Elderly Care Ministry

 A non-specific syndrome  Collection of symptoms that do not necessarily have the same cause  Can contain many symptoms  Can look different in different people  Can set in immediately (as a result of injury)  Can set in slowly (as a result of illness e.g. Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s)

 Memory Loss Short-term Long-term  Lack of Attention Planning Flexibility Semantic memory  Apathy

 Language Problems Difficulty producing names of people or objects Vague or meaningless speech (“thing”, “it”) Long, circumlocutory phrases Comprehension problems Echolalia: echoing what is heard Palilalia: repeating sounds or words

 Apraxia: problems with motor coordination Cooking, dressing, drawing  Agnosia: failure to recognize or identify objects People, faces, known or mundane objects, their own faces  Executive Functioning

Difficulty with problem solving Difficulty initiating or stopping complex behavior  FACT: 20%-30% of people who have dementia suffer from depression

 There is generally no cure for dementia as a result of chronic illness  In addition to the cognitive and motor impairments of dementia, the individual may be cognizant enough to know that something is happening to them and they are declining. As a result, they may be very scared, angry, depressed, or bitter.

 Follow their conversation and do not react or try to correct them when things do make sense, or they say the same thing over and over again.  They may say very insensitive things, or use an inappropriate amount of emotion when speaking. Track with them and roll with their emotion. Do not react to their inappropriate expressions or affect.

 They may not talk at all, in which case you can do the talking. You can introduce yourself, tell them about yourself, summarize the message, offer to read a Bible passage to them, give a gospel presentation, or tell them your testimony.

 They may even make motions to touch or strike you. Roll with their motions and turn it into something positive (demonstration)

 For this exercise, please divide into groups, and take turns taking on the personas described in the profiles. Other group members will attempt to interact with you.

 Profile A: You are Mr./Ms. Anderson, 89 years old with dementia. You does not talk at all but makes some noises with your mouth at times, when you seem to be experiencing some sort of emotion (it’s hard to tell). You are also blind. However, you seem to understand language.

 Profile B: You are Mr./Ms. Ornery, 85 years old with dementia. You are constantly cranky and male rude remarks about how other people look, including whoever you are talking to. You also tend to strike others when you are mad (which is pretty much all the time). You strike by swinging your arm sideways and hitting whoever is talking to you on the shoulder.

 Profile C: You are Mr./Ms. Circumlocution, 79 years old with dementia. You love to talk about yourself, and describe how you grew up in Oakland, have 3 kids. One is a doctor, the other is a librarian, and another owns a small grocery store in Berkeley. You love your 6 grandchildren. Your hobbies are singing, gardening, and cooking, as well as taking walks. However, you often forget what you have said and you repeat yourself. You also like to ask the other person about themselves and their families/hobbies, but forget what questions you’ve already asked and often ask the same question. Sometimes you also forget whether you like something or not, and will make contradictory statements in the same conversation (for example, you might say that your favorite food is Italian, and also say that you hate Italian food in the same conversations).

 Profile D: You are Mr./Ms. Hallucination. You talk normally, but often have strange beliefs about the person you’re talking to. When someone starts to talk to you, you suddenly have the belief that you hate this person intently. You might start yelling at them. You might think that they want to hurt you. When left alone though, you are pretty quiet and reserved.