World Alzheimer's Month
World Alzheimer's Month is the international campaign by Alzheimer's Disease International every September to raise awareness and challenge the stigma that surrounds dementia. World Alzheimer's Month was launched in 2012. World Alzheimer's Day is on September 21st each year.
In addition to raising awareness and supporting those with the disease, World Alzheimer’s Month also reminds us of the importance of caregivers, who are there to help their loved ones as they make the difficult journey ahead. Caring for a loved one with Alzheimer's, dementia and memory care can be very challenging for caregivers, especially during the pandemic.
Here are few ways to keep your loved ones busy at home or during a visit:
LIBRARY REMINISCING KITS
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Check out one of the thematic Stories for Life kits from any library branch or the Mobile Library.
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Each kit was designed and developed by following the principles of person-centered care, which aims to respect the dignity of people with Alzheimer’s or other dementias and reflect their varied interests, life experiences, and current abilities.
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LIBRARY BOOKS
Creating joy filled visits in the midst of Alzheimer's: a step by step guide to engaging fun for family caregivers by Julie Ann Bigham
Caring for a loved one living with Alzheimer's can feel overwhelming. There are doctor visits to keep, hard decisions to make, daily care needs to complete, and care meetings to attend, but visits with your loved one should be focused on creating joy filled moments and memories, rather than surviving sadness.
Creating moments of joy along the Alzheimer's journey by Jolene Brackey
Jolene Brackey has a vision: that we will soon look beyond the challenges of Alzheimer's disease to focus more of our energies on creating moments of joy. When people have short-term memory loss, their lives are made up of moments. We are not able to create perfectly wonderful days for people with dementia or Alzheimer's, but we can create perfectly wonderful moments, moments that put a smile on their faces and a twinkle in their eyes. Five minutes later, they will not remember what we did or said, but the feeling that we left them with will linger.
VIRTUAL TOURS
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Washington DC Gallery of Art – 2 virtual exhibits
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Metropolitan Opera – provides evening streams of operas
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Yellowstone National Park (works best using Google Chrome as a web browser)
GAMES AND PUZZLES
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Word Search – play online or print word searches
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Crossword Solver - Solve crossword clues for today or for past solutions quickly and easily with this free crossword puzzle solver.
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Match the Memory – play a match game
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Jigzone – online jigsaw puzzles
CONVERSATION STARTERS
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TimeSlips – ask beautiful questions
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Mather Telephone Topics – browse and register
LOW-COST WORKSHOPS/KITS
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