Press
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Press
Barchester Care Homes newsletter April 2010
The Times newspaper March 2010, by Barbara Lantin
"...Anybody who has spent time with people living with dementia knows that their long-term memory can remain intact for years after short-term recall has disintegrated. A person who has no idea what they ate for breakfast that morning may – if prompted – be able to describe in detail the menu on the morning after their marriage 50 years earlier", says Sarah Reed, founder of Many Happy Returns, which produces packs of photographic cards with images from the 1940s (a 1950s set is in production) to prompt conversation in people with dementia.
It is tempting to rationalise this as a flight into the happy past from an intolerable present, but in fact the part of the brain where new memories are stored is affected earlier in dementia than where memories of long ago reside. Recollection of music and song – which is also stored differently – can remain unimpaired for longer still.
"Especially vivid are images from what David Rubin, professor of psychology at Duke University in North Carolina has termed the ‘reminiscence bump’ – the period between the ages 10 and 25" says Reed. "Various theories have been advanced as to why this should be so: our autobiographical memory storage systems are more efficient at that age; our sense of self is being formed; we have many experiences for the first time. Whatever the reason, this is the period of our lives where the brightest and most focussed pictures lie."
“Most of the world of older people is their past. When I visited my mother, who had dementia for 10 years, I would see families struggling for conversation with the people they love. They’d say ‘Steve has got into the school football team’ or ‘We’re off to Torquay for the weekend’. This would mean almost nothing to the person with dementia. But if they’d asked ‘What was your best holiday?’ they’d have got a response, especially if they had a visual trigger and some helpful conversational prompts.”
Reed launched the Many Happy Returns cards in 2008 after conducting research with 120 older people. “The same themes kept coming up, mostly to do with the domestic environment: shopping, rationing, smoking, playing games, washday and for the men, watching their father shave.”
The cards, each of which comes with a brief explanation for the uninitiated, are intended as a jumping off point for conversation and are currently used in around 800 care homes. “A picture of somebody shopping might lead the older person to remember that she walked to the high street every day because she had no fridge to store fresh food, that everything was sold by weight and put in paper bags and that there were no supermarkets.”
Prompts like photographs help release memories long locked away, says Julie Heathcote, a trainer specialising in reminiscence work for the Alzheimer’s Society. “Often, just asking a question is not enough. You need something visual, audio or tactile. I have seen so many surprising moments when there has been recognition and response from someone with dementia where the family and carers expected nothing."
Signpost Journal February 2010 Article: "Remembering Memory for Wellbeing"
JLP Connections magazine January 2010 Review
Care and Nursing Essentials October 2009 Review
The Weekly News 6 June 2009 "Dementia Sufferers Kept in the Picture"
The Times 16 May 2009
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/mental_health/article6297233.ece
Caring Times May 2009 Review
Matchbox magazine March 2009 "Closing the Generation Gap"
Stroke News Volume 27.1
Remember rationing, conkers and courting?
Competition for Stroke News readers
Regional newspapers
THE WESTERN DAILY NEWS weekend supplement 14/15 February
THE PLYMOUTH HERALD, 16 February, reviews of Many Happy Returns 1940s cards and their effectiveness in connecting the generations at West View Care Home in Bere Alston, Devon.
AGE CONCERN HAMPSHIRE "THERE'S MORE TO LIFE" magazine Winter 2009
"How easy it is to forget memory" by Many Happy Returns creator, Sarah Reed
THE JOURNAL OF DEMENTIA CARE, Vol 17 No1, January / February 2009.
Charity Award goes to creator of Many Happy Returns
2 December 2008
Sarah Reed awarded a "2008 Local Hero" award in the BANK OF AMERICA CHARITABLE FOUNDATION NEIGHBOURHOOD EXCELLENCE INITIATIVE, for her "passionate and committed volunteering and trusteeship for the national charity CONTACT THE ELDERLY since 1994, organising over 130 monthly outings for isolated elderly people as well as fundraising dinners for three different charities."
She commented, "we always need more volunteers to drive or host for the charity that is based on such a simple, effective idea - giving some of the most frail, ignored and isolated people in the country a few hours of conversation and laughter over tea with others in someone's home once a month."
21 November 2008
SAGA MAGAZINE's Emma Soames recommends Many Happy Returns as a great Christmas gift for an older relative November 2008
NAPA newsletter, NAPA Living Life October 2008
MANY HAPPY RETURNS LAUNCH 1 October 2008
Schools and care homes help launch a powerful reminiscence tool to bring the generations closer
To celebrate National Older People’s Day and Grandparent’s Day, schools in Wimbledon and Devon are holding workshops with residents of local care homes to help launch ‘Many Happy Returns 1940s’. The first in a series of interactive products designed to make sharing memories easy and enjoyable for young and old, ‘Many Happy Returns 1940s’ is a boxed set of 26 large print cards with 1940s images on one side and brief contextual descriptions and conversational prompts on the other. It is available from www.manyhappyreturns.org.
Sarah Reed, creator of Many Happy Returns, said: “Stimulating conversation is very important to the wellbeing of the older generation but carers and younger people often find it difficult to bridge the age gap. Reminiscence has proved to be a powerful tool for overcoming this, which is why the Many Happy Returns box is a real ice-breaker. It gets younger people chatting with older people really quickly and makes the interaction enjoyable for both parties."
The format for Many Happy Returns has been tested at a series of workshops with children, families, carers and elderly people. The cards are easy to use and designed to be an effective and enjoyable way for younger people to connect with and share the memories of an older generation.
Sue Laver, teaching assistant at Bere Alston Primary School in Devon, commented, "It is so good to see the older people talking so easily and freely to the younger generation, at ease with each another exchanging their life experiences."
‘Many Happy Returns’ was designed to fit into the National Schools Curriculum key stages 2 and 3 in History, Citizenship, Art and Design and Technology subjects.
Future versions of the Many Happy Returns series include the 1950s and 1960s.
About MHRG
The Many Happy Returns brand is owned by MHRG Ltd. The Many Happy Returns concept is an activity to help connect the generations, which is based on reminiscence. Created by Sarah Reed, founder of MHRG, it is the result of fifteen years’ experience as a volunteer and a trustee for Contact the Elderly, her own mother's dementia and her work as a creative producer in the media. The charity Independent Age, supports and endorses the product.
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