Alzheimer's Disease

[EDDIEKIRK]

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Tom and Karen Brenner



When we began creating short stories for people living with dementia to read aloud, we were surprised by the journey that this simple exercise created. As people began reading our prepared stories, they started telling us stories from their own lives. These stories really grabbed us, and we began writing them down. It is often said that everyone has at least one good story in them, and we have found this to be true.

We are not talking about autobiography and we are not discussing life histories, but rather we are talking about incidents, fleeting moments from a persons life that they share with us. For example, there was Virginias story about how she met her husband. He was the brother of a girl that Virginia worked with in a factory during WWII. He was in the Navy and was home on leave when Virginia went to her friends house for dinner. Virginia told us,



We took one look at each other and it was bif, bam boom! They were married before his leave was over and he had to go back to the Navy and to the war. He survived the war and they were married until his death, some forty years later. This was just a brief moment in Virginias long life, but of course, a seminal one for her and for her husband.



We asked Virginia if she would like to film her story about how she met her husband. She agreed and we made a very short film of Virginia telling us this story. Then, as we always do, we showed Virginia her movie. At first, we were alarmed because when Virginia saw herself on the television screen, she asked us,



Who is that old woman? How does she know all that stuff about my life? Virginia began to grow agitated and we thought that perhaps this was a mistake. But then, as she began to listen to the old woman talking on the TV, Virginia became engrossed in the story. She began to agree with the old woman, and shake her head yes, that was right. She laughed out loud when the old woman on the TV said that it was bif, bam boom, when Virginia met her husband.



She clapped heartily when the film ended and was very much awake when she went to lunch that day. We were not sure if Virginia understood that the old woman talking on TV was actually her, but then we overheard her talking to her lunch companions and saying, You are not going to believe this, but I was on TV today. I had my own show on TV!



When we realized that some people who have dementia can still tell stories from their lives, we began documenting these stories in print and on film. We learned that it was very important to first give people something to hold in their hands in order to prime the pump of memory. For Virginia, we happened to be visiting on Veterans Day and we just happened to give her a little flag that had the Navy insignia on it. She recognized the flag and that was the prompt that opened the gates to her story of how she met her husband. Now, we deliberately bring in meaningful objects or photographs from peoples lives to help give them some context for sharing stories from their lives.



Finally, there was the love story that was told to us by a highly regarded scientist. He had taught in a major university and conducted important research that had an impact on world wide crop development. Knowing his life work, we brought in small galvanized buckets of different types of grains for him to put his hands into, to feel the grain again, to prime his memory of the years that he researched and worked with arable crops.







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