When I think of dementia and what it entails I think of a “living loss”. On some level, no matter what our age, we look up to our mothers for guidance and advice. It is difficult to acknowledge the changes that come with dementia. Suddenly it seemed my mother was not the mother I had known for my entire life. It was a huge loss for me and for my sisters. My mother has been my greatest teacher. She taught…
In the spring and fall of 2013, I worked with a team of artists and researchers on the play Cracked: New Light on Dementia. I was brought onto the project because of my theatre background and because of my personal and professional experience working with people who have dementia. The play is intended to inspire alternative ways of seeing people living with dementia, instill the importance of maintaining strong relationships with them, and reinforce the imperative for good ethical care….
Beth Haas, Behavioural Support Worker for the Alzheimer Society of Oxford, shares her connection to Alzheimer’s disease. Can you share what your personal connection to Alzheimer’s disease has been? First it was my grandmother who had Alzheimer’s disease. It was still called senility in the 1970s. At an early age, I had to travel every other weekend to support her as she struggled to remain in the farmhouse where she had spent all of her married life. And then, years…
Give your brain and body a boost! Minds in Motion® program launches in Toronto for Alzheimer Awareness Month “She is challenging herself physically, using those muscles she needs to get out of a chair, to go upstairs.” This comment is a tribute to the power of Minds in Motion®, an Alzheimer Society program launching in Toronto, along with an additional 11 Ontario communities, in January 2015 for Alzheimer Awareness Month. Designed for people with early to mid-stage…
This time of year can be particularly busy and stressful for most of us. However, it’s also the best time of year to sit back and remember the past year. I’m always a little nostalgic for Christmases gone by. When you are living with a person with Alzheimer’s disease, it can be particularly sad; traditions aren’t the same or aren’t there anymore. My mum, Jane, would make sure there were a few handmade ornaments on the tree every year. One…
The last few weeks I have been “off.” I have been extremely tired, lack motivation, and am moody. Today, I had another example of how my brain is changing. I was tidying up the bedroom and began to move items in order to dust. I started to pile things on the dresser. I was not being careful but, for some reason, didn’t really care. As I continued, I looked at my South African art ostrich egg that was dangerously positioned…
Felix is a highschool student from Toronto I was invited to get a peek at the brand new Ontario Science Center exhibit about the most complicated piece of machinery on our planet: the brain. Upon admission into the exhibit, the noise of crackling wires greeted us. An immense canopy of wires created an eerie atmosphere. It was overwhelming, the immense size and knowing that it represented our brain. And then I fell upon my favourite piece of the exhibit; a…
Meet our Breqlab team! We are computer programmers using cutting edge technology to help make daily activities easier for people with dementia. After 18 months of hard work, we have finally completed our vision: a wearable mouse that helps people with limited/impaired hand movements or tremors use computers. The inspiration for the mouse came from Dr. Martin Labrecque, CEO of BreqLabs. “My grandmother had dementia and arthritis, which made fine finger movements tough. I wanted to connect with her online…
Joel Ramirez is a 2008 ASRP Doctoral Award recipient from University of Toronto who works under the supervision of Dr. Sandra Black at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto. Learn a bit about his research and finding from his publication: Subcortical hyperintensity volumetrics in Alzheimer’s disease and normal elderly in the Sunnybrook Dementia Study: correlations with atrophy, executive function, mental processing speed, and verbal memory.
If you have volunteered with the Alzheimer Society of Toronto, the name Harbel Singh Arora will be a familiar one. Harbel was a dedicated man who volunteered with the Alzheimer Society of Toronto every day for almost seventeen years to honour his sister with dementia. Inspired by his family, Harbel’s grandson, Jagneet Arora, began volunteering with the society as well. As an employee of Deloitte, Jagneet has had the opportunity to participate in their Impact Day, which allows staff members…