With the holiday season in full swing, AFA offers tips to help care partners celebrate safely and comfortably.
“Dementia doesn’t prevent someone from feeling the warmth, love and laughter of the holiday season, but it can change how they experience it,” says Jennifer Reeder, LCSW, AFA’s educational and social services senior director. “Being proactive, adaptable and inclusive of the person’s wishes and abilities are the best ways to help them have a happy and joyful experience.”
AFA offers these six tips for creating a dementia-friendly holiday season:
- Keep decorations festive, but simple. Decorating is part of the holiday fun, but many flickering lights, noisy items or major changes to the person’s environment can be overwhelming and potentially cause the person to wander. Choose a few favorite items and phase in decorations over a period of days, so changes to the person’s environment are less confusing.
- Eliminate dangerous decorations and safety hazards. Avoid fragile decorations that can shatter or ones that look like food or candy. Be mindful of potential tripping hazards, such as wires for decorations. Memory loss can cause changes in vision, depth perception and gait.
- Adapt past traditions. If your person always sent cards or baked cookies and still wants to, help them accomplish this. You can also start new traditions that center on activities and events the person enjoys and can do, such as touring neighborhood holiday lights. Ask your loved one what traditions are most important, if possible. Feeling some sadness about changes and losses, especially during a holiday, is normal. Acknowledge these feelings and then move on to new ways to celebrate.
- Take cues from your loved one. Use a strengths-based, person-centered approach, incorporating what the person can do and chooses to do now, rather than dwelling on what they used to do.
- Prepare a quiet, calm space before a holiday gathering. Create a space where your loved one can sit comfortably and guests can visit in small groups or one-to-one. Provide familiar comfort items, such as a favorite blanket, sweater or stuffed animal. To the greatest extent possible, maintain the person’s normal routine; disruptions in routine can be difficult for someone living with memory loss.
- Accept help from others. Many parts of the holiday season — shopping for gifts or hosting a holiday gathering — can be stressful even without the additional responsibilities of caring for a loved one with memory loss. Relatives and friends might be eager to help but do not know how. Accept their offers and be specific about what would be helpful: running errands, bringing a dish to the celebration or spending time with your loved one so you can complete holiday tasks. Happy Holidays!
For More to explore:
Making Airports More Dementia-Friendly
Fall Prevention
Schedule a Virtual Memory Screening Test