November 4, 2009 by Anne Basting
Well that was quite an amazing affair. The 2009 Edna Gates Conference in Troy, Michigan assembled some of the people I admire most in the field. I had to teach on Monday, so I missed my friend and colleague Rhonda Montgomery talking about her innovative T-Care (Tailored Care) program that teaches people to assess the needs of caregivers based on how a person understands/identifies their role as caregiver.
On Tuesday morning, things started off with a small world story. The mother of someone I’d grown up with in my home town of Janesville sat at the table right in front of the podium. We had a nice catch up chat and then I asked her what brought her to the conference, Vann Cowie said “I’m Edna Gates’ youngest sister.”
John McInnis warmly introduced Richard Taylor, who spoke, as always, elegantly with an edge of rabble rousing. He gives us the reason and vision to change the way we treat people with dementia, and to include them in every step of that change process.
Impossibly, I followed Richard. Ever try to do a creative exercise at 9 a.m. with 700 people? Bless them, they were actually pretty game. Michelle Braun followed me. I’ve seen the brain slides many many times…but Michelle told the story of what’s happening in a brain with dementia with a eye toward strengths, not just losses. It was a clear, connected, and very informative talk that made me hope that there might be a new status exam (soon…Michelle??) to assess both strengths and losses. The current mini-mental so clearly reinforces perceptions that this condition is wholely an experience of loss.
Elinor Fuchs (Making an Exit) followed Michelle. The crowd cheered her announcement that she wasn’t going to use powerpoints…and would instead simply read her paper. But Elinor doesn’t “simply” do anything… She presented taped conversations with her mother, reading both parts, embodying both people in a time when they struggled simply to reach and hold each other through a tangle of words. We can talk and talk about person-centered care…but really capturing it and feeling it is rare. And Elinor gave us just that.
I had to put out some fires in the office after lunch, finding my spot on a lobby couch and emailing like a mad woman…but I did catch a bit of Al Power’s presentation on Dementia beyond Drugs. Clearly, he gets it. Psychotropics are not the solution. Changing the way we see dementia and interact with people with it is the solution. He had a LOT to say with dense slides that went very fast. I longed for a more leisurely pace where the pedagogy could match his message of “experiential model” of care than “medical model.”
Then it was off to the airport. I was so happy to see Maria Genne there, and to hear that her new video of her work with Dancing Heart really captures the magic of what creative engagement (through movement in this case) brings people with dementia and their care partners.
Thanks to Anne Robinson for assembling such an amazing roster of folks. It was clearly quite a feat to pull off…which she did with her usual grace.
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October 12, 2009 by Anne Basting
Wednesday night – October 14th at 7 pm, we’ll gather at Boswell Book Copmany on Downer Ave. on Milwaukee’s East Side. I’ll be reading a few choice bits and thanking Rocille McConnell (who’ll be there!) for her and her husband Roger’s shining example of how not to lose faith or each other in the journey through dementia.
Hope to see you there!
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September 28, 2009 by Anne Basting
In September I had the great fortune to two training workshops. The first was a TimeSlips creative storytelling training organized by a dedicated group of volunteers who are part of the Minnesota Dementia Care Professionals network. 130 people squeezed themselves around long tables in the chapel of a nursing home in St. Paul, MN. Joyce Konczyk, the organizer of the training, used her webinar savvy to enable me to do a live demonstration on the 3rd floor of the nursing home that was live fed to the computer/screen down in the chapel.
The second training, held at Cedar Villages in Mason, Ohio, was part of ASA’s/Metlife’s MindAlert program. “Imagine That: Creative Engagment in Dementia Care, is a day-long workshop that invites participants of all backgrounds and work responsibilities to feel the excitement and freedom of creative expression, and then imagine ways to use it to engage with the older adults in their lives. We play with words through stories and poetry as well as simple movement exercises.
In both workshops, toward the end of what is a long, but exilarating day, you could see the excitement in people’s eyes. In Ohio, the teams around each table created multi-tiered projects around a traditional “activity” for people with dementia. “Sorting poker chips” became an opportunity for creating playful sculptures; for becoming a make believe monetary system that could buy you your dreams; and a pleasurable sensory experience as you ran your hands through an enormous bin of chips. And this was from the table with the CEO, who shared the day with us.
With two small children at home, and a husband who travels for work, the travel for trainings is a tough juggle for me. But seeing the “aha’s” in their eyes at these two fabulous trainings gives me the sense that there is a longing for change that might just use creative engagement as its starting point.
The October training line-up:
Posted in art, cultural phenom, long term care, public education | Tagged creative engagement, creativity and dementia, memory loss, NADSA, TimeSlips, trainings, WAHSA, workshops | Leave a Comment »
September 28, 2009 by Anne Basting
There is a growing number of programs in the United States (and across the world), that link community activists and social justice workers with the arts and humanities – often by involving students through service learning programs.
This is a potential and powerful mechanism for transforming long term care. Imagining America, a consortium of colleges and universities that seek to deepen and support this kind of engaged scholarship, studied theses growing programs. Culture and Community Development in Higher Education is a rich resource for anyone interested in learning more about these programs.
The Center on Age & Community, which I direct, broached this topic at our 2009 think tank – “How Can We Radically Transform Activities in Long Term Care” – to which we invited artists, culture workers, caregivers, and leaders/changemakers in long term care. The white paper is now available on CAC’s website – free/downloadable.
CAC is now at work on three collaborations in this vein, our ongoing TimeSlips creative storytelling project; The Penelope Project; and the Communal Table, in which two adult day centers (one in Wisconsin and one in Michigan) will create communal meals and then share the experience with each other virtually.
Posted in art, cultural phenom, long term care, public education | Tagged community development and aging | Leave a Comment »
September 16, 2009 by Anne Basting
USA Today had an article today about the power of art for people with dementia and their caregivers. Between the efforts of MOMA, getting their training materials and trainings out to museums all over the country; Artists for Alzheimers, consulting with museums and other cultural institutions on how to shape programs for people with dementia; and the Helen Bader Foundation’s consortium of cultural institutions…I think we’re starting to see a movement happening!
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September 10, 2009 by Anne Basting
Looks like more research is pointing toward social engagement as a vital key to good health. Not surprising…but helpful to prove the value of encouraging relationships and group work for people with dementia and memory loss.
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August 31, 2009 by Anne Basting
It’s all one system. The way we think is of course, linked to what is happening in the rest of our bodies. “I think therefore I am” doesn’t separate the mind from the body, it announces that the two are linked.
A new study out of the University of Minnesota finds that hopelessness leads to increased risk of stroke among women. Among 559 women tested, those who answered questions about the future and their personal goals and revealed a sense of hopelessness were more likely to have thickening of the neck arteries, a sign for stroke.
The question remains whether it is possible to change attitude and in turn change the women’s risk of stroke. But I would suggest that the role of the arts in public health to simultaneously build a sense of self and community has not fully been explored.
Check out Mike White’s new book, Arts Development and Community Health – it’s a little dense at the start (tracing the linkages between arts and health through the British govt/health system), but the framework is enormously helpful to Americans who continue to see the power of the arts through either a medical lens (therapy) or social justice (community development) lens, but not both.
Posted in art, cultural phenom, public education | Tagged arts and health, hopelessness, Mike White, mind body split, stroke | Leave a Comment »
August 25, 2009 by Anne Basting
Not many meetings are inspiring…that’s for sure. But today, I attended a gathering of the 5 museums in Wisconsin planning programs for families with dementia. 5 museums, normally in competition for funds and members, agreed on a common name, looked for economies of scale in trainings of staff on the basics of dementia, shared plans for developing a common flyer to describe all 5 programs, shaped plans for a common evaluation of their programs when they emerge from the planning stage into the implementation stage.
Wisconsinites will soon be the richer for the collaborative spirit of the John Michael Kohler Art Center, the Museum of Wisconsin Art, the Racine Art Museum, the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, and the Milwaukee Public Museum. What an amazing project!
Posted in art, cultural phenom | Tagged art museums, dementia | Leave a Comment »
August 5, 2009 by Anne Basting
Alllllll right! The family is geared up for a busy fall with book readings, trainings and conference talks. We just solidified the date for the Milwaukee launch/reading, which will be October 14th, at 7:00 pm at Boswell Book Company on Downer Ave. (the former Harry Schwartz Bookstore). So save the date and tell your friends!
This fall, I’ll also be in St. Paul, MN (Sept. 18th); Cinci, OH (Sept. 25th); Green Bay, WI (Oct. 1st); Seattle, WA (Oct.8-9); Iowa City, IA (Oct. 15-17); Troy, MI (Nov 3rd); Bloomington, IN (Nov 5); Indianapolis, IN (Nov 6th); and Atlanta, GA (Nov 20th). For more details, go to the ABOUT page and click on Press/Presentations (you’ll find it on the lower right-hand side window).
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August 4, 2009 by Anne Basting
I just read about this facility in the UK that has infused creativity and sensory stimulation into its design and mission. Can the US be too far behind? And can we do it in a meaningful way, not just a marketing way?
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