"Serendipity in the University of Washington Archives: Dr. Helen Remick, The Little School, Buxbaum and Courtesy Markers"

Updates on my Writing Edith Buxbaum blog includes

"Serendipity in the University of Washington Archives: Dr. Helen Remick ..."

Raven Chronicles writing workshop for Alzheimer's caregivers & their friends

Alzheimer's cafe encourages writing by caregivers + a Raven Chronicles Writing & Alzheimer’s workshop at Jack Straw Productions

RAVEN CHRONICLES presents “Writing the Alzheimer’s Experience: A Workshop for Caregivers and Friends of People with Alzheimer’s Disease” taught by Esther Altshul Helfgott

Write to develop a greater understanding of what caregivers experience. Whether your loved one is at home or in a facility – three thousand miles away or next door – writing will help you counter isolation and erase the stigma associated with Alzheimer’s Disease. Prior writing experience isn’t necessary, and we’ll write in any form – memoir, poem, essay, fragments, lists, whatever you discover. We’ll use writing triggers from Beyond Forgetting: Poetry and Prose about Alzheimer’s Disease, edited by Holly J. Hughes (Kent State University Press, 2009).

Raven Chronicles’ Office, Jack Straw Foundation/Warren Building 909 N.E. 43rd St., Suite No. 205

Sunday, May 6, 2012; 1:00 - 3:30 p.m. $35.00

E-mail your intent to register, to: editors@ravenchronicles.org

 

Thanks for stopping by,

Esther

Alzheimer’s Cafe, Seattle – Tues. March 13th, at Mae’s

from Witnessing Alzheimer's: A Caregiver's View
by
Esther Altshul Helfgott

The AARP Bulletin reports that “Alzheimer’s cafés offer a safe and supportive space for patients, caregivers and loved ones to share similar experiences and chat over refreshments.

Mae's, Yummy

Each café varies in setting, from schools to pubs. The concept has resonated most with Europeans: More than 60 cafés exist in the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom is home to some 20 [as of April 2011]. The United States launched its first in Santa Fe, N.M., in 2008.

“It gives people permission to be themselves,” says Alzheimer’s expert Jytte Lokvig, who operates Santa Fe’s café, held monthly in a children’s museum.”

Seattle’s Alzheimer’s Cafe sponsored by the Greenwood Senior Center is held the second Tuesday of each month at Mae’s Phinney Ridge Café, 6412 Phinney Ave N.
This month’s St. Patricks Day Gathering
Tuesday, March 13, 3:30-5:00 PM

Facilitated by Carin Mack, M.S.W., the Alzheimer’s Café provides * An opportunity to get out and socialize in a safe environment. *Good food and fun! * No judgment, no expectations—just support. *No cost other than the food ordered.

Questions? Carin Mack, MSW at 206-297-0875 or visit Greenwood Senior Center. Find street parking or park at the Phinney Neighborhood Center at 67th and Phinney .

Seattle could use more Alzheimer’s cafes. Here’s a bit of history on their development and a manual for creating one.
Seattle could use more Alzheimer’s cafes. Here’s a bit of history on their development and a manual for creating one.

Carin Mack and friend

Thanks for stopping by,
Esther

Resources:
*The Alzheimer’s Café: why it works by Gemma M. M. Jones
*Wide Spectrum: Dementia Education
*Online discussions: Alzheimer’s Foundation of America; Alzheimer’s Association online community
Videos: Staffordshire; Sante FE

He was never a ‘shadow’ to me

from Witnessing Alzheimer's: A Caregiver's View, March 9, 2012

by

Esther Altshul Helfgott

Last night's moon.
Photo by E.A.Helfgott

I normally don’t use the word “soul,” but I will today because I’m trying to understand why people use the word “shadow” to describe what happens to the Alzheimer’s patient as he or she begins losing memory and functionality.

Let’s say there is such a thing as a soul, a fundamental essence, something that’s always within a person, regardless of what happens to him or to her on the outside – in terms of looks, behavior, or circumstance.

Let’s say we meet someone in life whose soul touches ours so deeply that even if the two don’t always understand each other on a day-to-day basis or get along with one another all the time, something inside of each stays connected with the other.

Let’s say one of these people gets sick in such a way that most people don’t understand him anymore. Little by little this sick person loses his knowledge about the past, about who people are, what his relationship was with them, even with his wife and children.

Let’s say he’s even forgotten what position he held in the world. In fact, one day he asks his wife: “What kind of business was I in?” His wife says: “You were a doctor.” “A doctor?” he asks in surprise. “Yes, you were a doctor.” “That’s nice,” he says, and goes back to looking at a picture book.

Would you say that this man is a shadow of his former self? I wouldn’t. I’d say he was stricken with a disease that erased his memory and that this erasure stripped him of the capacity to live life the way he used to. He is not a shadow. He is who he always was; he’s just living differently now. His outside self, the one the world sees, has changed; but the inner self, call it a soul, is there. Take time to look. If you choose not to, or if you can’t, that doesn’t mean you’re looking at a shadow.

I never saw Abe as a shadow of a former self. To me, he was Abe until the moment he died. He might have lost his memory, his executive skills, body movements and a host of other things, but if there is such a thing as a soul, Abe’s was intact.

We’re all looking for the “right” way to be around Alzheimer’s. We’re searching for appropriate words to use, but language is difficult. We need to choose words that don’t diminish a person’s essence, that don’t make him or her less on the inside than he or she still is.

This morning’s New York Times included an article about the writer Jeanette Winterspoon (Arts, C31). She writes: “Whatever is on the outside can be taken away at any time. Only what is inside you is safe.” We need to keep people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s safe, especially from humiliation. People living with Alzheimer’s are not shadows. Let’s not make them so.

Emma, Lake Washington.
Photo by E.A. Helfgott

Thanks for stopping by,
Esther

It doesn't matter if they know you, visit

This morning I went to an Alzheimer’s Association fundraiser at the downtown Hyatt Hotel. I rarely go to such events, but a board member invited me to sit at his table; and it’s such a trustworthy organization, I went. This was a big deal for me because at 7:30 a.m. I do absolutely nothing outside my house except take care of Emma. If I’m still inside at that time, I’m reading or writing or trying to guess two or three words of a crossword puzzle.

I’m glad I went. It was good to hear people speaking publicly about Alzheimer’s and to be in a room with over 400 people giving their time, energy and money to research a disease that, in my daughter’s words, kicks people in the knees and doesn’t let them up.

The wonderful Connie Thompson of KOMO 4 News spoke about caring for her mom. The artist, Kevan Atteberry, talked about caring for his wife, Teri, who has early-onset Alzheimer’s. These two described what I know too well — life in extremity, where no matter what one does, the loved one will not get better.

When I came home, I talked on the phone to my daughter and, then, I walked Emma. A few blocks into our walk, I ran into an acquaintance. We got to talking about Alzheimer’s. (It’s been a year and nine months and I still I don’t know what else to talk about). She asked me: “Did he know you?” I told her what I tell everyone who asks me that question: “It didn’t matter if he knew me. He smiled when I came in. I made him happy.”

People with Alzheimer’s may not remember who you are, but they feel your presence. They know you’re there. Sit with them. Hold her hand. Scratch his back. Visit.

Thanks for stopping by,
Esther
3/7/12

from Witnessing Alzheimer's: A Caregiver's View

Writing the Alzheimer’s Experience: A Workshop for Caregivers

Writing was the one component missing for me when attending caregiver support groups (while Abe was alive) and grief groups (after his death), so I’ve been developing a writing class for caregivers of Alzheimer’s patients. Now I’m pleased to announce that it’s come to fruition at the Northwest Center for Creative Aging ... read more

Thanks for stopping by,

Esther

Witnessing Alzheimer's: A Caregivier's View - January 2012 update

It's been a long time since I've posted here. I've been putting most of my blogging energies into my Seattle P.I. blog "Witnessing Alzheimer's: A Caregiver's View" and, then, forgetting, or not having the energy, to post the blog entries here as well. Today I'm catching up. After Abe died I thought I'd stop the P.I. blog; but it's taken on a life of its own, so I continue. Alzheimer's has become a way of life in the modern world and people need as much information as they can get -- to help with understanding the disease and, most important, to develop a support system to help them care for their loved ones.

"Witnessing Alzheimer's: A Caregiver's View," which I began in 2008, a year and a half before Abe's death, is a blog entwined with the grief process. There are occasional reports on research here, and announcements of books and events; but this blog is primarily personal and idiosyncratic. Journal entries, poems, essays and fragments reflect the emotional and spiritual depth of my relationship to my husband, as I continue to experience the Alzheimer's years and his death. The blog functions as a place for me to explore dementia's impact, all the while it reflects my determination to re-discover myself through work, play and relationships, both new and long-term.

What follows here are my last two entries.

Happy New Year,

Esther

Aging in the Digital Age, January 2, 2012 

When Abe retired in 1996, he spoke about getting a Macintosh. That’s what we called Macs in the old days. I reverted to the original term recently when I bought myself a 13” Mac Air. My daughter laughed: “I haven’t heard MACs called that in a long time,” she said. Probably not since 1997 when Steve Jobs developed the MAC OS 8 and certainly not since 1998 when the IMAC came on the market. Nonetheless, I reverted to Macintosh and recalled the day when Abe and I went into the Apple store to begin his search for the just-right-computer. I had been using a PC since 1985 and wasn’t interested in going over to Apple, which didn’t happen until last month; but I was anxious, at the time, to see Abe put one into action. read more... AGING IN THE DIGITAL AGE

Let There Be Light & A Little Less Confusion Here , December 27, 2011

I don’t come from a religious family. My parents were Leftists, and as conflicted as that segment of the Jewish population is, they sent me and my sister to an Orthodox Sunday school – Shaarei Zion, in Lower Park Heights, Baltimore. My brother fared less well (or better); he had to go kicking and screaming to a real Hebrew School three times a week. read more ... LET THERE BE LIGHT