Slow Dancing with Alzheimer’s

To the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be their world 💜

Here’s our Founder in the Ocala Star Banner 💜

https://www.ocala.com/story/news/healthcare/2021/04/16/ocala-woman-helps-alzheimers-and-dementia-patients-families/7146863002/?fbclid=IwAR0aLrlUTboIq8HNw1voeNm-_9yauFYguMG2uWgWNUuY3LbWhIJwzwxlc_4

Ocala woman dedicated to helping Alzheimer's and dementia patients/families Mikaela Saunderson has found her life's calling: helping patients/families as they work through Alzheimer's disease and dementia.

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We have some exciting news! Our website is finally up and running! Check it out and please email us at [email protected] if you would like to be a sponsor or would like to be a part of our company.

https://slowdancingwithalz.wixsite.com/mysite

HOME | Slow Dancing We will be posting articles with tips and tricks on how to handle caregiver stress, proper ways of communicating with those who live with Dementia/Alzheimer's and how to lead a meaningful life with Dementia/Alzheimer's.

Our Founder/Owner Mikaela Saunderson Coaches Nature Coast U14 & we had the Honor of being the sponsors of their team Jerseys 🖤⚽️

This is Victoria Allison, our Co-Founder. She has been a Memory Care Program Manager for 2 years, and has worked in geriatrics for 3 years. Victoria is a Certified Dementia Practitioner and a UADC Trainer. She loves being creative and using her major in Theatre Performance as a way of therapy for her residents. She holds Support Groups for Caregivers and loves to hold workshops involving the arts.

This is Mikaela Saunderson, the Founder of Slow Dancing With Alzheimer’s. Mikaela is currently a Clare Bridge Program Manager for a Memory Care at Brookdale Canopy Oaks. She is a Certified Alzheimers Caregiver, Certified Dementia Care Practitioner, Certified Montessori Dementia Care Professional. Mikaela has been in the Senior Living Community for 6 years. She is President Of the FHCACA, apart of the Alzheimer’s Family Organization Task Force, Alzheimer’s Association Ambassador, Parkinson’s Ambassador, Foster's Home for Children Ambassador. 💜💜

How has everyone’s week been going? I can tell you that my week has been crazy busy. I work in an Assisted Living and Memory Care. Residents have been allowed to eat in the Dining Room again. It’s great to see how excited they got to be able to eat outside of their rooms!
1 year ago, that would not have been a big deal, but it is now. Such a simple thing!
So honestly, how has your week been in relation to dealing with Covid? Any successes?

We hit 400 likes 💜💜 thank you everyone !! Keep sharing & liking our page ! The End to Alzheimer’s Starts with YOU💜

People with Alzheimer's deserve to be seen, so that we can find a cure! 💜

The Walk to end Alzheimer’s in Ocala,Fl is on September 26th! It will look different this year, but we are all still in this together! Let’s make it fun and all share pictures with ways that we are celebrating the walk. Keep your eyes on the lookout for the event on our page 🙂 Remember to donate if you can too!
https://act.alz.org/site/TR/Walk2020/FL-CentralandNorthFlorida?fr_id=13350&pg=entry

People do not realize that Alzheimer's is not old age. It is a progressive and fatal disease and staggering amounts of people develop Alzheimer's every day.

The hardest thing is watching somebody you love forget that they love you 💔

Slow Dancing With Alzheimer’s would love to know how we can “bloom your life”! This group was founded on the principles of serving caregivers, family members, and even those suffering from Dementia/Alzheimer’s. In order to better serve you, we would like to hear from all of you what it is that you need for support. Is it support groups? Expressive Art Therapy? Educational Conferences? Anything else? We would love to hear from you! Please comment below or email [email protected] .

This is such an accurate portrayal of grief. When someone you love dies, you do not just go from one stage to the next. It’s not that clean and simple. Grief is messy. It’s hard work. It’s feeling all of the stages at once or all in one day. It’s waking up every morning only to remember your loved one is gone and already feeling like you can’t wait to go to bed that night so you can forget for a while. But then you wake up the next morning to do it all over again. 💜

They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel 💜

Nobody knows how to say goodbye; it seems so easy 'til you try.

For those of you that are trying to find a way to connect with your loved one, here is a great video called Teepa’s Gems. Teepa Snow is a Occupational Therapist who does live trainings for caregivers of those with Dementia/Alzheimer’s. She is amazing and has a great approach!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6UVjp_y8HY

Teepa's GEMS © Positive Approach, LLC Learn more about Teepa Snow and Positive Approach to Care: http://www.teepasnow.com The Online Dementia Journal is a FREE monthly re...

It is a strange, sad irony that so often, in the territory of a disease that robs an individual of memory, caregivers are often the forgotten

Grief is such a big part of this journey. For us, the stages of grief are not definitive. We feel many stages of grief at once. We go through the grief cycle repeatedly, continuously, endlessly. It never ends. It will never go away. Just when you think your grief is dissipating, you lose something more and it begins all over again.

This is what I want people to understand about Alzheimer’s. This is what makes it so different from any other disease. We don’t just grieve the final loss of life. We grieve small losses over a period of several years, as we watch our loved ones slowly slip away from us. And, there’s absolutely nothing we can do to stop it. We have to put our feelings aside to care for them, while knowing there is no act of caring that will make any of this go away.

The constant grief is what makes this so hard. It’s why we are always so sad, depressed, and overwhelmed. It’s why we isolate ourselves and push others away, for fear that no one in our lives will understand. It’s why we need our friends and family to push through the wall that we’ve built up, to show us that they really do care, even if they don’t understand.

If you know a caregiver, reach out. Ask them how they’re doing. Don’t offer advice. Just listen. Give them a hug. Throw them a lifeline. Don’t let them suffer through this grief alone. 💜

I think the earlier stages of Alzheimer's are the hardest. Particularly because the person knows that they are losing awareness. They're aware that they're losing awareness, and you see them struggling.