Studies have shown that art therapy might be particularly beneficial for people with Alzheimer’s disease because though they gradually lose the ability to express themselves with words, other parts of their brain that deal with colors and composition can still be used and developed. Even people with advanced Alzheimer’s disease can continue to create art.
Cape Memory Care in Cape Elizabeth recently started art classes in the Art is 4 Every1® method, developed by Elaine Griffith of Massachusetts during the nearly 25 years she taught at nursing homes, senior centers, kids camps and in her studio. It is a method that breaks the painting process into small steps, as tiny and as simplified as is needed according to the ability and experience of the student.
Pat Moshimer, Maine’s only certified Art is 4 Every1 instructor, brings her program into Cape Memory Care in Cape Elizabeth every week. As Cape Memory Care residents, right, participate in the weekly Art is 4 Every1® class, they practice small motor control, visualization and perspective just as artists without memory impairment do. Pat has been a scribe and illustrator for 30 years in the Kennebunk/Kennebunkport area.
Pat’s students remain remarkably creative and the painting program gives them an outlet for communication in a different and often very vibrant way. Is there an art show in the works? Will there be plein air classes as the weather improves? To find out more about this program, please call Olga Gross-Balzano or Bri Johnston at Cape Memory Care, 207-553-9616 or e-mail olgagross@woodlandsalf.com.
Congratulations to Georgianna Preacher, a resident of Thornton Oaks in Brunswick who is featured as a solo exhibitor at the Chappell Center for Book Arts at USM. The exhibit is open from February 1 to April 30. Mark your calendar for her artist’s reception Saturday, April 7.
Need some Maine senior gift ideas? Wondering what senior Christmas presents to get the folks who don’t want a single thing, have too much already, or don’t want to deal with any more stuff? Most older folks don’t really want to add to collections, their drawers are filled with unworn sweaters and their closet holds a stack of slippers.
What makes a good gift? Choose consumables! And that includes time. Here are some quick tips by category:
Many seniors appreciate a gift given in their name if they can’t quite afford to support a favorite charity. And the gift doesn’t have to be money. Volunteer at an agency once a month as a gift of time to your older loved one.
Thornton Oakes opens its annual fall Residents Choice show Thursday, October 6, with a reception from 4:00-5:30 where the public and residents can meet the artists and collectors who have contributed to this show.
Displays include artwork, rugs, pottery, models, wood carvings and other pieces from the extensive collections of the Thornton Oakes residents. The show will be up through November. Thornton Oakes is at 25 Thornton Way in Brunswick, Maine.
My mom, bless her darlin’ heart, walked down to her mystery book group at the Rumford Public Library back in February, 2005, and never returned to her home on Washington Street. What happened to Allegra wasn’t a mystery: she slipped and hit her head, which caused an uncontrollable bleed because of her blood-thinning medications. She died several weeks later.
Mom dodged a bullet. She never had to clean out her home, figure out how to get help in Rumford, or face the challenges of moving in with a child or moving to assisted living. Worse (or better) than that, she had a house full of furniture, quilts, letters and photos from both her parents and her in-laws. And none of that stuff had been winnowed either.
Sunday’s column by Bill Nemitz outlines what happens next: we try to go through the stuff that has outlived our loved ones, and imbue each item with a memory or a piece of a parent.I can’t get rid of the lusterwear pitcher, even though I don’t want it and it doesn’t fit in my life or my house, because it stood on my mother’s mantel….and her mother’s mantel….for years. I have the pictures to prove it: my mom at 13, with the same pitcher in the photo’s background.
I’m glad I’m not alone with my feelings of guilt for finally allowing this sort of family item to move to a new home, and grief for what it represents. It’s the Magical Law of Contagion, from Scottish social anthropologist Sir James Fraser. We give items their significance because they are more permanent reminders of a time or place or action.
I’ve solved a little of my problem by taking photos of these things and writing what I know and putting it in an album. There. Now the item (the double-knit dress, the awful fake blue cocktail ring, the small china cat) can move along, because I have cataloged the reminder.
Elizabeth Peavey, a brilliant Portland comedic writer who’s been amusing for years, has actually written a play about trying to sort through and part with her mom’s flotsam and jetsum. It’s called “My Mother’s Clothes Are Not My Mother” and it will premier at the St. Lawrence Arts Center in Portland on September 15. To be honest, just reading the Bill Nemitz column about her brought tears of recognition.
A group of Cape Memory Care residents and staff recently enjoyed an outing to Maxwell’s farm in Cape Elizabeth to pick strawberries. The outing was part of the facility’s ‘Strawberry Fest’ celebrating the start of summer.
Pearl G. picks the very sweetest strawberries for dessert.
Like gardening, berry picking is a way for people with Alzheimer’s disease to maintain a connection with the world around them. It is also a tool for eliciting conversation and retrieving memories of an individual’s own berry picking or gardening experiences.
Cape Memory Care is a Woodlands Assisted Living community located in Cape Elizabeth that specializes in the care of people living with dementia disorders like Alzheimer’s. At communities focused on memory care, activities for residents are designed to allow them to enjoy a pleasant outing tailored to their differing abilities.
People living with Alzheimer’s, for example, often progress through seven stages of the disease. Many family members ask for help with day programs or specialized residential communities when their loved ones begin to suffer the moderate cognitive decline in stage 4, which the Alzheimers Association says might include
Forgetfulness of recent events
Impaired ability to perform challenging mental arithmetic — for example, counting backward from 100 by 7s
Greater difficulty performing complex tasks, such as planning dinner for guests, paying bills or managing finances
Forgetfulness about one’s own personal history
Becoming moody or withdrawn, especially in socially or mentally challenging situations
Day programs and residential communities have specially trained staff members who understand the progression of Alzheimer’s and can help the resident feel comfortable, respected and engaged in every day activities, like gardening, picking strawberries or choosing a favorite dessert. At Cape Memory Care, following their strawberry outing the residents, family members and staff had a Bar-B-Q. The featured dessert? Strawberry shortcake of course.
Feeling patriotic after night’s announcement that Osama Bin Laden’s terrorist activities are at an end? Celebrate by watching “The Way We Get By,” a documentary about Maine’s troop greeters, on the big screen. The documentary features mostly-senior Mainers who meet each and every plan carrying American troops that lands at Bangor International, no matter the time of day or night.
Tuesday night, May 3, a special pesentation of ” The Way We Get By” will be shown at the Gracie Theater on the Husson University campus. A social will be held from 6 to 6:30 that evening and the movie will begin at 6:30 p.m.
Tickets at the door are $5 for adults and $3 for children under 12. All proceeds benefit the Maine Infantry Foundation.
After watching hosts Brian Knoblock and Lesley MacVane interview artists, musicians, social activists and other people stretching the boundaries of the second half of their lives, we decided here at Maine Senior Guide that the stories told on this community television cable show were important examples of the life and vitality in people over 50.
We wanted to support this story sharing, so we’ve committed to sponsoring Second Act for the next year. You can watch Second Act on public access channel 5 in Portland, Monday nights at 7 p.m. The show is also picked up and broadcast on about 15 other public access stations around the state.
If you’ve missed a show, or like to watch on your laptop during tub time, you can see past programs on the Community Television website.
Meanwhile, back in your own life, are you doing something you NEVER thought you’d be doing now? The producers at Second Act are always looking for interesting people and stories to tell. If someone you know deserves 15 minutes of fame, here’s an opportunity! Contact Lesley or Brian at the Community Television Network, 207-775-2900.
Friday, March 4, was my dad’s 84th birthday, and I purposefully did things all day long that made me think of him: dropped eggs on toast, Maine shrimp for lunch at a Portland working waterfront restaurant, reading “Northern Woodlands” magazine in front of the wood stove, a snowshoe hike and a little cookie baking.
Then I read this really interesting article, about taste coming from your nose and memories. I was especially intrigued at the notion that babies in utero and nursing after birth “learn” to like tastes based on what their mom is eating, so pregnant or nursing women who eat their fruits and vegetables can later more easily entice their toddlers to enjoy carrots, because the kids already like the food from earlier exposure.
That explains why I like all the foods my dad preferred: because that’s what my mom made, and what she ate during the years she added to her young family every 18 months. Lucky me, that my dad didn’t like liver or lima beans! And lucky me that he also enjoyed baking and the occasional cooking experiment, like boiled can.
Boiled can is when you put an unopened can (label peeled off) of sweetened condensed milk in a pot of water and let it simmer gently for some hours. Cut off both ends and push out a quivering mass of caramel. Of course, the real delight is that the little kids won’t have a clue what’s in the can…….peas? cranberry sauce? So it makes a delicious surprise. It smells like warm candy and tastes like fun, dad! Thanks for that memory.
Young @ Heart, an internationally-famous group of singing seniors, makes its first Maine appearance March 27 at Merrill Auditorium.
The rocking choral group hails from Northampton, Mass. Formed in 1982, over the years they’ve collaborated nationally and internationally with others groups ranging from Cambodian singers and rap groups to orchestras. The group’s motto (Never Too Old to Rock!) gives credence to reviews like one from TIME Magazine that said, “These gyrating geriatrics travel around the world belting out rock classics and garnering rave reviews.”
The Young at Heart Chorus performs with a seven piece band of youngsters (ages 40-65). The oldest member of the chorus, Jean Florio, has also been with the group the third longest, since 1993. The current performers in Y @ H range in age from 73 to 89. There are some with prior professional theater or music experience, others who have performed extensively on the amateur level, and some who never stepped onto a stage before turning eighty. None of the current performers of Y@H were part of the original group that formed in 1982, but they have kept alive the spirit of the early pioneers and continue to push the group in new directions.
