Relationships are key when caring for people with Alzheimer’s

When it comes to caring for people who suffer from cognitive loss, so much of it is about the relationships and human connections they have formed explains Ruth Goodman, a Baycrest senior social worker.

“Studies have shown that meaningful relationships are so important for people with dementia,” says Dr. Laura Wagner, a researcher with Baycrest’s Kunin-Lunenfeld Applied Research Unit (KLARU) who recently conducted a “friendly visiting” study. The study explored the impact of friendly visiting by trained volunteers on the well-being of cognitively impaired nursing home residents as recorded through observations and volunteer interviews.

“The results support the need to enhance cognitively impaired residents’ quality of life and quality of the moment by promoting their personhood and affirming their identity, current capacity and past accomplishments,” she explains.

“A person’s sense of self or personhood continues to exist throughout the course of dementia,” she adds. ”This is encouraged through relationships that recognize other aspects of a person besides their cognitive abilities, for example their emotional, social, creative and spiritual capacities.”

“At Baycrest, our aim is to forge these relationships and thereby improve quality of life for people with Alzheimer’s and related disorders,” adds Ruth. “Even with cognitive losses it’s still important to connect. The elderly need to feel safe and need to feel that they’re a person. We continue to build on our friendly volunteer program but at the same time we encourage all staff to engage residents in these ways.

“Regardless of cognitive loss, the elderly retain their full emotional capacity,” she says. “Sometimes people with cognitive loss are written off as not having any ability left, but there are other parts of their being that are still there and that’s what we need to focus on.”

Research has demonstrated that music has an emotional core. At Baycrest, music is incorporated into many of the programs to bring meaning to the lives of the residents. Music has a calming effect and is also a social activity.

“We find that people with memory loss, who cannot find words for a conversation, will remember all the words to a song,” says Ruth. “Music and cultural rituals bring back memories, allow participation and enrich the day-to-day lives of our clients.”

At Baycrest, there are a wide variety of support programs for family caregivers, which include suggestions on how to enrich the lives of their loved ones. We recognize that when a loved one suffers from dementia there is a real loss for family members. We believe that the family network is critical to the residents’ sense of well-being. The variety of support programs that we offer is unique because we realize that caring for the caregivers ultimately helps the resident.

Baycrest has also published a booklet entitled “Visiting with Elders” to help families with strategies on how to make their visits more meaningful, and learn new ways of communicating and interacting with elderly loved ones who have Alzheimer’s or another dementia. To view the booklet, please visit the Visiting with Elders webpage.

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