Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Going Into Their World

My friend Katie joined me at the nursing home today. She spent time with her “grandma” Dorothy. Dorothy is not really her grandma, but they like to pretend. The two of them really enjoy spending time together. Dorothy has ZERO visitors. It is so sad. She always recognizes Katie. It is very touching.   Katie’s parents are thrilled that she is making a big difference in someone's life. Katie gave Dorothy a shiny penny. Dorothy said, “ I love the gold coin.” Katie told me what happened after we led the nursing home. She said, “I know that the penny has a copper alloy, but I am not going to correct Dorothy, I will go into her world.”  I am thrilled that my friends are learning about AD and how to be a good caregiver to someone with dementia.

Knitting

Grandma loves knitting. She learned to knit when she was a kid.  When someone learns something when their brain is young, it is stored in their memory bank really well.  So they are able to remember stuff.  When people are seniors their storage banks are not as good as when they were younger, especially if they have Alzheimer's disease. When they have Alzheirmer's disease the storage bank is very weak and damaged. A memory could go into it, but it can fall through the drawer of the memory bank.  Sometimes the bank can hold the memory for a little bit, but not for long.

Knitting gives grandma joy. She loves to teach me how to do it.  We are making scarves for each other. I am very happy when I knit with grandma. She told everyone at the nursing home that she will make a scarf for them.  All people like to feel useful and grandma feels good when she is offering to help other people.




Tips

1. Find out what your loved one enjoys doing. Did they have a hobby?
2. Here is an example: If your loved one was a mechanic, give them some tools and let them "tinker with them"
3. Did they like gardening?  (Milk carton and seeds, draw pictures of plants, cut out pictures of plants and create a collage.)  You get the idea...
4. Everyone has something that they like doing.  Spend time doing that activity together.
5. If you do not know what your loved one likes to do, ask your parents or other relatives, friends. They will know!
6. You can make the activity easier for your loved one by making a few changes. I will not make a complicated sweater with a difficult pattern, but a simple scarf is easy to make and a lot of fun!

Monday, December 12, 2016

Good Morning America!

Hi everyone!  I was on TV today.  I spoke to the actor Will Smith about my passion to help people with Alzheimer's disease. I am very grateful to Hasbro and the GenerationOn organization for giving me such an amazing "once in a lifetime" opportunity!




https://gma.yahoo.com/smith-talks-collateral-beauty-inspired-project-helping-him-153009720--abc-news-celebrities.html

Saturday, December 10, 2016

Eggplant Parmagiana

Grandma used to eat eggplant parmagiana often. It was her favorite dish to order when she went out to dinner. We took grandma out to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants: Manduccati's.  We ordered eggplant parmagiana for grandma and she was so happy. She immediately started telling us stories about how she loves it, but could never make it at home.  She had such a good time. Food is a very good way to put people in wonderful moods. My cats are thrilled when we serve them a Fancy Feast treat, so you can imagine how a person may feel if they can eat what they love to eat!
I know grandma loves being with ME, but having eggplant and ME at the same time, gave her so much joy!  What is your loved one's favorite meal?








 

Friday, December 9, 2016

I will be appearing on GOOD MORNING AMERICA

Great news! I am going to be on GOOD MORNING AMERICA on Monday morning, December 12th! I will be discussing my organizations: Kid Caregivers (www.kidcaregivers.com) and Puzzles To Remember (www.puzzlestoremember.org). Please tune in or set your DVRs. 

Image result for Good Morning America



I :-)

I Would Love To Hear From My Readers :-)

Good Morning Everyone!

I just wanted to share with you my email address: Kidcaregivers@gmail.com.  If you would like to share your stories, experiences or ask questions. I will be happy to answer them.  It would be really nice to hear from you.  I can also share your question with our audience and see if we can all come up with a solution!

Looking forward to hearing from you.


Also, stay turned I have some awesome news to share in a little while!

All the best,
Hailey

Friday, December 2, 2016

Philanthropy

Grandma always did volunteer work. Here are some of the things she used to do: tutor kids,  girl scout leader, collected food and clothes for the homeless, visited sick people in the hospital,  visited residents in nursing homes who did not have visitors., raised money for many organizations. It is a long list. My parents also do a lot of volunteer work. So it makes sense that I would also want to be like them.  I wanted to share two activities that I have been doing in addition to my regular "Kid Caregivers" activities.
Collecting coats for NY Cares (www.NYCares.org) and helping to collect and sort food for the food bank.