Hello everyone,

Happy Easter! This is probably like no Easter you’ve ever celebrated before. We hope you and your residents have a chance to go outside and experience the first bursts of Spring in the air.

You are probably used to having many visitors to your communities on Easter Sunday, with loved ones and friends bringing Easter treats and flowers. Unfortunately, this can’t happen this year, and some of your residents may confused about why no family or friends have been to visit lately.

Teepa Snow, the well-known expert in working with people with dementia and their caregivers, made a video that offers strategies for how to communicate with residents who have cognitive impairment about what is happening. The first half of the 18-minute video shows a daughter calling her mother with dementia and trying to explain to her why she can’t visit. As you’ll see, the daughter is not successful and actually ends up confusing and agitating her mother more. In the last section of the video, after Teepa offers some advice and suggestions, the daughter is able to calm her mother and reassure her. Staff may find this very helpful, and we encourage you to share it with family members too.

Teepa Snow video link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yi79gKdVRo&feature=youtu.be

Have a safe, healthy and happy holiday! We hope you enjoy this special note from the grand-niece of our project colleague: