For the past few years, Verna Mowat has been hosting a Coffee Break® event on her family farm in the Westman region of Manitoba. Despite wind and rain, people in the community venture down the gravel road to Verna’s farm, where a smile and a warm cup of coffee are waiting for each Coffee Break guest. “Lots of people from the community all come out – from Cypress, Glenboro, even neighbours down the road. I think we had 35 people…
I was ten years old when I first noticed the problem. My whole family was attending my brother’s hockey game on a typical Thursday night. My Papa came to every game since I could remember. As we prepared to leave, there was only one person missing, my Papa Joe. With no sign of him in the arena, we went out into the parking lot to check if he was taking a minute and having a smoke. But to our surprise…
Elizabeth Barrie is a First Link® outreach worker for the Alzheimer Society of Oxford. She shares her personal connection to the disease. What is your connection to Alzheimer’s disease? My mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease when I was parenting three young daughters. I had to juggle the expectations of motherhood with the demands of supporting my parents as they navigated the uncharted waters of dementia. Never one to complain or dwell on the negative, Mom continued to participate actively…
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…
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…
When it comes to visiting Mom, I like the normal days, where my only expectation is to “connect” with my mom. The days I don’t like are holidays: birthdays, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Family Day – they all remind me of better times. I feel so overwhelmed by the Mom I have lost, that I don’t have the energy to “find” the Mom who is left behind. On these occasions I enlist my family members or friends to come with me. I…
My mother, Bruna was officially diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in January of 2011. The disease was not unknown to her family. Three of her sisters died of complications resulting from this creeping and subtle sickness, as well as her paternal grandmother. Not long after the second time she had become disoriented while driving and her ever increasing lapses in recall, I decided to take her to visit her doctor. What if she ended up hurting herself, or worse, someone else? I could never forgive myself.
At first, it was small changes. My mother was losing things and getting on the wrong bus. But then I began to notice more unsettling changes. She wasn’t taking care of herself, slept a lot during the day and was becoming even more confused. I knew something was wrong. I took her to her doctor. We got the always shocking, but ultimately expected news. She had dementia. I felt mixed emotions. But knowing the source of my mother’s difficulties was…
Alzheimer’s affects me both personally and professionally. The Walk For Memories is a great way to gather many who are affected by this disease to help promote awareness, raise funds and to just support each other by sharing stories. Everyone is affected one way or another and with an aging population. This walk allows us to take the next steps to help cure Alzheimer’s disease or related Dementias. I walk for my beautiful Grandmother Cecile Bertuzzi. She has always been…
The holidays are all about spending time with friends and family. Including a person with dementia in these events is important because it helps them connect, through familiar faces and objects, to their past. And create new memories too. Including people with dementia in a social gathering, especially a large one, can be challenging. The extra stimulation may be difficult to manage. Most people with dementia still enjoy socializing. Sometimes it is friends and family that may feel uncertain in…