Sorry I don't have a picture to post but I'll describe what observed. There were about 25 people in all at the cafe: 8 participants (one man and one woman came by themselves), 6 care partners, 4 volunteers, 7 guests (the music group that was the activity of the day), and 2 Lawrence students. I was not happy about the visit from the Lawrence students and before I describe the cafe, I'll paste in what I wrote to Betty last night:
There was one disturbing issue that we need to discuss at the facilitators' meeting. When I arrived at 10:01, there were two young men from Lawrence there. They had talked to the social worker (sorry I didn't catch her name) facilitating with Terri. They had come to announce that they "got a grant" to put on a program at Lawrence on June 2 for people with dementia. They're bringing in someone to do massages, music, and other activities. (The grant seems to be from Lawrence to promote volunteer activities, but that's about all they told me.)
I walked up and started asking them questions. They had no idea who you are, had never heard of the FVMP, and didn't seem to know a lot about dementia (except that one student's grandfather had/has it). They're in an Entrepreneurship class with Marty Finkler and he mentioned memory cafes to them. I don't really know Marty, but I certainly would never let students just barge into a program without learning something about it and without getting permission. This June 2 day is to be their project. I gave them my card and asked them to contact me; the social worker got their email addresses and names. They had no flyers or written information but said they were going to get some. I urged them to talk with you!
What do you all think of this?
It was interesting to observe a couple of interactions between men with dementia. Two of them had brought joke books and were having fun comparing jokes. Another two discovered they both speak German and were having short exchanges in German. One of the German speaking men has big challenges with communication and I wonder what the difference would be if someone could speak German fluently with him more often.
The large singing group consisted mostly of older people. They brought lyrics sheets and the songs were well-chosen for the group. They switched the tempo of the songs which was nice; singing was accompanied by a boom box with instrumental recordings of the songs. Apparently this singing group gets together on a regular basis: 6 women, 1 man.
I heard someone say that there are some participants who only come to memory cafes when there's a music program.
I spent a lot of time talking with a woman who was attending for the first time. She told me she has "short term memory problems" and that someone at the foot clinic at Thompson suggested she come to the MC. She also told me she's not diagnosed with Alzheimer's but has long term mental health problems. I didn't pursue questioning about that. She left mid-way through the cafe, saying that she's not a "morning person" and was tired. She seemed interested in the boat trip and in returning to another cafe. She wondered about car pooling to the Neenah and Menasha cafes but I had to tell her we don't have arrangements for that.
Another volunteer told me that she talked with a couple of care partners (women) who emphasized how important it was for them to come to the cafe to be with people who accept the condition of their husbands.
Except for my unhappiness over the unannounced visit from the Lawrence students, I thought it was another good Saturday morning at the Thompson cafe.
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