Visiting with elders

Baycrest launches free online handbook

Toronto , ONT – “Hello Mom, remember me? I'm your daughter”.

For people who are finding it emotionally upsetting and difficult to visit an elderly loved who is experiencing cognitive changes, help is just a click away!

Baycrest, one of the world's most respected centres for geriatric care and aging brain research, has produced a free online handbook that offers creative ideas and practical strategies to help family members and friends have a meaningful and positive visit with an elderly person who has a dementia, such as Alzheimer's Disease.

“Visiting with elders” (Second Edition, 2005) can be read at www.baycrest.org.

“As language skills diminish for people with cognitive loss, their capacity to understand is usually greater than their ability to express themselves verbally,” says Ruth Goodman, a senior social worker at Baycrest and the author of the guidebook.

“The challenge is to find new ways of communicating and interacting that honours the wholeness of the elder person's life and helps them to feel loved, validated and socially connected to others.”

Baycrest hopes the handbook will help many family members who are going through the often uncertain journey and roller coaster of emotions as they visit with a frail elder in a long-term care facility.

“Visiting with elders” is a helpful resource for…

Relatives and friends of older people living in institutions
Health care professionals working in long-term care
Group leaders of caregiver support groups
Hired companions who spend time with residents

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For more information on this press release or to interview Baycrest social worker Ruth Goodman, please contact:
Kelly Connelly, Media Relations
Baycrest
(416) 785-2432
kconnelly@baycrest.org