CAREGIVING: Support | Alzheimer’s / Dementia | Cultural | Creative Caregiving | Peace & Grace
Evening Shadows – Quarf, Shetland Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom
Scroll through this Creative Caregiving section to discover resources for both patient and caregiver
Nature – Laughter – Technology – Music – Art – Touch – Poetry – Pets – Podcasts
Nature as Nurture
Going out into the natural world – for a ride, for a walk, for a morning or afternoon brings out a peace that resides within each of us. AThe power of nature to heal a broken or wounded spirit can not be underestimated. Pick out a favorite place away from maddening traffic, a botanic garden, a stream or river, an ocean shore, a view of the mountains. Visit it regularly as a refuge, even if for a few minutes or an hour. It will renew caregiver and patient alike. Visit the same place in several seasons. If you can not go out.
Watch the Moving Art or Planet Earth series on DVD from your library or streaming on television from one of the subscription services.
Flatirons in Four Seasons – Boulder, Colorado, USA copyright J Bolane. All rights reserved
Moving Art – Forests
Laughter & Joy
Humor is different for so many people, but making ti a practice to end each day with laughter – no matter how ill the person or stresssful and wearing the day, try fto find a source of laughter that is right for you. Here is one that will no doubt entertain
The Late Show with James Cordon: Paul McCartney Carpool Karaoke While Touring Liverpool
Having a bad day? Watch this short video to rediscover the sheer joy of baby laughter.
Technology
Technology has some interesting and helpful applications and equipment that can make the sometimes confined life of a seriously ill person easier and more intellectually challenging
WhatsApp
Keep distant family in touch with information, photos and videos and messages for up to 256 people at once. Fast, simple secure messaging and calling available on iPhone, Android, MAC or Windows PC and Windows Phone.
Learn more
Smartphone Health Apps
iBP Blood Pressure App
An easy way to record blood pressure and see changes over time. The reports from this app can be transmitted via bluetooth technology to doctors and other care providers as needed.
Learn more
Accessibility Products and Services
Using technology to assist disabled or physically challenged people, including vision and hearing and mobility challenges, is rapidly becoming part of the computer and smartphone culture. Go to the websites to see what Apple and Microsoft are developing.
Apple
Microsoft
911 Emergency Access on your iPhone Learn How it Works
Medical Identification on Your Apple Smartphone
Apple is making it possible for emergency personnel to access your pertinent medical information without having to unlock your phone. Fill in only the information you wish, then add one more step below. Thank of it as an electronic Wallet Card for emergency personnel use.
Learn How
One More Step in creating your Medical ID:
Under the Medical Notes section of the Apple Medical ID:
Add any of the following statements or information that apply to you:
- I have a POLST Form.
- I have a Pre-Hospital DNR Directive
- I have an Advance Directive
- My Agent (proxy) name and contact information
- My Alternate Agent(s) names and contact information.
- Name and internet address, and phone number of any online registry such as MedicAlert.org where you have stored your Advance Directive, and POLST form etc.
Voice Activated Devices
Some skilled nursing and hospice facilities now use the voice activated technologies such as Alexa or Echo to let staff or the patient give commands such as “TV on or off”, room heat or air “up or down”, “music on/off or up/down” etc. to make it easy to change the room environment without controllers. Using such devices make it easier to implement specific requests quickly. Here is an example of one of these voice activated devices that could be used in a home care situation or facility.
What is Amazon Echo and How Does it Work?
Medical Guardian Alert Systems
Monitoring and alert systems
Learn more
Audio Books
Listening to stories is an aural tradition in all cultures. When you or your loved one does not have the energy or visual capacity to read a book, listening to audio books may be just the right solution for filling hours at home or in the hospital, etc. Several sites provide free downloads for listening as well as subscription purchases. Your local library will likely have a lending section for audio books, movies etc.
Audible
Open Culture
Audiobooks
Project Gutenberg
Music
Shenandoah
Arranged by Mack Wilberg and performed by The Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra
Take a break for a moment to renew yourself in this exploring of end of life issues. Listen and watch this beautiful performance of a beloved a traditional American folk song that originated in the early 19th century.
The Heart of Healing – CD
Music & Messages for the Human Journey
Created by the Companion Arts Foundation, a national non-profit organization providing caregivers with innovative resources, programs and products, the reaffirming messages and music renew the spirit of any caregiver. It makes a nice gift for a caregiving friend.
Find the CD here
Love Call Me Home – CD
Angels Hovering Round – CD
Halloween Singers
In small “hospice choir” groups Hallowell Singers provide comfort and peace at the bedside of the dying in the Brattleboro, Vermont area. They have created two beautiful recordings that you can play for a loved one or any friend or family member in need of comfort in trying times. Their website also includes some beautiful writings such as A Place for Grief to Rest, and When Words Won’t Come.
Find their CDs and writings here
On the Breath of Song
The Practice of Singing for the Dying
by Kathy Lee
The founder of the Hallowell Singers,Kathy Lee offers an in-depth exploration of the practice and nature of singing at bedside for people who are dying. Useful for starting your own group, enriching the knowledge of an existing group or just deepening your understanding of how music can be comforting and transformative at the end of life.
Order it here
Stick Pounding as a way of healing and relieving stress – Melanie DeMore
A Soul Doctor and a Jazz Singer
Dr. Lachlan Forrow, MD talks about what it means to his patients to have a good day.
Terminally ill patient, Dolly Baker, says that for her a good day is one where she is able to sing.
Music & Memory
As singer and songwriter Carol King comments “Music charts the sound track of our lives”.
One person acted on an idea he had and a beautiful service has unfolded. Dan Cohen founded Music & Memory with a simple idea: Someday, if he ended up in a nursing home, he wanted to be able to listen to his favorite ‘60s music. Cohen heard a recent news report about how iPods have grown so popular. He decided to bring iPods into nursing homes to provide personalized music for residents. Music & Memory evolved from his efforts. The website shows you how this can work for you, or for loved ones in your care. It is also a worthwhile place to make a donation in memory of a friend or family member that will directly serve and improve the life of another person who needs the blessing of music.
Learn more
DVD / BLU Ray / Netflix
Alive Inside
Michale Rossato- Bennett
This remarkable and award winning documentary by Michale Rossato- Bennett is a joyous exploration of music’s capacity to reawaken our souls and uncover the deepest parts of our humanity. Explores how the simple act of listening to the music of their youth can revitalize those who people with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.
Stream the video on Netflix or Order the video here
Watch a preview of Alive Inside
Waking the Spirit
A Musician’s Journey Healing Body, Mind and Soul
by Andrew Schulman
After his personal brush with death, professional guitarist Andrew Schulman decided to devote his life to bringing the healing power of music to hospital settings. He cites the science behind this burgeoning field and shows us how music can indeed body, mind and soul.
Find the book in your local library or order it online
Threshold Choirs
Founded by Kate Munger after she discovered that singing at the bedside of a dying person brought comfort and peace at end of life, Threshold Choirs is an international organization with over 120 chapters in North America and beyond. Small groups of two to four singers gather at the bedside and sing gentle songs for dying patients and their loved ones in private homes, group homes, hospice services, hospitals and nursing homes. The service is free-of-charge and available upon request. You can locate a chapter near you on their website.
Learn more
Walking Each Other Home CD
Threshold Choir’s most recent recording of some of the songs that are sung at bedside for a person nearing the end of life.
Order it here
Renew yourself with gentle music. Ideal for caregiver or loved one
Calm as the Night
Music for Deep Relaxation and Sleep
Tami Briggs – Harp
Available in three formats here
The Prayer Cycle – CD
A choral symphony of prayer in nine movements. Music and text by Jonathan Elias. Each movement different performed such as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Alanis Morissette with the English Chamber Orchestra and Chorus. Available in four different formats.
Find it here
Quietly – CD
A gentle piano album of scripture and lullabies by Jay Stocker Available in three formats.
Find it here
Art
Yosemite National Park. California, USA Halfway to Heaven copyright 2017 Jesse Bolane. All right reserved
Yosemite National Park – Adult Coloring Book
by Dave Ember
When you can’t travel to your favorite places you can still enjoy nature’s beauty with this coloring book for adult level skills. There’s one for Yellowstone Park too. Relax – have fun. with your bedside travels.
Find it here
One Zentangle A Day: A 6-Week Course in Creative Drawing for Relaxation, Inspiration, and Fun
by Beckah Krahula
An interactive book teaching the principles of Zentangles as well as offering fun, related drawing exercises. The concept was started by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas as a way to practice focus and meditation through drawing, by using repetitive lines, marks, circles, and shapes. Each mark is called a “tangle,” and you combine various tangles into patterns to create art that is unique to each person..
Order the book online
How Art Therapy Enhances the Quality of Life for Dementia Patients
by Daniel C Potts, MD
Read the article
Cognitive Dynamics Foundation
The mission of this helpful organization is to improve the quality of life of persons with cognitive disorders (such as Alzheimer’s disease) and their caregivers through education, research, and support of innovative care models which promote human dignity, especially therapies employing the expressive arts and storytelling.
Learn more
Textiles are Tactile
Textiles provide a sensuous tactile experience. Buy some blank notecards and envelopes and a glue stick at an office supply store. Cut up small pieces of scrap fabric. Provide these supplies to a house bound patient to create abstract cards that they can send to a friend or relative.
I Remember Better When I Paint
Art & Alzheimer’s: Opening Doors, Making Connections
by Bruce Huber.
Created by the Hilgos Foundation to increase awareness of the value of art for Alzheimer’s patients.
Find it at your library or order it online
The book above is also Available as a DVD
Painting in Twilight: An Artist’s Escape from Alzheimer’s
Touch
Healing Beyond Borders
Healing Touch is a relaxing, nurturing, heart-centered energy therapy that uses gentle, intentional touch that assists in balancing physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being. Healing Touch is a collection of standardized, noninvasive techniques that clear, energize, and balance the human and environmental energy fields. Healing Touch assists in creating a coherent and balanced energy field, supporting one’s inherent ability to heal. It is safe for all ages and works in harmony with, is complementary to, and may be integrated with standard medical care.
Learn more
Poetry – Storytelling – Reading
Poetry connects us, storytelling connects us, reading connects us to ourselves and our loved ones. Using any of these art forms can bring us out of ourselves and bring relief from the both the mental and physical confinement of disease and dying.
The End of Your Life Book Club
by Will Schwalbe
The inspiring story of a son and his mother, who form a ‘book club’ that brings them together as her life comes to a close.
Learn more
Devotions Selected Poems of Mary Oliver
by Mary Oliver
This Pulitzer Prize winning poet shares a collection of over 200 poems spanning five decades bof her words that wrap us in the natural world and our place and bond with it.
Go to THIS LINK for a sample of Mary Oliver’s fine writing style.
Find the book at your local library or order it online
To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings
by John O’Donohue
In his compelling blend of elegant, poetic language and spiritual insight poet John O’Donohue offers readers comfort and encouragement on their journeys through life. He looks at life’s thresholds and offers invaluable guidelines for making the transition from a known, familiar world into a new, unmapped territory.
Find the book at your local library or order it online
The Poetry Foundation
The foundation is the publisher of Poetry magazine, an independent literary organization devoted to keeping poetry in our culture and bringing it to the widest possible audience.
Learn more
The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain
by Mark Twain
The stories written by Mark Twain, one of America’s most beloved humorists and story tellers, could bring laughter and remembrance of times past to an ill person – and to the caregiver who may read then aloud. People who are ill may enjoy a short story rather than a novel or biography. The storied might even inspire both caregiver and patient to spend time journaling their own memories of childhood stories.
Find it at your library or order it online
Pets
Canine Companions
A non-profit organization that enhances the lives of people with disabilities by providing highly trained assistance dogs and ongoing support to ensure quality partnerships.
Learn more
Pets Are Wonderful Support (PAWS)
A volunteer-based organization that provides for the comprehensive needs of companion animals for low-income persons with
HIV/AIDS and other disabling illnesses. By providing these essential support services, educating the larger community on the benefits of the human-animal bond, and advocating for the rights of disabled individuals to keep service animals, PAWS improves the health and well-being of disabled individuals and the animals in their lives. Learn more
Click HERE to download their free valuable PDF publication: The Health Benefits of Companion Animals
Pet Partners
A non-profit organization helping people in poor health improve through the power of animal therapy.
Learn more
Two Dogs and a Parrot: What Our Animal Friends Can Teach Us About Life
by Joan Chittister
The author invites us to embrace the deep bond between humans and animals. ‘Two Dogs and a Parrot’ offers both heart-warming stories and thought-provoking reflections about sharing life with an animal companion. Our companion animals draw us out of ourselves and show us what it truly means to be alive. They teach us to accept life’s struggles and to cherish its pleasures and the importance of being able to accept ourselves and respect others, and to overcome challenges and setbacks.
Find it at your local library or order it online
All That Ails You: The Adventures of a Canine Caregiver
by Mark J. Asher
A novel about the the power of a dog’s love when we need it most. Told in Wrigley’s voice, All That Ails You is an endearing story of a dog who resides in an assisted living facility and the changes and life-affirming value he brings to all there.
Find it in your library or order it online
Riding Home: The Power of Horses to Heal
by Tim Hayes
Everyone knows someone who needs help: a husband, a wife, a partner, a child, a friend, a troubled teenager, a war veteran with PTSD, someone with autism, an addiction, anyone in emotional pain or who has lost their way. Riding Home provides riveting examples of how Equine Therapy has become one of today’s most effective cutting-edge methods of healing.
Find it in your local library or order it online
Podcasts
Podcasts can bring the whole world to our door and expand our minds beyond the confinements of disease or caregiving for a loved one who is ill. Discover the delight and sense of expansiveness that these broadcasts and subscription series can bring in troubled times.
Comedy is Therapeutic But Not Therapy
Hari Kondabolu
A podcast from On Being, an organization dedicated to examining how we can create a better world by examining our own lives. Many other valuable podcasts are on this site.
Listen here
Versify – NPR Podcasts
Versify is part storytelling and part poetry. The project begins by sending a team of poets out into neighborhoods and to community events, where local people to share a story from their life. The poet listens intently and then turns that life story into a poem on the spot.
Listen to sample podcasts
HumaNature NPR Podcast
HumaNature is the podcast collection that explores stories where humans and our natural habitat meet.
Listen to sample podcasts