This week I had a group of seniors with dementia for 1/2 an hour followed by a group with all their faculties. The difference on some days is drastic, but today I did something different. When we were clapping together, I walked up to every one of the seniors and looked into their eyes to see if I could tell if the rythm was changing their focus on the activity. What I noticed was that the singing and the rythmic clapping kept everyone's attn. even if they were sitting across the room. My favorite part of my visits is when I have a few minutes to talk to someone one on one. Listening to the comments that they make about my dogs is also stirring. We give the dogs a little freedom to roam in some facilities to meander to and fro between residents. Mostly we place them in people's laps, but today they had a little leeway. One of my Seniors who was petting Lucy, suddenly realized she wanted to jump down and she shouted: "Well I guess she's done with me, she has better places to go! " This woman hadn't spoken much in the past week, or so I was told. The fact that the dog got a rise out of her was enlightening to the staff, and fun for her. Sometimes this levity is just what both need to encourage their patience.
The second group is one of my regular groups and we laugh at everything together. We like to shout:
Alohahaha to every single staff member that walks by. This time word got out that we were doing laughter class and all of a sudden we had 4 staff member when we usually have 1. They were so curious I got them up with me doing the twist, and the hokey pokey shouting hohoho for all the residents.
We all laughed so hard, our sides ached. Laughter is contagious and healing. Laugh on...
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