I teach a fitness class to a group of people living with early stage dementia which has allowed me wonderful insight into this disease. I learned so much from the days where I was just starting with this program by interacting with this population not only about these seniors but also about myself. Confronted with my own mortality I have been scared at times but I mostly gained a tremendous amount of respect for these people and their family. Participants are evaluated in order to assess if they can come alone or if we will require them to attend with a caregiver which is encouraged wether they need to or not. The toughest part of the job is to transition people who may not be a good fit anymore out of the program but I defer to a staff member of the Alzheimer Society of BC for this arduous task.
From the moment of birth all the way to the final journey, we are fully fledged human beings who require dignity. I mentioned earlier how my program is partnered. The caregiver often happens to be a spouse or a child of the person with Alzheimer’s and I can see how challenging it is for them to feel like they are grieving someone who is still alive. My main preoccupation is to make sure that everyone is having a good time and to keep the session playful. If I can offer some levity to the situation I feel like that is the least I can do. Today we practiced laughter yoga a game where the group starts off with a fake laugh and as this inevitably amuses everyone, they begin genuinely laughing. Ed is such a cute tall man and is theatrical by nature. His laugh was the best, during the third round he didn’t start with us but I asked him to join along because I wanted to laugh with him some more.
Although there are studies indicating that stimulation postpones the onset of dementia the hard science seems to indicate otherwise. Stimulating the mind appears effective in the early stages where the neural networks of the brain rewire around dead connections. Tricks to remember things are still working but as the degeneration progresses, time and effort are wasted trying to postpone the inevitable. This is where you wish the person is surrounded by people who believe deeply in human dignity as they can only hope for moments of lucidity.
Fitness instructors are typically very focused on physical and psychological improvements but to teach a frail population necessitates a change of approach. The one impact we can truly hope to go for is to counter the state of depression that usually surrounds dementia and to contemplate that I am doing this for people makes me very proud. It is humbling. Of course doing weights can’t hurt and in this case, what’s the difference between maintaining and improving really? For the majority of older adults maintaining IS improving.
Another reason to make sure that I work torwards creating a pleasurable experience is to avoid frustration. Often the partners insist that the participant copies my movements and when they are too insistent I tell them to loosen their grip. Spouses may be used to a way of interacting so they won’t necessarily do it but if the goal is to be a rare social outing than I will do everything to make them feel like they are at the top of their game. There are big risks involved especially if I get them to stand up. Someone who I don’t allow to stand up might just forget, imitate everyone and fall. This is why I take my time to get to know my groups really well before we get up and dance. Safety first am I right?
There is so much to say about this program and with my #postoftheday challenge, there is no doubt I will talk about it some more. We need to take a good look within and check how it is exactly that we treat our seniors. Many are so proud that they don’t see that; that is going to be them eventually. Furthermore, Alzheimer’s is a disease not a normal part of aging. With modern science we can beat this thing. The question is, what will be lying behind it?
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