Lady-Links Newsletter for September 23, 2013

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.