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We recently invited Tralee Pearce from The Globe and Mail to visit and she wrote an amazing article reviewing what we are doing here at Dementia Support. You can find the article on The Globe and Mail website or on the front page of the Life section today, January 25th, 2013. Read what she had to say:

L’Chaim is using the Montessori Method for Dementia program, a novel approach to combat dementia that has been rolling out in day centres and nursing homes across the country over the last few years. Taking the principles of the Montessori method created for children in the 1970s and applying them to adults suffering from a range of cognitive diseases, the program is seen as a ray of hope in what is often a heartbreaking reality. More than half a million Canadians are currently affected by dementia, and with an aging population, it is poised to become an even greater concern.

The program’s relatively simple approach is part of its appeal. As in the case of the doctor, the Montessori Method gets people to do tasks that feel familiar, along with brain-boosting games, discussion groups and a physical environment that’s designed to both reassure and stimulate. And it seems to help.

At the Dementia Support Dov & Zipora Burstein Senior Centre, the first day centre of its kind in the Greater Toronto Area, Miriam Greenberg is working at rolling out cookie dough. It’s obvious she’s done this many times before. Her manicured hands move the rolling pin very slowly to smooth out each segment to its edge, pressing any cracks that have formed back together.

In other settings, this petite 87-year-old and the three other women at the table would likely have been seen primarily as dementia patients who need constant care. Here, at the new seniors’ day centre Greenberg attends three times a week, she’s seen as a woman who might have enjoyed baking earlier in her life and who might enjoy it today, too. “I used to bake a lot,” she says as she sprinkles a nut mixture over the dough. “Grandma’s cookies,” she adds, her voice trailing off as she quietly lists the first few ingredients.

You can read the full article here at The Globe and Mail website.

There have been some amazing comments so far, here are two:

“Congratulations on such a wonderful concept.  When many people ignore the elderly needs, this sounds like such an amazing and progressive method to treat the elderly with dementia.  Kudos to Lchaim retirement and dementia day care centre.  we need more people like you.”

“I am so excited that the Montessori Method is being tried in a dementia setting. I am a soon to be retired Montessori teacher (over 25 years) and knew as I watched my mother go through the hell of dealing with dementia that a Montessori environment would have helped put purpose into her life. By the time I finished reading the article I was in tears. A Montessori environment (modified as necessary) will work for so many seniors. As is necessary in the early education field, the idea needs dedicated people who see what can be better and will take on the task of changing today’s norm.”