The legendary cellist Pablo Casals was asked why he continued to practise at age 90. “Because I think I’m making progress,” he replied. 1 Here’s a radical, outside-the-box thought. Growth is possible until the end of life. It is possible, in fact, desirable, for people to grow as people until they die. They can have […]

If you live in the Greater Toronto Area, it’s all the buzz. The Toronto Star for the last two weeks has featured articles exposing the use of antipsychotic drugs in Ontario nursing homes. “Ontario nursing homes are drugging helpless seniors at an alarming rate with powerful antipsychotic drugs, despite warnings that the medications can kill

My mind has been circling a quote for a few weeks. “Often the best therapy is to provide opportunities for happiness and increased meaning in the lives of residents.” 1 These words are the result of an experimental intergenerational program between school children and elders in Australia. It is quoted by Bill Thomas, founder of

Culture change. Huh? Culture change in eldercare. I first heard the term a few years ago, and it wasn’t until having the words come up in several conversations, lectures and workshops that I realised I didn’t have a good understanding of what it meant. I understood change (although definitely not all the implications) but culture?

It’s not it’s own language, but there’s a definite skill in being able to communicate with someone with Alzheimer’s. It’s not about the words so much as the spirit behind them. Here are my top ten tips for speaking Alzheimer’s 1. Don’t try to reason with me. You will only frustrate both of us. (NOT:

I have three buttons in me. Worry buttons. Hardly a day goes by, but I have my finger firmly pressed on one of them. The green one is for silly worries that I know aren’t real, but for one brief, breath-holding moment, I believe. Like that moment when you are standing in the grocery check

We have a new resident in the Courtyard Community at Christie Gardens. That, in itself, is not unusual. Because we are a continuum, people come to live in our independent apartments or life lease condominiums. Over the years, as they age, their needs change, and often they move to the Courtyard Community, where full care

The first time I experienced it was when my first husband, Bill, was sick. The first inking was a day when he was in the emergency department of our local hospital. Because we were often there in that last year, I don’t remember what precipitated this visit. It wasn’t the time he collapsed in Shopper’s

It’s the topic most people hate. Fear, even.We don’t want to think about it, yet every one of us will experience it. Dying. The care of those who are dying is often called palliative care. I used to think I knew what that meant, but I discovered it’s a far broader term than I knew.

Brenda and Greta on her 90th birthday Picture a young girl of eight or nine standing in the aisle after church. Disabled by crippling shyness, she stares at an older lady. Her enormous brown eyes, her only redeeming feature, are covered with glasses, and she shifts her chubby body from foot to foot as she