Project Abstract
| Parallels of Improvisation
and Alzheimers
On September 27th, 2000 I received a phone call
from my Mom and within twenty four hours I was on a plane flying
to be with my family and wait for my Dad to pass away. During that
time of sitting, laughing, thinking, crying and rambling - I realized
that the world of Improvisation was very similar to the world of
caregiving and Alzheimer's disease and dementia.
I am not sure why the idea hit me then, maybe it was divine inspiration,
maybe someone was telling me the reason why my Dad had Alzheimer's
or maybe I was sleep deprived. Probably all of the above.
I had attended a lot of very informative and well executed workshops
and trainings. But I am not a very good learner. I need information
presented to me in many ways. I remember sitting in a class and
listening to the instructor talking about effective communication
with persons with dementia. All I could think of was how tired I
was of sitting . If she would just do this improv exercise it would
illustrate her point more clearly and get everyone up and moving.
Hmmmm....
So I received three grants to research develop and pilot this program
at four health care facilities.
So that's the end of the beginning. Let's move on the the
middle.
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