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Sunday, December 22, 2024 |
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Your Help is Needed! For over 4 years The Ribbon newsletter has been sent out to anyone requesting to receive it. The maintenance of the mailing list and subsequent "mailing" via e-mail is not an easy task. One thing that makes the process even more difficult is when someone has changed their e-mail address and has not informed us. This slows down the entire process as any AOL subscribers come up "Unknown" and must be removed. My mailbox receives "Mail Undeliverable" notices from people using other servers. The last issue created 16 such messages! The biggest fear is that someone has simply "moved" and not informed us and therefore will miss their issue of The Ribbon. We would greatly appreciate being notified when anyone wishes to be removed from the mailing list. It would help to keep the process running smoothly. The Ribbon Staff Another Milestone! The counter keeps moving and this week The Ribbon has counted over 23,000 hits since January, 1998. Add to that our growing mailing list and we are happy knowing that we have reached so many caregivers. But we strive to do more and we need your help to do it. Spread the word, find those folks who travel the road of caregiving alone, without support and bring them to the fold. Let others know that they are NOT alone, that we are here to help. The Ribbon Staff The Police
and Alzheimer Patients During my 27 year career, as a law enforcement officer, I have had dealings with Alzheimer patients on a number of occasions. These incidents have occurred on a regular basis throughout my career and our department has become fairly adept at dealing with the problems faced by both the patient and the caregiver. Our city has two Adult Congregate Living Facilities within our city limit, which is only 3.5 square miles in size. Both of these facilities have Alzheimer patients within them and one facility has a specific wing devoted strictly to these patients. The problems we have dealt with are many and varied however, the vast majority of them revolve around two issues in particular. "wandering off" and " elderly abuse". Both of these issues present unique challenges, to us in the law enforcement field, and our department has become quite adept at dealing with both issues. This article will attempt to aid the caregiver with tips that will assist your local agency in locating and returning wandering patients to their proper addresses and loved ones. In a future article I will also attempt to deal with issues, which you may find you are presented with, in ACLFs and with home bound patients, when questions of physical or mental elderly abuse arise. One of the problems we frequently encounter is the elderly patient found aimlessly wandering the city streets. Their mental condition is such that most cannot remember their full names or addresses. Frequently we have found that although they may know their name, they are unable to remember phone numbers of relatives or addresses for them. This is complicated by the fact that the addresses and or phone numbers may be from 20-40 years prior and are no longer valid. I once found a patient who had driven more than 750 miles from South Carolina. Swore up and down that she lived in a house in Lake Alfred. After driving her around for several hours we in fact found her house, even though she had not lived in it since 1952. Remember I said she had DRIVEN herself, I could not help but wonder how, or where, her caregiver's mind was at, in leaving this woman in a position to have access to the car and keys. The caregiver was out of her mind with worry when we finally contacted her and learned that she had laid down for a nap and while she was asleep her mother had taken the car keys, and her car, and driven herself back to Lake Alfred. The patient had been gone for more than three days .The daughter had not even considered that her mother would try to return to the most familiar thing in her life, the home she had lived in for 40 years. Most of the patients that we encounter have wandered off from the facility, even though the facilities are fenced. Visitors and employees forget to close the gates and these patients go for a stroll and become totally disoriented. Here are some tips to assist us in returning your loved one safely back to where they belong.
I hope that some of these tips are useful to you as caregivers. They will certainly aid your local law enforcement agency or us in trying to have a happy ending to a potentially tragic incident. God bless all of you caregivers. From one who has been there, I salute you. Books to help children understand Alzheimer's A
few nights ago we had a young man come into The Gathering Place
who was nine years old. His grandparents are going to be moving
in with his parents and 4 other siblings. The poor little guy
is worrying about "catching Alzheimer's and cancer."
I contacted my local Alzheimer's Association, the Greater
Sacramento Area Chapter, and they had the following two books
they suggested: Love Always, A Secret Connection By Mary Emma Allen A special bond always existed between my grandson and my mom who had Alzheimer's. When Alex was two, they seemed to be at the same point in their lives. I'd watch amazed as mother and Alex revealed similar capabilities while feeding themselves, communicating, and comprehending. Alex touched my mom's arm with his hand. Mother smiled and patted his head. Alex sat in her wheelchair with her. Mother jabbered in contentment, while Alex looked into her face. Mother began to need someone to feed her at the same time Alex was starting to feed himself. Mother continued to grow backwards and Alex moved forward. However, Alex has always told us Great Grandma DeeDee was talking to him when she made unintelligible (to us) sounds, not words. When she smiled, he insisted it was a smile for him. Could they communicate? We don't know, but Alex seemed to comfort and calm the older woman, and his world was brightened when she smiled and made sounds. He cheerfully played around her room at the nursing home whenever we visited, sometimes with his older sister, sometimes alone. He hardly ever declined an invitation to accompany me. Alex is now nearly seven years old. During his last visit, my mother, who hardly responded to us anymore, was having one of her better days and made sounds. Alex said she was talking with him. He also insisted she was humming to the music playing on the radio in her room. He has that memory to carry him along since her death. For he seemed to miss her more than anyone. We discuss Grandma DeeDee and recall our visits with her. "She talked to me," Alex recalls and smiles as we put together a memory book of this lady who, unknowingly, has played such an important role in his young life. (c)2001 Mary Emma Allen Mary Emma lives in a multi-generational household with husband, daughter, son-in-law, and two grandchildren. Visits to two great grandmothers rounded out their family circle. Mary has written a book, When We Become the Parent to Our Parents, about her mother's journey through Alzheimer's. For more information, visit her web site: http://homepage.fcgnetworks.net/jetent/mea From The Recipe Corner New recipes: Please visit our new Recipe Corner. There you will find delicious 'family favorite' recipes. Please help add to our collection by submitting one (or more!) of your favorites. Share Card by Pfizer Here
is a little bit of information that Carevoice and I discovered at
the 2002 Joint Conference of NCOA/ASA held in Denver, CO in early
April. Love Always, In Passing: Those We Must Remember Dated 4/30/02 It is with
deep regret that I write to share with you that I received an
email from LTU1022192 or our very own Gathering Place host,
Lorraine, that her husband, Bruce, passed away early this
morning. It
is with deep regret that I write to share with you that I
received word from Kassy, or Cheryl to us, that her mother passed
away on April 9, 2002. Love Always, From Lynsjag Hello. Just a note to say thanks for all the Ribbons you have sent to us. These emails have helped me and my husband and we have tried to pass them on to others. His mother, Helen, died on March 5, 2002, at age 93. Thanks again for all your caring and all that you do. Please unsubscribe us. Lynda From the
Guest Book Name:Richard Readers, here's a good chance to help out. Does anyone have any suggestions you might give to help Richard out? We'd love to print them in the next issue and in the meantime we will forward them on to Richard. Want to Chat? Pull up a chair in The Gathering Place. The support starts at 9pm
and lasts until 11pm EST Monday through Friday. Talk to
others who are going through or have been through what you are
dealing with. Help someone who is just beginning their journey
into caregiving. Share a few laughs, cry a few tears, feel the
love of others who truly understand. ec-online.net chats Enter the chatroom from the front page of either website or at http://www.ec-online.net/chat.htm. All times are U.S. Eastern Standard Time (GMT -5). We have begun to provide chats that are hosted by caregivers in Australia. Australian times are GMT +10. Hopefully this will not cause a great deal of confusion and instead give us more opportunities to connect with each other. Topics are suggested and NOT required. We always focus on the issues and that our members want to discuss. Please remember that we have a new chatroom. If you had trouble using the old one, please give it another try! Please note the new sessions added on Monday evenings, Wednesday mornings, and Saturday afternoons. Our current chat schedule is posted in the ElderCare Community
Center at http://www.ec-online.net/Community/communit.htm Email Bag From Weather91 Hi! I found a link to one of the other books mentioned in the article "Using Usual Items To Do Unusual Tasks ©" For Information on topical use of this product this book is available on Amazon: Edgar Cayce and the Palma Christi by William A. McGarey --Kevin From SNDYPWS Thank you for such an interesting issue, there is so much information in it. I just wanted to thank you for all the time and effort put into it. You did a great job. I got a lot from it. Thanks again, sndypws From AZUREE1650 Dear
Jamie and Karen: Mother's Day.... how bittersweet it has become. We hope you will take a moment out to honor your mother, whether it be a memorial type of tribute, a sharing of a memory book and maybe ice cream, or a Big Hug. Is there a special lady in your life? Maybe a special friend, a terrific neighbor who has been there in a time of need, an aunt or relative whom you look up to? Honor these ladies also. They deserve it!! Happy Mother's Day to all! Peace and Hugs,
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