Kid Caregivers is a 501c3 nonprofit organization which supports and empowers children who are acting as caregivers. Our mission is to help young people cope and to enliven the lives of adults living with Alzheimer's disease. We offer intergenerational Puzzle Time programs and training to enhance eldercare globally. We encourage young people to use their skills to benefit the dementia community.
Saturday, November 26, 2016
Day After Thanksgiving
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I brought my friend Katie to the nursing home on Friday. Many of the residents do not have family to visit them, so they are really lonely around the holidays. We spent time solving puzzles and sharing the Hasbro pets. Some of the residents can no longer talk but they can pet a fluffy pet and smile!
Monday, November 14, 2016
Hasbro Companion Pets
Most people LOVE pets. They make people happy. But unfortunately many seniors who are living alone or who are living in an assisted living facility/nursing home cannot have a live pet. I took the Hasbro Joy For All Companion Pets to my grandma's nursing home. WOW! Everyone loved them so much. The staff went nuts, but most importantly, the seniors were in love. My mom took a video of me showing Sam and his wife the Habro pets. Sam has Alzheimer's disease and is not very happy all the time. When I gave him the Hasbro dog, he fell in love. It was so wonderful to see Sam so joyful. Sam gets mad a lot and sometimes cries. It is very hard to live with dementia. Spending just a few minutes with the Hasbro dog made him enjoy himself. The whole nursing room floor was laughing and having fun. PLEASE, if you can, get a Hasbro Companion Pet for your loved one. I PROMISE you that they will have a good time and you will have one, too!
Brain Coral
Greetings everyone! I just came back from a wonderful vacation in the Turks & Caicos Islands. It was a lot of fun. There were beautiful seashells and coral along the beach. I found brain coral. It is called brain coral because it looks like a human brain. I found a large nicely formed piece and a smaller piece of brain coral. I realized that the pieces of coral could be used as a scale model to show the difference between a normal brain and an atrophied (wasted, shrunken) brain of someone with Alzheimer's disease. I will use my scale models to teach other children about Alzheimer's disease. It helps if kids can see the scale models and hold them. As you can see, the left "brain" is larger, and fuller with very small "ventricles" (the hollow space between each part of the brain). The scale model on the right shows a shrunken brain with large "ventricles" (empty space) between each part of the brain.
Brain Coral
Greetings everyone! I just came back from a wonderful vacation in the Turks & Caicos Islands. It was a lot of fun. There were beautiful seashells and coral along the beach. I found brain coral. It is called brain coral because it looks like a human brain. I found a large nicely formed piece and a smaller piece of brain coral. I realized that the pieces of coral could be used as a scale model to show the difference between a normal brain and an atrophied (wasted, shrunken) brain of someone with Alzheimer's disease. I will use my scale models to teach other children about Alzheimer's disease. It helps if kids can see the scale models and hold them. As you can see, the left "brain" is larger, and fuller with very small "ventricles" (the hollow space between each part of the brain). The scale model on the right shows a shrunken brain with large "ventricles" (empty space) between each part of the brain.
Monday, November 7, 2016
Using an iPod Shuffle With Your Loved One
I saw the documentary: Alive Inside.(www.aliveinside.org) It inspired me. The documentary is about Alzheimer's patients who listen to music and feel alive when they hear it. I think it is a great idea! It is helpful to use music that your loved one will understand and remember from the olden days. Most seniors today have special memories of music from the 1930's, 1940's, 1950's. I plan to get some iPod Shuffles and download music from those time periods. I like using headphones because my grandma and many seniors are hard of hearing and listening with a headphone helps to make the music sound louder.
Tips
1. Choose music that your loved one would enjoy.
2. As they are listening to the music ask them about it
3. Use good quality earphones, especially if the person is hard of hearing
4. Use an iPod Shuffle. It can download many many songs
5. Most seniors like music from 1920's - 1950's
6 Try to find out the favorite type of music that the loved one enjoys.
(For example: Big Band, Jazz, Swing, classical music)
Saturday, November 5, 2016
Questions and Answers
Hi Everyone! I hope you are having a nice weekend. I am recovering from a cough, but hopefully I will feel better tomorrow, and spend some time with grandma. I just wanted to let everyone know that I am available to offer advice and support if you have a concern. If any of my readers are experiencing a problem involving a loved one with dementia, I am here to help. I have learned a lot and can offer help for kids. So please contact me, either with a comment in the comments section or you can ask your question in an email to my account: kidCaregivers@gmail.com. I will share your question or concern, offer a suggestion and ask readers to also offer solutions. TOGETHER WE CAN HELP EACH OTHER!
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
One of the Winners of the Hasbro Community Action Heroes Award
Hi Everyone! I am very excited to report that I am one of the 10 winners of the Hasbro Community Action Heroes Award. I just wanted to share the good news as soon as possible!
http://generationon.org/teens/meet/hasbro-community-action-heroes/2016
http://generationon.org/teens/meet/hasbro-community-action-heroes/2016
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