When you get creative with Dementia Friendly Acitivities

Hey there Careblazer! Welcome back to Careblazers TV, the place where we talk about everything dementia. If you are caring for a loved one with any type of dementia, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Lewy Body Dementia, or vascular dementia, then this is the place for you! I post a video every Sunday on the topic of dementia caregiving.

Here’s a few of my videos that are related to this topic:

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In case you haven’t met me, my name is Natali Edmonds and I am a board certified geropsychologist. That means that I am a clinical psychologist who specializes in working with older adults. In my job, I help people with dementia, and their caregivers, by visiting them in their own homes and helping them cope through the many struggles of caring for someone with dementia. I have always wanted to help more people than is possible for me in a work day. One day, while hiking a trail, I came up with the idea for Careblazers and I decided to see if posting videos online could provide help to the many other Careblazers in the world who don’t get to have help come directly to them in their homes. I do this in my spare time. I hope that this work helps you in some way on your caregiving journey.
#careblazer #dementia #dementiacaregiver

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I want to share something that I did for my husband. For his birthday this month, I wrote him 12 cards. One for each month of the year, and each particular month had in it memories of that month. We have been together now for 38 years, married for 37 of those. So, it was easy to come up with memories. (He's in early stages to some days more like mid stage.) He LOVED all the cards, and he told me that after opening all the cards, and reading them aloud to me, that he has never felt so special on his birthday (he turned 71). I think that someone could do this for an wedding anniversary also.
I labeled each card by month, in the right hand corner where a stamp would go. One thing that I would have done different was I would have waited to seal the envelopes until the near end of the writing. Because I ended up writing some of the memories on the back of the envelope. Whereas if the card was still available, I would have written more in each card.
Took time to do this, yet it was well worth it. And in reading I found he's forgotten a few of the things that I still have memories of, and sadly he's forgotten.