OBERLIN, Ohio — Three residents at Kendal at Oberlin, a senior living facility, have begun teaching ways to understand someone with dementia.
What You Need To Know
- Kendal at Oberlin is a senior living facility in Oberlin
- Three residents started the ‘Stop, Look and Listen’ program as a way to teach other residents, caregivers and staff about dementia
- Jesse Carlock said she knows dementia all too well because her sister was recently diagnosed
The name of the group is very simple: Stop, Look and Listen.
It's made up of three residents from the facility; a retired psychologist, a retired geriatric practitioner and a retired school teacher. Their goal is to teach other residents, caregivers and staff better ways to assist someone with dementia.
The first thing they said they did when forming the group was lend an open ear to those with dementia.
"What we decided to do was to ask our dementia experts, the people living with it, what they wanted,” said Kendal resident Elizabeth Hole. “And what they said was people need to slow down.”
Jesse Carlock said she knows dementia very well. Her sister was diagnosed with dementia and she said she wishes she knew then what she knows now.
“I made every mistake in the book with her because I had no knowledge of how to relate to her, how to deal with her in her first year-and-a-half was brutal in terms of her adjustment,” Carlock said.
In an effort to help others not make the same mistake she did, she participates and attends the meetings. “Being in the present moment and commenting on what you can, that can create some kind of dialogue perhaps between you two,” Carlock said.
This month, members from Kendal will take part in the Alzheimer's Association's Walk to End Alzheimer's. They encourage everyone who can to join them. CLICK HERE for more information on the walk.