from relatives of people who have the
disease to carers, older people who are
concerned about themselves or a close
friend and, as in my case, professionals
who work closely with elderly people.
During my career I have met and
worked for many clients who are living
with Dementia in varying stages and
have assisted them and their families
with their legal and financial affairs. I
have seen clients who on one afternoon
believe that I am one of their closest
relatives and the following week
can recognise who I really am and
understand why I am visiting them.
The Dementia Friends Champion who
led the information session I attended
explained that diseases which cause
Dementia affect the synapses in the
brain and stop these from firing as they
should. One analogy often used to help
people understand Dementia is a string
of Christmas fairy lights - in a healthy
person all of the lights, or synapses,
are lit and firing normally, however, in
a person living with Dementia some
of these lights may be flickering or the
bulb may have gone out altogether.
On another day the bulbs that had
previously been flickering may now be
lit and other bulbs may be flickering,
or have gone out instead. This is
one of the reasons that some people
living with Dementia are still able to
sign a Lasting Power of Attorney or to
change their Will, as their capacity to
understand what they are signing and
the effect the document will have can
change on a daily and sometimes hourly
basis, particularly in the early stages of
Dementia. Generally, as the years pass
more and more bulbs will start to flicker
or will extinguish altogether.
Another analogy used is that of two
bookcases. The books within the
bookcases are the person’s memories,
starting from the bottom shelves of
childhood memories to the top shelves
of their most recent experiences. The
bookcase on the left represents a
person’s emotional memory and is
made of solid oak. The bookcase on
the right is their factual memory and is
made of flimsy chipboard. Dementia
effectively ‘rocks’ the bookcases at
an ever-increasing pressure and as a
result some of the books, or memories,
fall out. A lot more books fall from the
top shelves of the flimsy bookcase,
representing the loss of short-term
factual memory which causes people
to forget names, places etc, whereas
less books fall from the stronger, oak
bookcase containing our emotional
memories. A person who has lived
with Dementia for a while may have lost
several shelves of factual memories,
leading them to believe that they are
living in a past century and that they
are much younger than they really are,
however as their emotional bookcase is
stronger their personality is still intact. It
is important to remember that Dementia
will not change who they are.
People with Dementia will be able to
recall feelings they have felt about a
person or a place for much longer than
they can recall that person’s name or
the day a visit took place. This is just
one very important reason to continue
to visit and strive to improve the quality
of life of a person living with even the
most advanced Dementia, as the good
feelings they have from your interaction
will linger with them even if they cannot
remember why.
People living with Dementia can also
lose their sense of perspective and
become unable to differentiate between
two-dimensional and three-dimensional
objects around them. For example, a
printed or patterned tablecloth will quite
often confuse or irritate them as they try
to pick up or brush off the print. Nursing
homes are now starting to incorporate
plain tablecloths and furniture to assist
with these symptoms. A very common
issue for people living with Dementia
is a plain black doormat, which will
present to them not as a doormat but
as a large deep hole. They are not able
to understand that they can walk over
the mat but are so fearful that they will
fall into the hole that they will simply
become paralysed at the threshold of
a building. If you ever happen to see
an elderly person lingering outside the
doorway of a shop or restaurant you
may well be able to assist them simply
by picking up the doormat and moving
it to one side. This is why, at every one
of Mayo Wynne Baxter’s offices, our
doormats are either pale coloured or
printed with our logo.
At Mayo Wynne Baxter we strive to be
Dementia Friendly and will continue
to learn and raise awareness about
Dementia in order to better assist our
elderly clients and their families. Clients
are often concerned about the best
way to deal with their personal and
financial affairs should they be affected
by Dementia in the future. Lasting
Powers of Attorney enable you to
appoint Attorneys to make decisions
about your health, welfare, property
and finances should you lose mental
capacity or become unable to deal with
these matters yourself. If you would
like to talk about preparing for the future
with Lasting Powers of Attorney then we
would be happy to help.
For more information about Dementia
and the Dementia Friends campaign
please go to alzheimers.org.uk
By Tracy Cutmore
People with Dementia
will be able to recall
feelings they have felt
about a person or a
place for much longer
than they can recall that
person’s name or the
day a visit took place.
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