Easter Sunday, brings us to see our elders, a family dinner, baskets, eggs, church, a new dress or a nice suit. Easter sparks many memories for the neurotypical person like one of us. For instance, I can recall the exact shade of pink in the stripes on my dress one Easter, the scratchy knee socks, and the bright sun shining on my face while I posed for Easter photos in the nicely manicured lawn with my cousins. The patient with dementia will not have these memorable details easily accessible. So asking the person with memory and cognitive impairment about their favorite Easter, or what their Easter traditions are may be a great way to begin a conversation, without very fruitful discussion.
What we know about memory is that short term recall is the first to disappear, and then long term recall slips away more slowly. It manifests like this in the early stages…The person with dementia gets up and dressed in their Sunday’s best, the family leaves for church and no slip up yet. They go to service, sing the songs, read the scripture, and then time for family dinner. But this year family dinner is at the granddaughter’s home, and the driver is relying on the one with dementia to give directions, as he is in from another town. Travel there is not so easy, despite many visits prior to this one, wrong turns are made, even pulling into the wrong home, but thankfully noticing another family in the drive. Talking about the sermon this date is impossible, even though the person with dementia was present and participated during the service, no recollection of information so new exists. So, with a lack of interaction regarding current happenings, the family begins to dig back into days past. Reminiscing about the year that one lost egg from the hunt wasn’t found for a week, and only did the stench of the decorated egg lead them to find it. The person with dementia may remember this humorous event. Perhaps they break out the photo album. The senior with memory loss sees a photo of their children 20 years ago, outside the church after Easter, and with a quick comment from the daughter regarding the fun had that day, comments flow easily and memories though long lost begin surfacing.
Now how can we make this Easter, and everyday special? How do we help preserve memories and interactions in life while dementia is trying to take those skills away? Stick with tradition, and keep the events of the holiday as recognizable as possible. People with dementia will remember the familiar, and function optimally when provided with stimulation that is not constantly changing. Memory loss will often not attack the prayers that were repeated throughout life, the common routine of cooking the same recipe for the Easter ham will be intact, and even knowledge of the normal attire, or typical events of the day are tools to use to help the person with dementia live life as normally as possible. When it comes to remembering and conversing, use items and pictures from the past to elicit recall, and keep the demand simple. Allow the senior to recall what they easily can and keep the conversation flowing by feeding in missing details. Familiar smells, tastes, places, routines, and providing stimulus with emotional content will retrieve memories from places hidden.
Not only this Easter, or on special holidays, but everyday, we can draw from this knowledge to help those we love with memory loss have meaningful interactions. Keep routine intact, use familiar ritual, and pull in concrete items to stimulate memories and conversation. Fill the day with success driven interactions. We can tap into emotions, feelings of love, joy, and peace to promote pleasant contact with the senior suffering from dementia, and through these moments preserve quality of life in the face of a terrible disease.
Happy Easter!
