Category: Uncategorized

Unique Alzheimer’s Resource Revives Hidden Abilities

Imagine never hearing your loved one’s voice again and struggling to find ways to interact or spark a connection—that was the disturbing reality for author Lydia Burdick and continues to be the reality for millions of people caring for a parent, spouse, or friend diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia. As cognitive abilities decline, communication skills diminish and conversations with family members and friends can become extremely difficult and infrequent. Searching for new ways to connect with her mother, Lydia created The Sunshine on My Face: A Read-Aloud Book for Memory-Challenged Adults, the first in the Two-Lap Book® series…

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New Facebook App “FaceDementia” Simulates the Experience of Dementia for Online Users

  By Kimberley Beauchamp Fear. Grief. Confusion. Frustration. Loneliness. These are just a few of many painful emotions that a person facing dementia might feel day to day. Short of living through dementia ourselves, how can we ever begin to comprehend the feelings that our loved one experiences? We might research and read about Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias in books or online, or talk to the doctors and the experts to understand the physical and cognitive symptoms. But the Best Friends Approach encourages us to go a step further and truly picture ourselves in the shoes…

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Rhyme, Rythm, and Reconnection

*** My mind’s not at all a blank slate, Though I cannot keep track of the date Or the day of the week, And facts play hide-and-seek, For my mind to be blank would be great. Instead it is wired like spaghetti; It conflates the important and petty; The connections of things Are like tangles of strings Or like celebratory confetti. *** HPP Author Gary Glazner discusses how poetry helps people with dementia connect with others and rediscover their creative potential…

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Celebrate National Nutrition Month® with two resources from HPP that support healthy eating in older adults!

By Kimberly Beauchamp In celebration of National Nutrition Month® (March), Health Professions Press presents the essential ingredients for healthy eating in older adults—delicious, nutritious foods, a mixture of family and friends, and a helping of happiness at the table. The theme of National Nutrition Month® 2015 is “bite into a healthy lifestyle,” an idea that couldn’t be more appropriate for older adults in both the home and in long-term care settings. As we age, our sense of taste and smell dull, and eating may lose some of its pleasure, yet good nutritional intake is more essential than ever during…

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