As Lady-Links, we want to help our dear friends in various stages of cognitive impairment stay active and engaged. Completing craft projects together is a fun way to achieve that goal.
In addition to the pure fun of it all, with plenty of love and laughter thrown in, we’ve found that our craft visits help our dear friends to
- Make emotional connections
- Feel engaged
- Promote memories.
Making Emotional Connections
We realize that it is important for those in cognitive decline to maintain interests and relationships, so we visit them in their apartments in groups of two or three. That way our dear friend isn’t overwhelmed with too many faces at one time. The Lady-Links are trained in ways to communicate, knowing that as the disease progresses each dear friend will experience more difficulty expressing thoughts and emotions. By using positive, friendly body language along with giving our dear friends time to process what we’re saying, our visits provide friendship bonds that are meaningful to all of us.
Feeling Engaged
Many of our dear friends are hesitant to join in large group activities because the pace may be too quick or the instructions aren’t broken down in a step-by-step procedure. The Lady-Links offer clear, step-by-step instructions, along with a team approach to making the craft. We often use the “assembly line” approach working as a team. Any difficult task is quickly assigned (without being obvious) to one of the Lady-Links on the “assembly line” while we make sure that our dear friend is on the “spot” in the assembly line that requires a skill level within her capabilities. That way, everyone is engaged and contributes to the success of the overall project.
Promoting Memories
The Lady-Links focus on the process of working on the craft. It doesn’t matter how many projects are completed…what really matters is the process. We let the craft inspire conversation, talking about what the craft reminds us of especially referring to childhood memories. We’ve found that our dear friends who have short-term memory loss can usually remember activities and adventures from their childhood or young adult days. We promote those memories by sharing one of our own and encouraging our dear friend to make a connection. We’ve been successful by using familiar words and phrases, describing events that most of us have in common (such as celebrating holidays) and by well thought-out questions with an occasional word prompt.
The Lady-Links are compassionate and friendly women who spend time in training, working to create a successful visit, that will benefit everyone. As a result, friendship bonds are formed, enriching all of our lives.
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