Making the Right Choice: Stand-Alone Or Embedded Memory Care?

memory care unit

Submitted by Sugar Creek Alzheimer’s Special Care Center There are few words in our language that strike such a visceral reaction as ‘dementia.’ Even when couched into less intimidating terms such as ‘cognitive decline,’ or ‘impaired memory’ the message is the same: life as we know it is changed on a dime. Whether the diagnosis […]

Volunteer-crafted Twiddle Muffs Keep Hospice Patients Engaged

twiddle

By Chelsea Cook-McCarrell, General Manager for VITAS® Healthcare Anyone who has ever witnessed the agitated and nervous behavior of a patient with dementia or Alzheimer’s, or seen nursing home residents in wheelchairs seemingly staring into space for hours on end: Meet twiddle muff—and meet 65-year-old Wanda, a VITAS Healthcare volunteer who makes them. The twiddle muff does exactly […]

When To Make Decisions for Someone With Dementia… and When Not To

Submitted by Sugar Creek Alzheimer’s Special Care Center It can be tempting to assume that because someone has Alzheimer’s disease or some other form of dementia, they’re not capable of making their own decisions. The trouble is it’s not always true—perhaps more often than you’d expect. By stepping in to speak for someone else, we […]

Financial Problems Can Be Sign of Dementia Onset

cognitive impairment

Submitted by Sugar Creek Alzheimer’s Special Care Center Dementia is a term used for loss of memory, lack of ability to problem solve, and inability to perform everyday activities. Having difficulties with finances may be an early sign. More than 5 million Americans, most age 65 or older, are thought to be living with dementia […]

Plan Ahead as Dementia Progresses

dementia

Submitted by Sugar Creek Alzheimer’s Special Care Center Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia are progressive diseases, meaning that, as time goes on, the disease will likely get worse. Not everyone living with dementia will experience it in exactly the same way, and the rate at which the disease progresses varies from person to […]

Music to Pluck Your Heartstrings

music therapy

By Alexander Germanis Going back thousands of years, the heart has been directly linked to emotion. Plato, Aristotle, Descartes and other philosophers believed our feelings indeed originated from that vital muscular organ. This was such a popular belief for such a long time the term “heartstring” was only first used in a non-anatomical sense in […]