St. Patrick’s Day Celebrations for Alzheimer’s Patients
March 13, 2008 by Mary Emma Allen
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
Even though we weren’t Irish, we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day when I was growing up on a farm in the Hudson River Valley of New York State. Our hired man, a surrogate grandfather to us children, was Irish. Dan took his meals with us and stayed nights with a neighboring family where he did some caretaking.
Mother cooked corned beef and cabbage or boiled ham and cabbage for dinner that day. (On the farm, dinner was the mid-day meal, with often leftovers for supper, the evening meal.) She might make Irish soda bread and a cake with green tinted icing.
Dan always wore something green, and we children looked to see if he’d forgotten. (He never did.) This was a small green bow on the front of his cap, just above the brim.
Mother also had a close friend, Aunt Pat, who was Irish. Even when Aunt Pat moved back to her native town in Virginia, she and Mother exchanged St. Patrick’s Day cards.
Customs Linger into Alzheimer’s
So…when Mother developed Alzheimer’s, she remembered St. Patrick’s Day, until she reached the stage where one day merged into another. She wanted to send Aunt Pat a card and wondered if she would receive one. While she lived with me, I would prepare something special for the day.
At the nursing home, they had Irish foods and decorations. They might play Irish music. or show an Irish related film.
Sometimes by keeping favorite traditions, foods, songs, and activities alive for Alzheimer’s patients, you keep memories alive longer, too.
How do you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and other festive days with your Alzheimer’s family member…or patients, if you’re a professional caregiver?
(c)2008 Mary Emma Allen
I have worked in Nursing Homes, Home Care Agencies, and now in Public Housing for over 20 years…I worked in Activities with Alzheimer’s Patients 3 nights a week…what we really need in these places is #1, more staff! Especially more activities staff, and more Certified Nurse Aides, specially trained in Alzheimer’s behaviors.
If you are placing your loved one in a home…please, please, visit often…at all times of the day & night…and participate in Family Councils…and make a point of asking…is the Nursing staff specially and continually trained in dealing with alzheimer’s patients, ask for a staffing list to make sure they have enough help on duty – daily! And then ask, how often do you have activities…the home I work in has activities from around 8 am till about 7:45 pm! Ask, to you have a well supplied activities dept? Ask them to show you what type of activities they have on hand (our dept. is severly under supplied…these patients have a short attention span, and for every hour, there should be at least 3-4 activities planned.) Then ask if the alzheimers’ patients are ever taken outside…they are not where I work because they do not have an enclosed courtyard for them…the last home I worked in did, and it was so much nicer to be able to take them outside, and even have them garden in good weather. Most importantly…do not feel guilty for having to place your loved one in a home…Nursing homes do provided 24 hour supervision…the most important point…VISIT OFTEN…even if your loved one does not recognize you, or speak to you…they will…on some level, know that you are there with them – in that moment! Enjoy the time you have with them…remember the more you are with them, the better care they will receive….God Bless you!