📚Book Tour & Guest Post 📚 Looking Past Dementia: Learning from Those Who Live with it by author Marysue Moses
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Looking Past Dementia: Learning from Those Who Live with it
Book Summary
In Looking Past Dementia, dementia educator Marysue Moses shares the powerful insights she has gained from more than twenty years working alongside individuals living with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. Through deeply human stories, she challenges readers to look beyond symptoms and diagnoses to recognize the strengths, emotions and humanity that remain.
Amazon: https://a.co/d/0azje1Jy
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/255705235-looking-past-dementia
Excerpt:
Engagement with Purpose
Here is the heart of my purpose
—William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, act 2
I well remember, long ago, walking into my bedroom to check on my twelve-month-old daughter. Eliza had been crawling around and quiet for too long. I discovered her ripping up the pages of a stack of picture books stored on an open bottom shelf of a nightstand. Grinning from ear to ear, sitting amidst a messy pile of ripped-up paper, Eliza was having a blast with her newfound activity and accomplishment.
Children are curious. Their brains are designed to pursue activities that interest them, build motor skills, and offer a sense of achievement. People living with dementia tend to lose skills in the opposite order that children gain them as they grow. Although those who experience dementia are full-fledged adults, as the condition progresses, their brains respond to their environment as though from an earlier developmental time. In her book, A Deeper Perspective on Alzheimer’s and Other Dementias, Megan Carnarius explores this progressive journey with profound insight and compassion.32
We need to stay aware that the minds of those living with dementia will seek out ways to remain engaged and to experience the satisfaction of fulfilling a purpose. We must also remember that we may or may not appreciate the plan those minds design.
Sometimes, people living with dementia channel their boredom, frustration, or lack of engagement in far more challenging directions. Many of us who have worked in memory care have encountered more than one person who packs up their belongings again and again because they feel it is time to “go home.”
When Mom moved into her first memory care community, she was a regular packer-upper, as she had gotten it into her head that she was about to be “thrown out.”
My brother thought it best to tell Mom about the impending move a few weeks before the event, but this backfired. Her feeling of being thrown out of her current home moved right along with Mom to her new place and stuck around for a while.
Over the years, I learned that in this situation, helping someone pack is often the best way to “cross to the person’s side of the street.” Then, it’s eaEngagement with Purpose
Here is the heart of my purpose
—William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, act 2
I well remember, long ago, walking into my bedroom to check on my twelve-month-old daughter. Eliza had been crawling around and quiet for too long. I discovered her ripping up the pages of a stack of picture books stored on an open bottom shelf of a nightstand. Grinning from ear to ear, sitting amidst a messy pile of ripped-up paper, Eliza was having a blast with her newfound activity and accomplishment.
Children are curious. Their brains are designed to pursue activities that interest them, build motor skills, and offer a sense of achievement. People living with dementia tend to lose skills in the opposite order that children gain them as they grow. Although those who experience dementia are full-fledged adults, as the condition progresses, their brains respond to their environment as though from an earlier developmental time. In her book, A Deeper Perspective on Alzheimer’s and Other Dementias, Megan Carnarius explores this progressive journey with profound insight and compassion.32
We need to stay aware that the minds of those living with dementia will seek out ways to remain engaged and to experience the satisfaction of fulfilling a purpose. We must also remember that we may or may not appreciate the plan those minds design.
Sometimes, people living with dementia channel their boredom, frustration, or lack of engagement in far more challenging directions. Many of us who have worked in memory care have encountered more than one person who packs up their belongings again and again because they feel it is time to “go home.”
When Mom moved into her first memory care community, she was a regular packer-upper, as she had gotten it into her head that she was about to be “thrown out.”
My brother thought it best to tell Mom about the impending move a few weeks before the event, but this backfired. Her feeling of being thrown out of her current home moved right along with Mom to her new place and stuck around for a while.
Over the years, I learned that in this situation, helping someone pack is often the best way to “cross to the person’s side of the street.” Then, it’s easy to suggest taking a break for lunch or an upcoming activity, while someone else on the team goes in and unpacks when the packer is otherwise engaged. Away from their space, the person may well forget about packing, at least for the day.
One time, a woman in our memory care called 911 for help because she felt trapped and lonesome to the point that she didn’t know what else to do.
On several occasions, another woman pulled the fire alarm. Looking back, I wonder if she acted out of desperation, panic, a desire for excitement, or a curiosity that compelled her to follow the instructions on the handle, which, of course, said, “PULL.” Regardless, it’s clear that a lack of meaningful activity influenced her choice of engagement
About the Author
Marysue Moses is a dementia educator, consultant and former memory care coordinator who teaches practical, creative approaches to dementia care. Drawing on both professional experience and her family's journey with dementia, she helps caregivers foster meaningful connection and engagement.
You can follow the author at:
https://lookpastdementia.com.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61590647100255
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