Just because elderly people begin experiencing memory loss due to their advancing age or the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, doesn’t mean that they are oblivious to pain. Even when they start forgetting the people they love, the places they’ve lived and the names of things sitting around them, it doesn’t mean that they are comfortable.
Often, quite the reverse is true. Because of that, it is vital to understand how to decorate their living area, with a special focus on the placement of furniture. Their cognitive memory may be failing, but they seem to know other things we may not understand why. This leads us to the reasons why décor is so important.
Avoiding Trips and Falls
If you’ve ever known anyone with age-related memory loss of some kind, you will understand why it is imperative that you don’t move furniture about. It seems as if their bodies remember where things are and as a result, they are able to come out of their bedroom without stumbling over furniture in the living room, even if it’s pitch dark out there.
If you should turn on a light and they suddenly see you, they may not even know that you are their daughter or son of 50 plus years. They may even scream in shock that a stranger is in their home, but they were surely able to get to the sofa without a major mishap. It may feel odd to you, but it’s true. Somehow their motor movement has memory their cognitive brains have lost.
When Moving Them to Assisted Living
Let’s take an example of someone living in the St. Louis area. Perhaps your aging parent needed more help than you are able to give them and so you found an amazing memory care facility Chesterfield, an upscale suburb of the city. It is vital that you make every effort to place furniture and other obstructions as closely relative as possible to where they were placed at their home of many years.
Even pictures and other long-time favorite items of décor should be placed similarly as well. In fact, those photos of family and friends may kindle their recollection from time to time. It is not uncommon to have those lucid moments with some of the right ‘triggers’ around them. Familiar items somehow seem to give them comfort.
Talk to Them About Things You See
Some adult children of parents placed in assisted living with memory care take the time to pick up a tabletop photo or figurine to talk about it a little. Knowing that their parents were always fond of those particular items, they gently talk about the memories ‘hidden’ within. Sometimes this brings about a spark of recognition, but if it doesn’t, your calming voice can help them stay calm as well.
In the end, that’s one of the things you are trying to avoid when your aging parents are experiencing memory loss. They may get agitated or fearful when suddenly they don’t know where they are or with whom they are speaking. By helping them to stay calm and perhaps remembering just a little, you may be able to help them avoid those periodic fits of rage. It’s their comfort and safety you are seeking and that is really all that matters.
