Dos and Don'ts of communicating with a person with Dementia

The Choir of the Loaves and Fish, a musical ensemble of senior citizens, started by Pervin Varma with Regina Thomas in Bengaluru has been immensely therapeutic for the elderly and has helped bring loads of warmth and sunshine into their lives. Picture above: Ammachy taking a bow with Pervin Varma Imagine a group of people – all senior citizens between 65 and 96 – people who have suffered strokes or are living with cancer, arthritis, heart disease, dementia, physical disabilities, people with…

Vonita Singh from Dubai is a trained Kathak dancer who, through her unique initiative Movement Mantra, addresses the basic concerns of Parkinson’s Disease like balance, flexibility and coordination with rhythm and music. Vonita also pulls in caregivers for her programmes, making it holistic, with end results being therapeutic. Taking on disorders like Parkinson’s Disease and Arthritis is a formidable task, especially when you are neither a therapist nor a medical person. What gave you the…

Dr S M Akerkar, Consulting Rheumatologist, offers some useful tips for people with arthritis to get work done at home the easier way and to minimize the load on the joints. This is the second of the 2-part series. In the first part we read useful day to day tips on arranging the kitchen to make it easier for people with arthritis to continue to function.  How to arrange your kitchen if you have arthritis? Use shelves with 'easy to remove' features. Drawers mounted on rollers put less…

Amrita Patil Pimpale, Dementia Care Consultant, lists out 5 things you can do to help your spouse/partner who has been recently diagnosed with dementia. Most people with dementia undergo behavioral changes during the course of the disease. They gradually lose their mental faculties and become confused and vulnerable. They tend to forget things that have happened quite recently, but may seem to have clear memory of things that happened a long time ago. They will experience mood changes, can…

We invite you to 'Living with Parkinson's' an event for people with Parkinson's and their caregivers.  Dance & Movement Therapy followed by tips on living with Parkinson's by eminent Neurologist Dr. Manoj Hunnur Date: 27th December, Tuesday Address: Prabodhankar thackeray multipurpose hall, A wing, 2nd floor, Borivali west Timing: 10.30am to 1.30pm  

A touching account of how a local hairdresser volunteered to help, when others refused, to give my mother, who lived with Young Onset Alzheimer's, a glam haircut and made her look uber cool in her final years.   They say it takes a village to raise a child. As caregivers, we realize that it takes an entire community to deal with Alzheimer’s. Extended family members, friends, neighbors, healthcare professionals, coworkers, employers, employees, service providers like household help,…

Gargi Ahluwalia is immensely grateful to the Support Group of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorder Society, (PDMDS), that helped her claim her independence over the debilitating disease. I started trembling from January 2013 when my husband was hospitalised. Four months later, when he passed away, my situation became worse. I thought it was due to stress, not realizing that it was more than that. I spoke to my family doctor and he said that I should see a Neurologist who specialized in…

Dementia is difficult. Absence of diagnosis, counselling and support makes matters worse. Basic awareness and services can help decrease caregiver stress. Daksha Bhat of Varishta analyses the situation on dementia care in Gujarat. Dementia may start as a slow, creeping change that gradually makes its inroads into our lives. It can happen to anybody who is over 60. Beginning with a gradual decline in the capacity to recall important things, it gradually manifests as a slow deterioration in the…

Restoring self-esteem and self-worth is what Dance Movement Therapy by Renelle Snelleksz has successfully achieved for a cross section of people like people with Parkinson’s Disease or those with a history of physical abuse and even children who have survived cancer but are deeply scarred. What is Dance Movement Therapy? How is it different from learning Dance? Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) is very different from technique-based dance in that it creates a safe and non-judgemental space for…

Dr S.P. Goswami, Professor of Speech Pathology at Mysore counsels that with the right kind of support, the load of the communication disorder can be shared equally by the aged individual as well as the family, the key to it being to meet them halfway. Aging is a phenomenon which starts from birth and brings about changes in the individual across the life span. However, beyond the yardstick of 60 years, anatomical and physiological changes become highly evident in the human body, thereby leading…