1-24-13 My Memory Cafe Experience

        On January 24th I attended the memory cafe at the Atlas Coffee Mill in Appleton, WI. What a wonderful experience! I am generally a little nervous going into unfamiliar situations, but as soon as I walked in and was greeted by smiling friendly faces any apprehension disappeared. Everyone at the event was super nice and we all talked like close friends. The theme was hats, so we went around the room and told funny stories about the hats we were wearing or made them up. Making up the hat stories was so fun! We would go around the room, each person contributing to the story. What a great way to get a mind working without seeming like work! As others had told me, you really could not tell who had dementia/memory loss and who did not in the group. I also really liked how everyone intermingled and struck up conversations with each other. It was really neat to see the group unfolding from the beginning of the memory cafe to the end. I learned so much from my time there. This was an amazing experience and definitely a ton of fun! I can't wait to go to another one.

Memory Cafe Jan. 10- Atlas

Let me begin by saying my experience at the Memory Cafe was far from what I expected.  I absolutely loved everything about it.  The atmosphere was so quaint and peaceful, yet rejuvenating and full of life.  The theme was all about music from the 50s.  There was an announcer, giving a little background on the music, or a story to set the scene.  A dance floor was set in the middle of the room, beaconing one and all to put on their dancing shoes and show off their moves.

Aside from the music, chatter flowed from table to table.  Most people who attended were caretakers of individuals with dementia, or had dementia themselves.  Amazingly enough, I had a hard time depicting who was who, which is essentially the whole meaning behind the Memory Cafe.  It matters not who has dementia and who doesn't.  What matters is that the people gathering can push aside the preexisting stereotypes and become unified as an understanding, nonjudgemental, compassionate family.

I'm looking forward to hearing about Katarena's experience at the Memory Cafe on January 19.  Heather will be attending the one at Atlas on January 24.  I have the schedule of Cafes through the spring and want to discuss your interest in moving forward with a proposal to do participant observation research.  I am going to make an appointment to talk with Betty Lefebvre-Hill about this as we will need her permission and input.  See you tomorrow!

Betty Lefebvre-Hill just sent an email about the Memory Cafe dates in February and March.  Apparently things get complicated if we try to keep with the 2nd and 4th Thursday for the Atlas Cafe meeting because then you run into the 1st Saturday in the same week for some months.  It seems more important to have a memory cafe every week.  Therefore, here are the dates for February and March:
Feb. 2 (Thompson Community Center--TCC)
Feb. 7 (Atlas)
Feb. 16 (TCC)
Feb. 21 (Atlas)
Mar. 2 (TCC)
Mar. 7 (Atlas)
Mar. 16 (TCC)
Mar. 21 (Atlas)

In other news, Betty and I are starting to work on trying to find someone to create a website for us.  Kelsey met Wayne and Nancy last week at Atlas; Nancy gave me their son's phone number and he referred me to someone to contact about website creation.  I haven't heard back from her.  Betty has another lead.

One final note:  a man named Don Hansen, from Oshkosh, is on the Memory Project Steering Committee.  He was recommended by someone who works for the Alzheimer's Association because he's had a lot of experience caring for relatives with dementia.  At some point, I'd like to invite him to one of our research meetings.  He lives in Oshkosh.  We need to figure out our meeting times for the spring semester.

See you all tomorrow!

Welcome to the Fox Valley Memory Cafe Blog! We invite you to share your experiences  and thoughts about any of the memory cafes you may have attended. Thank you!