[Dysphagia] Dementing elders

[malindam at samhealth.org (malindam@samhealth.org)]

I recall very early in my career being so struck by the loving compassion a particular geriatric nurse practitioner always demonstrated with her elderly patients in the nursing home.   I asked her once what made her attitude with them so different from so many others I observed.  She told me that she always tried to picture them as healthy vibrant young adults who fell in love, traveled, had families, wrote books, grew gardens, etc,  It had a huge impact on me, for which I'm eternally grateful to Della Park.  I'll never forget her name.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if every adult could carry around a 5 minute video of themselves so that anyone who treated them after a stroke, a CHI, a progressive neurological disease, the onset of dementia, etc., could see whom they were really treating? 

Malinda Moore, CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist
Albany General Hospital
541-812-4162


-----Original Message-----
From: dysphagia-bounces@b9.com [mailto:dysphagia-bounces@b9.com]On
Behalf Of JoAnn Eaton
Sent: Friday, September 01, 2006 4:52 PM
To: Irene Campbell-Taylor; dysphagia@b9.com
Subject: Re: [Dysphagia] Dementing elders


Hear! Hear! Very eloquently said.
JoAnn
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Irene Campbell-Taylor" <eripley@yahoo.com>
To: <dysphagia@b9.com>
Sent: Friday, September 01, 2006 6:32 PM
Subject: [Dysphagia] Dementing elders


>I must protest most strongly to the recent opinions expressed vis-a-vis 
>regression to childhood in elders with dementing processes.  To those of us 
>who have worked extensively with such patients, it is objectionable in the 
>extreme to contemplate that professionals are regarding elder individuals 
>who have lived, worked, raised families, paid taxes, supported the current 
>economy regarded as, in the way one elderly gentleman once told me about 
>himself, "something unthinking attached to a diaper."  He was diagnosed as 
>having SDAT!
>  We owe our patients better than this. They are not infants, they are not 
> to be infantilized, they are not to be regarded as unaware because, 
> believe me, they are far more aware than anyone realizes.
>  I have spent many years teaching nurses NOT to speak to dementing elders 
> as though they were infants. I teach medical students, and demonstrate to 
> them that their patients with dementing illnesses are seniors worthy of 
> respect and consideration. The agism that is rampant in society and, 
> therefore, in medicine is deplorable and not to be supported in any way by 
> those who purport to care for them. Think for a moment.  What if it were 
> your father or mother?
>
>
> Dr I Campbell-Taylor
> Clinical Neuroscientist
> Exclusive Distributor:
> www.interactivetherapy.com
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