Newsletter Archives - Lady Links

Lady-Links are encouraged to participate in the “Walk to End Alzheimer’s” on Friday, September 27. Come and join our friend and her husband and many others as we walk from our community building to the lake and back. Remember to wear purple!

Phase 1 of our Lady-Links commitment is coming to a close. We organized as a group two months ago, committing to make one-hour friendship visits to our friend with Alzheimer’s dementia, twice a week. There are 10 Lady-Links, so each Lady-Link makes two to three visits per month. We visit in groups of 2 or 3. We have seen tremendous improvement in the areas of social skills and communication with our friend. Lady-Links report that they receive as much joy from their visits as our friend does. Our friend has responded favorably to each project and activity we have initiated and our goals for our initial phase have been met. Every Lady-Link has made a commitment to continue.

Our Link-up Luncheon is scheduled for this Wednesday, September 25 in our community’s private dining room at 11:45 a.m. You will have an opportunity to share your concerns, joys, blessings, hopes, insights and thoughts. Dennie will provide an update, telling us what to expect for Phase 2 (October – December) of our commitment to provide friendship visits to our friend. Dennie will have the schedule available, so if you haven’t already done so, you can schedule your visits. We will end at 1:30 p.m.

There is an excellent article at aplaceformom.com called “Picture It: How Art Helps Dementia Patients” that supports our efforts to engage our friend in painting the cards for the Card Ministry. The article says, “Studies show that art therapy can enhance communication, brain function and social interaction for dementia patients.” Our friend enjoys the cards, especially the one with the elephant giving himself a shower. She loves to paint extra drops of water all over that elephant for “extra” blessings. She has occasionally opened one of the cards and read aloud the message, only missing a couple of the words, which is remarkable considering that her husband thought that her reading skills were lost. Let’s find other projects that include painting, such as decorating pumpkins or making holiday decorations or ornaments. Ideas? Let Dennie know.

The Lady-Links visit on Fri., Sept. 27 at 10:00 a.m. will be the walk. Meet in the lobby.

Have you noticed how much our friend is participating, smiling, laughing, and communicating during your Lady-Link visits? Our love and laughter-filled visits are enriching her life in many ways. And that’s not just our opinion! Assist Guide Information Services, a partner with the National Alzheimer’s Foundation, has posted on their website, www.AGIS.com , a list of benefits people with Alzheimer’s receive from activities. Some of these include enjoy happier daily life, increase feelings of self-worth, maintain memory, enhance and maintain communication skills, improve and increase personal relationships, and reduce nervous tension, behaviors and wandering. You are making a significant difference in our friend’s life.

We’ve added another activity….singing! The Tuesday Lady-Links introduced singing at their last visit, and our friend participated with great enthusiasm. In fact, she knew most of the words to patriotic songs like Yankee Doodle and fun songs like Row, Row, Row Your Boat. At Friday’s visit, our friend initiated singing and dancing by putting on a Perry Como CD (we helped a little with volume adjustment) and she began singing the words. We joined in and soon it turned into a Dancing with the Stars moment! Our friend loves ballroom dancing and even twirled her partners. With all the singing, dancing, and exercising, plus activities such as flower arranging, card painting and card playing, you will find that the hour goes quickly. Remember, just pick and choose what works best for our friend. The goal is to engage her in activities that she enjoys, not to accomplish any given number of projects.

We have seen great progress in our friend’s acceptance of new activities. Friday will be a milestone for us if we can accomplish what we are going to try. After we have enjoyed a few activities around the kitchen table, we will attempt to leave the apartment and go to the Multipurpose Room to exercise, dance, and roll large beach balls from one person to another. This will be of great benefit to her overall health if she can do this.

I hope you have reserved Wednesday, September 25^th on your calendar for our Link-up. Bring your lunch (or if you’re not eating, just bring yourself) to the Private Dining Room at 11:45. We will begin our meeting at noon and it will last until 1:30 p.m. Our Link-up will include an opportunity for you to share your concerns, joys, blessings, hopes, insights and thoughts. Dennie will provide an update.

Comments or questions? It’s easy…just email us at contactl@lady-links.com or check out our website at Lady-Links.com. or connect with Lady-Links on Facebook.