Terry Streetman (Host): Welcome back to Well Within Reach, presented by Riverside Healthcare. I'm Terry Streetman, Marketing and Communications Representative.

We're joined by Marsha Hasse, Licensed Social Worker with Riverside Senior Life Communities, and we're going to discuss dementia and the holiday season. Thanks for joining us, Marsha.

Marsha Hasse, MSW, LSW: Thanks for having me.

Host: Alright, before we get started, we're going to take a quick break for a message about MyChart.

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Host: All right, we're back. Marsha, can you tell our listeners about your background and your role? I think this is your first time joining us.

Marsha Hasse, MSW, LSW: It is. Yes. Well, I've been a social worker for about 27 years. I started in medical social work, slowly transitioned to senior living. I've been with Riverside Senior Life for just over 11 years, so I cover both campuses.

We have a Bourbonnaise campus and Kankakee, so I do a lot of the support work there with our residents and families.

Host: Excellent. Well, we're so glad to have you in that role and provide that support. So we'll get kind of right into the meat of some of this. A lot of people think, oh, you get older, you have senior moments. That's totally normal. Can you explain the difference then between dementia and normal aging?

Marsha Hasse, MSW, LSW: Okay, so when we're looking at dementia, we're going to look at someone who has some memory loss that disrupts their daily life. Someone with just normal aging, you're going to see more of forgetting names, but remembering them later.

 With dementia, you may see challenges in planning, whereas normal aging, you make maybe occasional errors when it comes to like maybe doing your checkbook, but you discover the mistake you made later on. Dementia, sometimes you have difficulty just performing familiar tasks, whereas normal aging, say you forget to use the microwave, but again, you remember later on. Those are normal aging symptoms. With dementia, sometimes you also see confusion with time and place. Whereas normal aging you might say, oh, I don't know what day of the week it is, but again, you can recall it later on. Our brain is a organ that ages like the rest of our body, so you're going to see some of those changes as you get older.

Host: Yeah, that's really helpful for people who are, not sure about that. So the subject today we're talking about dementia and the holiday season. So what is it that makes the holidays especially difficult for families who have a dementia diagnosis in the family?

Marsha Hasse, MSW, LSW: Okay. Well, I think for all of us, even without dementia, the holidays can be a tough time. They're stressful. But when you look at individuals that have aging parents and then adding dementia on top of that, for the person with dementia, it's hard because there's a disruption of their routine. There can be a lot of overstimulation during the holidays. And then the caregiver is still trying to balance their traditions, caring for their loved one and trying to just make celebrations as memorable as they can be.

 So that brings about a lot of increased stress for our caregivers out there. And they're just kind of trying to navigate too any conflict, maybe with family, because some family maybe lives out of town and now they come into town and think mom or dad is fine. And the one maybe that's here is still trying to do that day to day caregiving for their loved ones. So just trying to make the holidays perfect can be very stressful.

Host: Sure. And you mentioned that, people who are coming to town who are maybe not there every day. And I know, my personal family experience with dementia, there were folks who saw the loved one after a long gap and saw the change more distinctly than the person who was there. But for folks who are coming to town, seeing somebody, what are some of the signs? You talked a little bit about the difference, but what signs should people be looking for then, if they're seeing a loved one after a long time?

Marsha Hasse, MSW, LSW: So during the holidays, good things to look at are if your loved one's maybe having difficulty again with a familiar task. Like say there's a family recipe they always made, mom always made grandma's cookies. And now she is having difficulty with that. If there's repeated memory lapses, like forgetting names, and conversations and they're not able to maybe recall them later on and if maybe you see your loved one withdrawing from social activities, like say your family plays games all the time and now you see mom or dad wanting to retreat and be by themselves, sometimes you'll see that because it's overwhelming so they maybe can't say that it is, but you'll see them maybe go to a quieter room. So looking at things like that. And again, if you do see changes, you definitely want to consult with their physician. And you don't want to be hyper-focused on things, because again, if they're getting older, but just to kind of pay attention to some of those symptoms.

Host: Yeah, that's super helpful. And hopefully folks don't have to deal with that. But if they do, at least now they're prepared. Okay. Before our next question, we are going to take a moment to discuss the importance of primary care.

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 So we're back to our questions here. Are there safety risks that come up during the holidays and what are those, and what can families do to help reduce or mitigate those?

Marsha Hasse, MSW, LSW: Okay. So again, I think you have to look at when your loved one does have dementia, or just seniors in general, you want to look at what level they're at. Because you don't want to make changes if you don't have to. But to be aware of creating a calm and safe environment, which could mean removing some clutter or maybe putting less decorations up. Because it can be very overwhelming for someone who has changes in their cognition. Kind of using simple, safe decorations.

Avoid very fragile decorations, something that might look edible, that your loved one could mistake for something to eat. Having less noise. I know a lot of times music and it is important for people with dementia, however, just looking at all the different distractions that can be there.

Maybe if you're eating dinner and you've got music on that's loud. Maybe looking at, because that could potentially increase some anxiety or stress in your loved one. So just keeping aware of the things, background noise, things of that nature.

Host: Okay. And I know one thing that I've heard about as a risk is, you've got the holidays, maybe a lot of people coming and going from the house. Is there a risk of, elopement? Wandering?

Marsha Hasse, MSW, LSW: Yes. Yeah. And I think again, you have to look at maybe what stage. Consulting with a physician, to have an understanding of, where they're at, what kind of dementia they have. Because that also comes into play, what kind of symptoms you're going to see.

So definitely consult with a physician. And sometimes it's trial and error. You might say, okay, we're going to try this family game together and then see your watch for signs from your loved one. Then you say, okay. We're not going to try that again. Let's try something else. A little bit more simple.

Host: Okay. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. So you've talked about this a fair amount. I don't know if you have more to add, but it's a stressful time for everybody, but especially for someone with dementia. Are there other ways that you could reduce that stress for the folks living with that diagnosis?

Marsha Hasse, MSW, LSW: Sure. Just manage your expectations. Simplify your plans, maybe limit visitors and activities. Instead of having all 50 people from your family, maybe just say, okay, we're going to just make it the immediate family. Maybe we're not going to have friends come this year. Maintaining a normal routine for your loved one is very, very important. If they do take a nap, make sure they get to do all those things during the day. If they maybe have less stress during the early parts of the day, maybe schedule your family get together, maybe you once did a evening dinner with your family.

Well now we're going to make it like a brunch because you do see that too with sundowning individuals have a little more difficulty later in the day. So just sometimes switching the times for your loved one. Making sure if you are taking your loved one outside maybe to a family member's house, make sure they have a nice quiet area to retreat to as well, i f you do decide to take them out of the home. Using familiar sights and sounds photographs. Because when someone has changes in their brain, they're sometimes going back decades. So that long-term memory is very much there inside. So sometimes using photographs from maybe Christmases or Thanksgivings of the past, utilizing music that they enjoy, not just any music, but maybe music that's pertinent to them.

If they have some favorite hymns or maybe Christmas songs that they like bringing those about to create a calm environment for them.

Host: Okay. All very helpful. And, when we talk about reducing stress then, I think one of the other important things we've talked about all these things caregivers can do for the person with the diagnosis, but how can caregivers avoid burnout and practice self-care? Because burnout's a risk all the time, but especially during this kind of stress.

Marsha Hasse, MSW, LSW: Very much so. So it is important for the caregiver to take the best care they can for themselves. Prioritizing self-care by eating well, exercising, getting enough sleep again, like we all should do. Set realistic goals.

 Ask for help and accept help if people do offer to bring maybe the main dish and the caregiver maybe only has to make a couple of desserts. Reaching out to your family and being honest with them too, so that you can get the support that you need. And then learning to say no.

So if maybe someone, your friends have all these gatherings, they want you to go to, learn to say no and really just prioritize yourself.

Host: That's great. Yeah, I know the saying is, uh, you can't pour from an empty cup, right? Correct. You gotta, take care of yourself and, I think that's an important lesson too.

 You don't have to do it alone. Correct. Ask for help. Yep. Okay. Well, we're getting to the end here. I've got a couple more questions. What can Riverside do? What help can Riverside offer for folks who are dealing with this and how can people learn more about that?

Marsha Hasse, MSW, LSW: So we do have a caregiver support group. We partner with the Alzheimer's Association. It's held at our Bourbonaise Grove senior living, and that's held the second Tuesday of each month at five o'clock. So a lot of times too, as the holidays are coming in, myself and our nurse educator run the group there. We do start to talk about this with our families.

And our group is open to those that are living at our communities, but also those are just caring for their loved one at their home. So the support groups are a great thing. The Alzheimer's Association, alz.org, they have a lot of support, even online if someone can't make it to a support group.

Because sometimes people don't have someone to watch their loved one. So there's a lot of online support. Alzheimer's Association, they look at all the different types of dementia. It's not just Alzheimer's. So they have a great just educational opportunities for people. And they also have a 24/7 helpline.

So someone caring for a loved one at home can call middle of the night if they need somebody to talk to. So that's probably the best, best thing for people that are going through this.

Host: That's great. Thank you for that. And I hope people take advantage of those resources. So we're at the end here. I'll ask you, what's the biggest takeaway? If somebody's listening to this episode, they take nothing else with them, what would you want them to hold onto?

Marsha Hasse, MSW, LSW: I think for the caregivers, take care of yourself. Enjoy your loved one. Don't let this diagnosis define them. They're still inside there. So again, enjoy time with them, talk to physicians if there's any concerns. But all in all, just have a good time at the holidays with them.

Host: Okay, great. Thanks again for joining us today, Marsha.

Marsha Hasse, MSW, LSW: Thank you for having me.

Host: If people would like to learn more about Riverside Senior Life Communities, they can visit Riversideseniorlife.com. Thanks for tuning into Well Within Reach presented by Riverside Healthcare. Please take a moment to rate and leave a review for Well Within Reach on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

To learn more about Riverside, visit riversidehealthcare.org.