NHNH Notable News365 West Street, Simcoe, ON N3Y 1T7 * 519-429-6973 * www.ngh.on.ca

New Year’s Reality Check

Another year, another chance

To start our lives anew;

This time we’ll leap old barriers

To have a real breakthrough.

We’ll take one little step

And then we’ll take one more,

Our unlimited potential We’ll totally explore.

We’ll show off all our talents

Everyone will be inspired; (Whew! While I’m writing this,

I’m getting very tired.)

We’ll give up all bad habits; We’ll read and learn a lot,

All our goals will be accomplished,

Sigh...or maybe not.

Oh well, Happy New Year anyway!

By Joanna Fuhs

Lois McMillan Gail Lavelle

Ulrich Kerschowski Morris Whiteway

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

Celebrating January

Hot Tea Month

Polka Month

New Year’s Day

January 1

Hunt for Happiness Week

January 15–21

Activity Professionals Week

January 21-27

Celebrating February

Bird Feeding Month

Winter Olympics

February 9-25

Celebration of Love Week

February 12–18

Valentine’s Day

February 14

JanuaryJanuaryJanuaryJanuary BirthdayBirthdayBirthdayBirthdayssss

Anna Grec- January 7

Ruth Smith – January 12

Craig Phillips – January 17

Margaret Juszku – January 18

Fern Gatten – January 19

Lois McMillan-January 20

FebruaryFebruaryFebruaryFebruary BirthdaysBirthdaysBirthdaysBirthdays

Barbara Mason- February 4

Gail Lavelle-February 4

Shirley Goetti-February 14

Marjorie Davison McLean – February 16

Anna Jakielaszek – February 18

Dorinda Carr – February 25

Margaret Wade – February 28

Display Windows

The residents have an opportunity to display some of their

memorabilia inside of a locked, glass cabinet.

These cabinets are located on the Main and Upper floors.

We will need assistance from family or loved ones, to gather up

photographs, special trinkets and items from the resident’s

past/present which will show off their interests, hobbies and culture. Please feel free to come and take a look at the cabinets, which have displays set up in them, at the

present time. Activation Staff or a Volunteer will help set up the display, if need be.

You’ve Got E-Mail!

Did you know that our Residents can

receive e-mail?

If you would like to participate, please send

an e-mail to;

residents@ngh.on.ca Just put the name of the Resident in the

subject line and ensure that your e-mail

address is included in the body of your

message and identify yourself to the

resident.

January/February 2018

Thank you to MY FM 98.9 Simcoe Thank you to MY FM 98.9 Simcoe Thank you to MY FM 98.9 Simcoe Thank you to MY FM 98.9 Simcoe Radio and all of their Sponsors for Radio and all of their Sponsors for Radio and all of their Sponsors for Radio and all of their Sponsors for donating beautiful poinsettias to the donating beautiful poinsettias to the donating beautiful poinsettias to the donating beautiful poinsettias to the Norfolk Hospital Nursing Home.Norfolk Hospital Nursing Home.Norfolk Hospital Nursing Home.Norfolk Hospital Nursing Home.

Thank you to NHNH residents, family and staff for donating non-perishable items to support the Simcoe Caring Cupboard foodbank during November

and December

Upcoming January & February Events

� Special Luncheon

� Birthday Party Social

� Spiritual Songs with Alex

� Soul Tyme

� Fiddler Music

� Social Time with Ruth

� Alzheimer’s Walk for Memories

� Beavers

� Family Fun Night

� Pancake Tuesday

� Family Fun Night

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Walk for MemoriesWalk for MemoriesWalk for MemoriesWalk for Memories

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DATE….DATE….DATE….DATE….

Walk anytime betweenWalk anytime betweenWalk anytime betweenWalk anytime between

2:00 pm 2:00 pm 2:00 pm 2:00 pm –––– 3:00 p3:00 p3:00 p3:00 pmmmm

Donations will go Donations will go Donations will go Donations will go to the to the to the to the

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In Memory of;

Faith Ashford

William Dredge

Steve LeGros

Betty McKenzie

Eileen Johnson

January/February 2018

January/February 2018

Christmas Bazaar

On behalf of NHNH Activity Department, we would like to thank our residents,

staff, family, volunteers and friends for all your support with our Annual Christmas

Bazaar.

Thank you to all our community partners who generously donated beautiful gifts for

our penny table and draws.

A special thank you to our residents and volunteers for all their hard work

selling raffle tickets, sewing, canning, baking and cooking tasty cabbage rolls

and perogies.

Our Christmas Bazaar was a great success. We earned $ 5350.68.

The money raised will be used for recreation programming and purchasing activity

items for our residents.

Thanks again for your support,

Linda Schaeffer and Erica Reicheld

Thank You to everyone who

donated items for our residents christmas stockings!

They were jam packed with

lots of tasty sweets and useful items!

Thank you to the Simcoe and District Real Estate Board for

donating beautiful stocking stuffers for the residents of NHNH.

The Board’s generosity is greatly appreciated.

Sexual Expression in People with Dementia

No one wants to think of their mom or dad expressing any type of sexual

behaviour towards one another, whether they have dementia or not. We do not

want to think of our parents as sexual beings. It is even more upsetting to see

mom or dad being flirtatious with someone other than their significant other.

What could be worse than that? Seeing your spouse that you have been with for

40 years, the “love of your life” smiling and holding hands with someone you

perceive to be a complete stranger. Since the move into a long term care home,

your spouse has become a totally different person, seemingly in love with another

person. Sounds bizarre doesn’t it? Unfortunately, dementia affects your loved

one’s brain and can cause them to say and do things that seem unthinkable. The

things the person with dementia can do can seem unforgiveable; it can tear your

heart out. Please however remember, it is the disease, not the person, doing

these inconceivable things. The person with dementia has a “broken brain”.

As a consultant for the long term care homes, I am often called to fix these

predicaments. Staff or family want me to come and talk to the individual with

dementia and ask them to stop this unacceptable behaviour. The family or staff

tell me how hurt the family members are with the spouse’s infidelity. “When dad

comes to visit mom, it crushes him to see her holding hands with this other man”.

If only it were that simple, I would gladly put an end to this behaviour as it would

make life much easier for everyone involved. Unfortunately, the person with

dementia does not know that what they are doing is hurting anyone. The person

with dementia is “living in the moment”. They are doing what gives them pleasure

at that time. The brain is a very complicated organ. When the brain cells are

damaged and destroyed by dementia, certain memories are lost, depending on

what part of the brain is damaged by the disease. This is a hard concept for most

people to comprehend. I sometimes make the analogy or comparison of a person

with a broken leg.

This broken leg can make it difficult for an individual to move up and down the

stairs, but their arms will still work quite well. The broken leg does not affect how

the individual’s arms work. Within our brain, there are various areas that are

responsible for different tasks. Our brain as a whole needs to work well in all

areas to provide its optimum potential. But studies do show that an individual

with dementia can have well preserved long term memory earlier in the disease

process, yet have poor short term memory. That is, the individual may remember

quite vividly events from the past, but does not remember the more recent

memories. As the disease progresses, individuals are not “living in the past, they

only have memories from the past”. The individual’s memories may go back

before they got married. They may not recall this marriage at all. In fact, in the

person with dementia’s mind, they believe they are much younger than they

actually are. This is why they may not recognize themselves in a mirror. They are

expecting to see a much younger person, and due to the damage in their brain, do

not know that a mirror is a reflection of themselves. Their spouse seems familiar,

makes them feel loved and wanted when the spouse is present, but they may not

realize that they have a marital bond. Due to the damage in the individual’s brain,

the individual may not even understand the concept of marriage. And like a

flickering light bulb, sometimes the connection is working well and the light bulb is

bright and working correctly, but other times, the poor connection makes the light

bulb unable to light or only flicker.

We sometimes feel the person with dementia knows quite a lot more than what

they actually do. The person may remember their spouse’s name, remember

which way to go when they are told it is lunch time, but appear to “pretend” they

forget they are married. Please do not believe the person is faking their memory

loss. It really serves no purpose to fake their dementia. Please do not scold them

for their inappropriate behaviour as it can make the situation worse. They know

that what they are doing is upsetting others; they just cannot comprehend why

people are upset. Do not expect staff to keep these individuals separated as it is

virtually impossible.

Dementia robs an individual of so much. Dementia takes away an individual’s

memory. Dementia takes away their sense of self, a sense of who they are.

Nothing seems to make sense anymore to them. The world is now a large,

frightening place that they can no longer understand. They seek comfort and

sometimes this comfort comes in the form of another human being. This seeking

of comfort does not mean this individual with dementia was unfaithful prior to

dementia. What your loved one is doing now does not mean they did not love

you. Life to them is very different now, just as it is for you. You never saw yourself

placing your spouse in a long term care home. Unfortunately, unforeseen

circumstances caused you to place your spouse in a long term care home as you no

longer had the means to cope with them at home. It was not because you wanted

to be cruel. Your loved one in turn is not trying to be cruel to you now. They do

not understand our world anymore.

The 2006 Canadian movie “Away from Her” depicts this situation I am describing

beautifully and I suggest individuals dealing with this state of affairs watch it. It

illustrates how a beautiful couple, very much in love, fall into this similar position,

and how the husband has a striking realization that this new relationship is the

only comfort his wife now has in life. It is a circumstance that tears him apart, but

because of his love and respect for his wife, he puts his own wants and needs

aside in order for his wife to be happy.

As hard as some situations can be, we cannot forcibly change them. Life is hard,

and certainly not fair. Sometimes we have to roll with the punches and realize

that what will be will be. The disease is certainly cruel to us all. It is best to let the

individual have this comfort, however hard it is for us to watch.

Support is available for family members and friends at the Alzheimer Society

Haldimand Norfolk free of charge. Please feel free to contact me and I will assist

you with the referral for support, education and counseling.

Kathie Poitras, RPN

Psychogeriatric Resource Consultant

Alzheimer Society Haldimand Norfolk

kpoitras@alzhn.ca or 519-428-7771 extension 211