“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” The poet Maya Angelou wasn’t thinking about Alzheimer’s disease when she wrote these words, but I can’t think of a more perfect way to convey how using the Best Friends™ Approach impacts our friends and family members with dementia. Alzheimer’s disease and most other dementias… Read More »
Communicating with a person with dementia can be difficult as dementia progresses. Our good friend Rebecca had a hard time communicating as time passed, but because we knew her Life Story, we were able to bring forward memories and stories to help her feel in the flow of life. We also knew she that she liked to express an opinion. She loved it when staff and volunteers at the Best… Read More »
The Best Friends™ Approach seeks to make people with dementia feel valued and important—connected to the world and, in spite of cognitive problems, able to make a difference. Asking a person with dementia for an opinion is an easy way to make that happen. When David Troxel’s mom Dorothy was living in a memory care community, he would bring her five ties and five dress shirts on hangars. “Mom, I… Read More »