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Tommy Dunne is master of the “one-Liner”.
These are some of his tips for
visiting a Person Living with Dementia (PLwD) on 22 July 2020 :

So always Smile,
Be calm and relaxed,
Speak clearly, in small sentences and give the PLWD time to respond.
We do not do rapid responses,
so bide with us.

The person with dementia is only able to “live in the moment”.
That is
they can only talk about things that they see, hear or feel right now!

People living with dementia live in the present,
and the best present you can give us is your time.
It’s called the present because it’s a gift.

Watch for tiredness,
like repeating conversations, irritability or walking away from you
or asking you to leave.

A short visit is better than a long visit
because
everything a PLWD does is hard work for them.

Distraction is drawing their attention to something different.
If they become upset,draw their attention to something else
But you can not take things from PLWD without giving them something to replace it.

What is successful visit?
Success is sharing an experience with the PLWD,
Just having them know they are not alone
and enjoying the “moments of reality”.

Success is seeing the Person living with dementia smile
and knowing that your visit is leaving them with a good feeling.

Often in early stages,
PLWD have trouble finding words to express their thoughts
or are unable to remember meaning of simple words or phrases.
This does not mean we are unintelligent.

If the PLWD cannot comprehend what is being said or express their thoughts
it can frustrating/embarrassing.
Your approach sets the tone.

Think about how you are presenting yourself,
Are you tense? Frowning?
PLWD are aware of non-verbal signals
(facial expressions,mood).

… BRILLIANT !!!

LINKS:
Index for Tommy’s pages in my blog at https://truthfulkindness.com/index-persons-with-dementia-pwd/tommy-dunne/ ;
https://twitter.com/thredcic/status/1286019676632473607 . https://twitter.com/thredcic/status/1286022987947417601 . https://twitter.com/thredcic/status/1286023452831383552 . https://twitter.com/thredcic/status/1286023642112036865 . https://twitter.com/thredcic/status/1286023966352711681 . https://twitter.com/thredcic/status/1286025253462974465 . https://twitter.com/thredcic/status/1286025737410093063 . https://twitter.com/thredcic/status/1286026277376450570 . https://twitter.com/thredcic/status/1286027747731689472 . https://twitter.com/thredcic/status/1286028848673562632 . https://twitter.com/thredcic/status/1286029050897629184 .

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* Admin issues: SHARE dementia awareness thru buttons below. Feel free to leave your thoughts in the form of comments, but please filter your comments with truthful loving kindness to all concerned. If
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* Admin issues: SHARE dementia awareness thru buttons below. Feel free to leave your thoughts in the form of comments, but please filter your comments with truthful loving kindness to all concerned. If interested in receiving notice of future blog postings, subscriptions are available through a “follow” button in the upper left corner (MS Explorer) or lower right (Safari, Mozilla Firefox and Chrome). If there is an advertisement below, I have no control over what is shown. My own full legal name is Truthful Loving Kindness. My current diagnosis is still Mild Cognitive Impairment, but my neurologist said I am in a unique position for helping because I have “one foot in each door”. Text Copyright © Tommy Dunne 2020July22. Tags are: alzheimers, communication, dementia, Persons Living with Dementia, PLwD, quote, relationship, strategy, Tommy Dunne, visit.