[Dysphagia] Dementing elders

[speechhuffman at nc.rr.com (Julie Speech)]

Thank you, well said!  I always make a point of finding out what the patient 
did for a living.  Whether a homemaker, physician, or whatever, it always 
gives me some perspective as to what I might learn from them...  Julie

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Irene Campbell-Taylor" <eripley@yahoo.com>
To: <dysphagia@b9.com>
Sent: Friday, September 01, 2006 7:32 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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