Dementia Support Group: Visit the offices of the Dementia Society of Ottawa & Renfrew County on May 27 at 11:00am
Your Dementia Support Group is happy to announce an upcoming visit to the offices of the Dementia Society of Ottawa & Renfrew County on May 27 at 11:00am. We'll meet with Zoe Kirschner whom some of you remember from our online discussions. Zoe will be showing us the games, toys and other means of communicating with our loved ones who have dementia or Alzheimer's. This is an open invitation but we would ask for your committed response by Wednesday May 20. Please contact Pauline S. gas@swcp.com Jeanie H. or Laura M.
Welcome, one and all. We are delighted you are joining us for this important discussion for both caregivers and those for whom we care.
April 2026:
We furthered our ongoing discussion of communication and its challenges as dementia or Alzheimer’s progresses in a reading of the Birthday Gift. This was a gift from NPR and the link is listed below.
Music: Communicate (Joe Samba) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SrM8M5E82Y&list=RD7SrM8M5E82Y&start_radio=1
Tip of the Month: Mark Silver (author)
Educational Resources: Carersontario.ca, Enhancing Care for Ontario Care Partners. Offering a carer’s course for 8 weeks in 2 hour sessions. A maximum of 8 registrants. Will be offered both online or in person. The Birthday Gift: https://www.npr.org/2026/04/19/nx-s1-5789011/dementia-wife-husband-gift-birthday
March 2026:
We continued our discussion about communication which can be somewhat tricky. We had stories of people who are no longer able to communicate verbally but who are able to make their wishes known in other ways. Sue M. shared this thought with us which she finds helpful: tell me what is hard for you so I can help. We will continue with our focus on communication in April.
Music: Help (The Beatles)
Tip of the Month: Teepa Snow Communication – 5 Helpful Phrases to Acknowledge Distress https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGqEPIyGhCo
Educational Resources: Two page document from the Dementia Society of Ottawa and Renfrew County helpful in effective communication. https://dementiahelp.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/GDS_Communication_EN_onepager.pdf
Pauline recapped a slide show with some helpful tips on communicating well.
February 2026:
The focus for the evening was on Communication with plans to continue with this topic over the next couple of months. We began the discussion using a link to an Australian website: Cultural Diversity in Ageing. One of the resources they have is communication cards for use when someone can no longer find the words to express what they want. The cards are available in many languages and can be downloaded and printed.
We then looked at a document, Communication, from the Day to Day Series from the Dementia Society. It provided a lot of information about types of communication, how communication is affected by dementia, ways to communicate using the senses and the importance of a person-centred approach to communication.
Music: The Beatles, In My Life (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqpysaAo4BQ&list=RDZqpysaAo4BQ&start_radio=1)
Tip of the Month: “What Brings You Joy”. Whether you accompany someone to an appointment or go to visit them, take something that will appeal to them - photo album, snack, handheld puzzle, favourite book, pen & paper. But also take something that brings you joy. This could be a conversation starter, or just something you take the time to enjoy while you are spending time together. Sometimes just being present, is enough. Don’t feel you always have to converse.
Educational Resources: https://www.culturaldiversity.com.au/files/multilingual-resources/2025/01/Plain-English-E200023-CCDA-CommunicationCards-4up-FINAL-2.pdf
https://alzheimer.ca/sites/default/files/documents/day-to-day-series_communication.pdf
January 2026:
During our time together, we reviewed past topics of discussion to not only see what future topics the group might be interested in but to also see what past topics could be revisited.
Music: Osgoode Caregivers, Bad To The Bone (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNUyv4GLNkA)
Tip of the Month: A By-Us-For-Us Guide Memory Work Out (https://the-ria.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/BUFU_Memory_Workout_eversion.pdf)
Education Resource: Support the spiritual side (https://the-ria.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Nurturing-Spirituality-with-People-Living-with-Dementia_20251218_Accessible.pdf)
Future Topics:
· Home Help
· Listening
· Journalling for Caregivers
· Field Trip to the Dementia Society to try out games and toys
· Appropriate Responses
We are anxious to serve your needs and would love to hear from you. Please contact Pauline Schneider (gas@swcp.com), Jeanie Hicks (jh1948@hotmail.com) or Laura McGregor (ljm90star@gmail.com) for further information or to be added to our invitation list. We look forward to seeing you on the 25th.
Additional Information and Resources
We are anxious to serve your needs and would love to hear from you. Please contact Pauline Schneider (gas@swcp.com), Jeanie Hicks (jh1948@hotmail.com) or Laura McGregor (ljm90star@gmail.com) for further information or to be added to our invitation list. We look forward to seeing you on the 28th.