Is Social Connection Important for Dementia Care? Discover Why It’s Essential
Learn how social connection improves dementia care and supports brain health through Companioa’s innovative programs, Caregiver Coaching, and Enrichment Center activities.
Learn how social connection improves dementia care and supports brain health through Companioa’s innovative programs, Caregiver Coaching, and Enrichment Center activities.
Nestled in the heart of the Presidio, IOA’s Enrichment Center harnesses the power of nature to enhance dementia care, providing Companioa members with rejuvenating outdoor experiences that improve mood, focus, and overall well-being.
When you moved out of the family home and set off on your own, your mother likely went through a mix of worry and excitement for you. Your challenges were new, and you were bound to make some mistakes on your way to figuring out adulthood. Now that she’s living alone and facing the challenges of later life, you’re likely going through your own worries, especially if you’re unable to act as a regular caregiver to support her independence.
There isn’t a single thing we do that isn’t based at least somewhat on memory. Even things that are instinctual, like eating, are tied up with how we remember; we remember what food we like to eat, how to prepare it, where the forks are, how we were taught how to hold a knife, how this tasted on that night when it was warm out and the wind rustled the leaves behind your table.
Being a caregiver means balancing a lot of emotions and contradictions. When taking care of an older loved one, especially someone who has significant functional limitations, one of the most pressing issues is a contradiction of time.
Sometimes aging adults need someone to step up and advocate for them because of communication barriers and other disabilities. But it’s also true that our aging community needs proactive advocates because our own culture and social constructions tend to undermine the independence and dignity they deserve and underestimate the resources they should have access to.
Caregivers have enormous amounts of responsibility when caring for an aging adult on a daily basis. But these responsibilities eventually boil down to two important issues: how to fill the day, and how to fill the day productively and meaningfully. Time, and the weight of it, balances with the responsibility to better the life of your charge. Whether you are a professional caregiver or a family member helping an older loved one, the issues are the same.
It was a dream come true for Laura when she was finally able to move out of a San Mateo nursing home back into her own apartment. Thanks to the Community Care Settings Pilot (CCSP) program through Institute on Aging, her inpatient rehabilitation after a major car accident didn’t go on longer than it needed to: She was able to return to the community where she feels at home.
One of the problems with aging in America is that, for various reasons, your world can become easily constricted. Streets and sidewalks aren’t designed with the needs of older adults in mind. Friends move away or pass on. Driving becomes more difficult. And for some reason, as a society, we feel that increased isolation is a normal course of events, rather than a series of choices.
Where does creative power come from? Does it spring from the tempest-tossed genius, slashing at the canvas with a paintbrush? Or is it found more in the inner world of the introvert, working away in a small, dingy studio? It can come from many things, but we tend to imagine the ability as being innate. Creativity, though, doesn’t just come from temperament. It can come from life experience, from challenges, from joys and failures, from a spirit of adventure, and from embracing the vulnerability that comes along with trying something new and knowing that it may be imperfect.
Institute on Aging (IOA) CONNECT is your direct line to us and the starting point for help with your concerns about the needs of older adults and adults with disabilities. IOA CONNECT links you with our services, as well as community services available. Reach out to connect with us.
Phone: (415) 750 – 4111 | Fax: (415) 750 – 5338
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