© Jill Couch

“I feel that many people see the terms Alzheimer’s, dementia, and any other disease that causes dementia as large umbrella terms for their simple interpretation: “mindless old people walking around.” I, too, felt this way prior to being introduced to the DAWN Dementia Method…and thanks to my wonderful mentors with Better People Care.  I feel that I have missed out on many years seeing dementia for the blessings it does bring in light of what I know now.  I am so grateful that I have the opportunity now to experience these wonderful humans, with dementia, with every single one of their unique personalities and quirks.”  

The paragraph above was written by one of our Better People Care Team Members.  Her own Grandmother has dementia.  

And my Grandmother had dementia, too; the Grandmother who had grown up in a sod house on a homestead in Western Nebraska.  The Grandmother who rode her horse miles up into the Wildcat Hills to check the cows and the windmills.  The Grandmother who loved her family and who loved life.  But as I watched her fade from this life, I wondered if her fade was due to Alzheimer’s, or due to the fact that she had too little to do (she spent so much time in her recliner in her apartment), and too little human contact.  I knew that what I was watching happen to my dear Grandmother made me very sad…and very determined.  I promised myself that I would never let this same solitary decline happen to another person I cared about.  

I did not learn how to get dementia right in Occupational Therapy school.  Or in any of my jobs as an Occupational Therapist.  It wasn’t until I encountered the work being done by Cyndy Luzinski with Dementia Together and began learning the DAWN Method with Judy Cornish that I saw, so clearly, that folks don’t have to fade from this life like my Grandmother did.  And folks with dementia don’t have to be “mindless old people walking around” like it so often appears.  

We can get dementia right.  We can help folks with dementia enjoy security, and happiness, and connection with those they love.  Yes, life with dementia as part of the experience will be different; but when we get dementia right, it does not mean that life must be over.

There is hope in dementia.  And we are in the business of hope.  We are dementia converts and we are honored to be getting dementia right and speaking up on behalf of those who are no longer able to speak up for themselves.

Honored to carry the message,

Jill