Christmas could be a confusing time for a person with dementia. Visitors, children, grandchildren, friends, coffee, tea, drinks, presents. Who are you? What must I do? Is this my tea?
The person with dementia tries very hard, but due to the dementia fog things slip through their mind.
You could compare this with standing in your own neighbourhood and you want to go home but due to a very thick fog you can’t find your home. You are lost, you don’t have any idea where you are. You desperately try to find familiar landmarks but nothing looks familiar. You become anxious and irritated as you want to be home, where it’s warm and where you feel safe and secure.
How happy and relieved would you be when someone with a bright lantern guides you through the fog to your home. That feeling of happiness and relief you can give to a person who is wandering in the dementia fog.
Would you like to be a Rudolph dementia reindeer, who guides a person with dementia safely through the Christmas time? , just like Rudolph the red nosed reindeer guided Santa Clause through that foggy Christmas eve long ago.
I tell you how you become a Rudolph dementia reindeer:
A Rudolph dementia reindeer sit close by the person with dementia, holds hands or has an arm around the shoulder and creates an ambiance where the person with dementia feels, I may make mistakes, I may forget but Rudolph accepted me just as I am.
A Rudolph dementia reindeer explain things, finds the right cup of tea or the Christmas punch for the person with dementia.
A Rudolph dementia reindeer does not improve, does not correct. He helps and move along with the person with dementia. And above all, Rudolph the dementia reindeer, has pockets full of patience and compassion.
And when everything becomes too much for the person with dementia Rudolph looks for a quiet room or takes the person with dementia for a quiet walk.
What I have learned by being a Rudolph dementia reindeer for mother is that creativity is one of the most important things in the dementia care.
Because only with creativity you can make the care fun for both and with creativity you adept easier to a new situation when the dementia fog become thicker.
Being a Rudolph dementia reindeer for someone with dementia is the most wonderful Christmas gift you can give to a person with dementia.
So have both a merry little Christmas
Let your heart be light from now on all our troubles will be out of sight
Here we are again in the golden days
Happy golden days of yore
Rudolph like a shining star sets everything in the right place
So have together a merry little Christmas now
Merry Christmas
Ignar Rip