pond starring Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn.  It also featured Jane Fonda. I ended up crying for an hour.

I hadn’t seen the movie since it’s release in 1981 and I had forgotten that dementia (although the word was never uttered) played a part in the movie.  There is a scene where Ethel (Katharine Hepburn) asks Norman (Henry Fonda) to go out and pick some berries.  While searching for the berries, he becomes lost and temporarily unable to find his way back home.  His facial expressions of the sheer terror that being lost and unable to remember the way home would bring were spot on! 

Dementia wasn’t discussed much 30 years ago.  It was often thought of as a part of aging and referred to as senility, as something that was expected of old people.  Seldom was the fear that the person with the memory loss experienced spoken of.  This film was far ahead of its time in that regard.

Today, there are more than 5 million people in the United States alone that are suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease and that doesn’t include other causes of dementia such as vascular disease, Parkinson’s, Lewy Bodies, AIDs-related, frontotemporal Lobe and more.   The number of Alzheimer’s cases is expected to increase to 16 million by 2050!

My father had dementia; he also had heart disease as Henry Fonda’s character is eluded to having.  My father spent many months each year at his cabin on the lake and loved fishing.  He could sometimes be an “old POOP”, as Ethel lovingly called Norman several times throughout the movie.  So for me, this movie brought back a lot of memories and brought forth a lot of tears. 

How I miss that man.

Old age is not fun but it is inevitable.  Dementia robs those afflicted with it of even more time.  Can we do anything to stop it?  A little bit.

You can find a wonderful comprehensive article about some of the information that came out of the Alzheimer’s Association 2011 International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease, which took place in Paris last week, HERE.

photo credit: IMDB.com

Over the course of the evening, I began to notice that she was repeating stories.  I’ve noticed this to a certain extent in the past but not to the degree that it was occurring last evening. 

Of course, coming from a background of caring for a father with dementia and having been involved with the Alzheimer’s Association, the possibility of dementia in ANYONE is always at the forefront of my mind.  I even suspect myself of having it from time to time.

But this was different.  One of the things that she reiterated (not less than ten times) was how she makes her smoked ghouda omelettes.  I can now cite the directions verbatim!  From choosing only bacon that comes from “Tim’s Market” to “carmelizing the heck out of the onions, mushrooms, and chopped bacon”,  I’m pretty sure that I can do her recipe justice.

Of course, that’s not the point.  The repetition of that story (and 2 or 3 others) and the frequency of the repetition was distressing.  Knowing her medical background also makes it disturbing.  There was a situation about 2 years ago where she suffered heart failure and coded at home.  She remembers the EMS (Emergency medical system) personnel saying “We’re losing her!”   In the hospital, she suffered renal failure and was also diagnosed with Diabetes Type II.

This is the perfect set up for vascular dementia. 

I believe that one of the reasons she repeated her stories more often than usual last night is because she has had some bad news about a very close relative.  Also I am not around her enough to know if her bills are being paid on-time, if she has misplaced items frequently, or if she has gotten lost while driving.  But I still believe that this was a big enough warning sign to cause me to wonder what to do next.

Her family doesn’t live close by and in fact are not even in the same state so it’s not likely that they’ll be able to notice these small changes.

Even when speaking to a relative about the possibility of dementia, there is always fear of embarassing, hurting or alienating them.  It is awkward under the best of situations and with a friend I think that fear is even more profound. 

I think for now that I will just watch her a little more closely and if the subject of dementia comes up, I’ll nonchalently mention an instance relating to something I saw and ask her opinion about it. 

What would YOU do?

NOte from Shelley:  If you’re worried that YOU might have dementia, here is the link to a self administered “Gerocognitive Examination” provided by The Ohio State University: http://www.sagetest.osu.edu/Sage-Form1.pdf

So what can we do to communicate our love to a person who may not even remember who we are?

The answer may be to look at ways in which they expressed their love to us.

When you failed a test at school, or your friends “left without you” or you were not feeling well, what did your Mom or Dad do to make you feel better?  I remember that when I had a cold, my Mom would always rub Vick’s Vapo Rub on my chest.  I hated the smell and the stickiness but never-the-less, it showed me that she cared. 

Once when my 2 best friends were playing the “Three’s a Crowd” game, my father, who was handy with woodwork, made me a skateboard.  He never said a word about flaunting it in front of my friends; he just asked me to “try it out”.  And before long, my two best friends came running over for a chance at a turn to ride on it.

When you were not at your best, what kinds of things did your parents do to express their love to you?

I posed the question on Facebook and Twitter and here are some of the responses that I received:

• caring words
• opening the windows
• let me stay home from school
• kisses on the forehead
• brought me “magic toys” from the drugstore
• asking “you alright?”
• sang to me
• let me eat in my bedroom which was otherwise forbidden
• put Vick’s Vapo Rub on my chest with heated towel on top
• brought me a stuffed animal
• took us bowling
• stroked forehead
• light touches on shoulder, hand or knee
• brought me soup (potato, chicken noodle), 7-Up, Ginger Ale, popsicles
• just sat quietly close by
• hand-written notes in lunch boxes
• brought me ice cream when I had a sore throat

My theory is that if you examine the things that your aging parent did to show you love, you could use these same things to show them YOUR love.  The actions will be familiar and comfortable to them and should evoke the same loving feelings that they felt towards you when they intiated the actions themselves. 

Give it a try and let me know if it works for you.

Unfortunately, my daughter was not able to visit him before my father moved into the last stages of dementia.  A negative experience at the hospital caused him to experience delirium and then to decline rapidly.  When she arrived, he was barely recognizable, propped up in his wheelchair by the nurse’s station, unaware of his surroundings and not speaking. 

But as my daughter looked at him straight in the face, smiled and said “Hi, Papa, it’s me”, for a moment, just a moment, there was a glimmer of recognition as he smiled and raised his hand …and then he was gone again, back to wherever dementia sufferers go.  This was the last time we saw a glimmer of clarity in him.

Many caregivers of dementia patients see those moments of clarity in their loved ones and they offer moments of hope that perhaps their loved ones are returning to them.  Excrutiatingly, the moments don’t last.

Directed by Simon Pitts and written by Carol Younghusband, “Ten Glorious Seconds” is a short film about Albert, who is in the last stages of Alzheimer’s Disease and his wife Josie who longs to connect with him.

You can watch the movie here ~~> Ten Glorious Seconds from Simon Pitts on Vimeo.

I would love to see your comments about it.

Media at the scene where a 66 year old woman wandered and froze to death. Credit: Fernando Morales/The Globe and Mail

Last night, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, a 66 year woman who had been suffering from dementia froze to death because she wandered from her home and was not found in time.

Here is the e-mail from the grandson:

 
“My Grandma lives in an assisted living facility and  is suffering from dementia, It’s usually not a problem except that she might ask the same question over and over - which is really not a problem at all. 
 
My Grandma has always loved flowers and plants.  She has her share of fake plants as well.  Recently, however, she has begun watering the fake flowers and fake plants and even watering a pen that has a fake flower coming out the back!
 
What can we do so that she doesn’t feel the need to water fake things thus creating messes?
 
I appreciate any input you may have and thank you for all the work you do.”

P.A.

Here is my answer:

Dear P.A.

I’m sorry to say that in your grandmother’s case,  the easiest solution is to remove all plants, both real and artificial, and anything else that resembles a plant or flower.  Perhaps some paintings of flowers that are hung on walls may brighten the area and still be safe from being watered, although careful attention will need to paid to that as well.

Perhaps she could be enlisted to help water the plants in the lobby or when weather permits, the plants on the patios (with supervision, of course).

Because of the short term memory loss suffered by dementia patients, they quickly forget what has been watered and in the case of fish (do not introduce a fish tank into her immediate environment), cats and other pets, what has and has not been fed.  As your family has noticed, the line between what’s real and what isn’t also becomes blurred as the disease progresses. 

You mentioned that your grandmother is in assisted living and that raises a concern.  Is she in an assisted living facility that specializes in memory care?  Is her room easily available to staff who may need to help her and is she checked upon frequently?  Is there anything in her room (or apartment) that could pose a danger to her, such as a stovetop or microwave or even a toaster?  You would be surprised  what persons with dementia will attempt to do with these appliances.  She could easily be burned.  If she’s watering plants, then she has enough time to accomplish other activities, some of which may not be in her best interest.

Does the room have adequate lighting and are all unused electrical outlets plugged with childproof covers? Are cords secured to baseboards? 

 Are the exit windows locked and secure (60% of people with dementia WILL wander).  Does she wear a safe-return bracelet or pendant?

Are her medications kept outside of her room and given to her by professional staff members?  They should be. 

Is her room checked for clutter frequently so that falls are less likely to occur?  Have all throw rugs been removed (another tripping hazard)? 

I wish that I had a better solution to offer as a replacement for the plants and flowers because having something to tend to helps to give a person a purpose in life.

I would love to hear if anyone else had dealt with this situation or  has any ideas that may help!