Home Developmental
Disabilities Pediatrics Geriatrics Fun and Games Resources
Foreword
By Lela Knox Shanks,
Lecturer and
author of Your Name is Hughes
Hannibal Shanks:
A Caregiver’s Guide to
Alzheimers
Still Giving Kisses is an upbeat, positive presentation of a
daughter’s love and devotion to her mother who has Alzheimer’s
disease. But
this book is much more than that.
It
is distinctly
unique because
Barbara Smith combines a
daughter’s love with her skills and training as an
occupational therapist
to write a warm and instructive book for
caregivers of
persons with
Alzheimer’s disease (AD).
She explains the symptoms and stages
of AD along with tips for modifying
the environment. No detail is too
small
to make the home environment safe for Smith’s mother, Sarah,
while she could
still live independently. For example,
Smith replaced
burning candles with electric candles for Sarah. Many
of
the tips and
information in the book
could also be helpful to older persons in general.
Smith
also includes
techniques and
suggestions for redirecting
inappropriate behaviors as the person progresses in
the disease. She
gives information on medications for AD.
She also includes an appendix
with references
and resources that run the gamut of information that
families need
throughout the caregiving experience.
with AD and their families. It could also be used as a
tool for in-service
training for all staff
working in nursing facilities, especially program and
activity directors. The
author’s creative ideas, which are often
linked
to sensory stimulation, could be helpful to all types of caregivers.
The
book unfolds in
story form with
several short chapters, making
it easy to read and to understand. Smith includes
pictures of Sarah and
her family and tells the story like she is
talking to you
personally. She narrates
with humor and candor, starting most chapters with a
short funny story.
She writes honestly
and frankly about her mother and her extended families.
She takes the reader from Sarah living
independently to moving into assisted
living; and finally on to skilled nursing
care. She provides lots of tips on what
to
look for in choosing a nursing home, and she stresses the need for
family
members to be a strong advocate for their loved one in a nursing
facility.
Along
with telling her
mother’s
story, Smith fills her book with word games,
songs, individualized puzzles
linked to her mother’s culture, etc., all designed
to stimulate long
term
memory, and thus, bring some comfort, no matter how
brief, to the person with
AD.
As
an occupational
therapist, Smith
came to the task of caregiving trained
to focus “on what a person can do,” and
trained to promote activities that
enhance the person’s “health,
independence,
function and self-esteem.” She
already
had experience working with persons with limited mental and physical
abilities; and thus, she knew the importance of customizing care for
each
individual.
This
book is a demonstration with many examples of how she modified
activities
to
match each new phase of her mother’s progressive mental and physical
decline.
Smith
also emphasizes the importance of
matching the activities to the
person’s interests.
For example, Sarah loved to sing and had
always loved music.
In the late stages
of AD when she could no longer operate a CD player, Smith
made a musical hat
for her mother. (The instructions for
making the hat are included in
the appendix.)
Since
Sarah is Jewish, Smith points
out the importance of institutions being
aware and sensitive to other cultures,
ethnicities and religions. She points out the
need to be respectful of
dietary
considerations and holiday celebrations.
As
a member of the
sandwich
generation, torn between caring for her son
and husband and caring for her
mother, Smith shows how her family, including her
one sibling, Ellen,
worked
together to care for their loved one. Unlike many books
on AD, the reader never
gets a feeling of doom and gloom from Smith.
Neither
does one sense a feeling of dread and resentment from
the
daughter who must
now give so much time to her mother who has AD.
by this daughter to provide the best care
possible for her aging mother with AD.
Smith never gives up on having a purposeful interaction
with her mother
who
continues to reward her with kisses.
Lela
Knox Shanks,
lecturer and
author of Your Name is Hughes
Hannibal Shanks: A Caregiver’s Guide to
Alzheimers.
Your
Name is Hughes Hannibal Shanks
Home Developmental
Disabilities Pediatrics Geriatrics Fun and Games Resources
