Lady-Links: It’s A Peach of a Process to Become a Lady-Link

How did the Lady-Links manage to get to the point where love and laughter flow so freely at visits with their dear friends, those ladies in various stages of cognitive decline who live in our retirement community?

Although our Lady-Links have a natural tendency to show kindness, compassion, and joy in whatever they are doing with their dear friends, there is a process for refining such skills so that those in cognitive decline will feel welcomed and loved during these friendship visits.  That process takes time and dedication as does anything that is worth doing.  And certainly the lives of our dear friends are to be valued and honored in every way possible. Learning the process to achieve a desired outcome (in whatever you want to do) helps ensure success.

I had the opportunity to think about the value of  processes recently when “Peach Season” brought with it the annual trek to farmers markets, roadside stands and orchards that so many of us make.  Having found the “perfect” freestone peach, I began the process of preparing those to eat immediately and those I wanted to freeze.  I had to set aside time to review the process for “putting up peaches” and make preparations to do things right if I wanted peaches to eat throughout the year.  It was a process with many steps.

Step 1 – Washing

Step  – Making the Syrup

Step 3 – Peeling the Peaches

First immerse in boiling water for 45 seconds, then place in an ice bath for several minutes.  The skins should (notice I said “should”) come off easily.

Step 4 – Prevent Browning (I used lemon juice.)

Step 5 – Add the syrup solution and package in freezer bags.

This should result in “fresh” peaches that will provide a deliciousness throughout the year if the process works.  And it should….plenty of time, energy, and effort were spent in learning what to do and how to do it.

How much more valuable are people than peaches?  There’s no comparison to their value.  The comparison comes in when we think of the process of what it takes to ensure a desired outcome.  We have a training process that prepares ladies to become Lady-Links who bring love and laughter into the lives of their dear friends.  The process is time consuming but so worth the effort.  Our training includes both educational and inspirational sessions that introduce us to:

• Understanding Cognitive Decline – from Mild Cognitive Impairment to the various types of Dementia (including Alzheimer’s)
• Best Practices for Communicating with those in Cognitive Decline
• Modification of Games and Activities to Promote Successful Interaction with those in Cognitive Decline
• Ways to Encourage those in Cognitive Decline to Feel Valued and Appreciated.

This has been our process for training our new Lady-Links since 2013 and it works.  Our dear friends interact with us and remain engaged at each of our visits.  This helps them stay actively connected to their world around them, even after the visit ends.  We think our Lady-Links training is a “peach of a process” with wonderful results.

 

Whether it’s working with Peaches or People….when you find the right process and apply it, you’ll have “peachy” (wonderful) results.

Try it….you’ll like it.