These days, especially when we’re focused on staying in our homes, can present an opportunity to engage in activities we enjoy and to explore some new ideas, too. So, when a family member told me her good friend, Melissa R. Phillips, had launched a unique website, in memory of her mother,
“The Warm Hug Project provides donated handmade knitted or crocheted shawls to both men and women living with dementia. When the hugs of Caregivers, Nursing Home Staff, or Family are unavailable, The Warm Hug Project shawls are there to wrap the memory-impaired person in a soft sanctuary of reassurance.”
I noted there was even a helpful link to a YouTube video demonstrating “how to” make the simple stitch needed to create those colorful “warm hug” shawls for those wanting to acquire a new skill some may have always wanted to learn.
Perhaps The Warm Hug Project is a site and activity you, too, will find to be of special interest. These are times when we all likely seek comfort, but especially as we maintain distance from one another these shawls will convey their caring message. Receiving a tangible warm hug shawl for many will continue to be welcomed long after our current health crisis resolves.
Currently, many family members are separated from one another due to COVID 19, able to interact only via technological means, or some only able to engage from opposite sides of a window. For those individuals with dementia circumstances now could be most confusing with reassuring warm hug shawls most valued.
We often begin to fret as we enter the last half of our age span whether the little forgetful events we occasionally experience indicate we’re developing a serious mental problem. We fear having a dementia which can result in our having varying degrees of diminishing abilities, also sometimes altering our personalities in unexpected ways.
The most dreaded dementia is Alzheimer’s Disease which ultimately robs a person of themselves in every way. Friends and loved ones experience having the relationship being stolen from them. The extended period of time this disease progresses is sometimes described as “the long goodbye”. The individual’s personality gradually erodes as their cognitive skills and memory are lost, along with functional abilities including communication.
Caregivers are challenged physically and mentally to adapt to a person with Alzheimer’s. For loved ones this can be especially difficult. There are inevitable changes that can stress a caregiver’s patience to the extreme. The caregiver must take care of themselves during this time to maintain their own physical and mental health – easier said than done.
Not everyone will develop a dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, but meanwhile research for treatment and prevention continues.
I wonder, is there anyone who doesn’t personally know or know of someone who has developed dementia and/or Alzheimer’s disease?
