In the past couple of years I’ve been reading a lot about dementia since my MIL has been diagnosed with mixed dementia and we’re her remote caregivers.
One of the female members in my senior center’s singing group is exhibiting some of the early signs of dementia that we wish we had recognized years ago with MIL so the family could have made plans.
I don’t know this member well enough and I wonder if I should somehow suggest that her family should have her evaluated with minicog test.
I read somewhere that 1/3 of the seniors will eventually have dementia. It might happen to anyone. I was thinking this is going to happen to the many members in the senior center, and if we recognize the early signs, if we should bring it up, or how should we bring it up?
Any suggestions?
Medical information is so strongly protected by federal laws because it is so personal.
If you were a medical doctor trained in diagnosis, you would only be legally allowed to discuss her condition with family members that she had previously identified in writing.
My Mom was in a knitting club. She had dementia. I think everyone else knew it, including herself. The club welcomed her and a couple of the members took turns with reminder phone calls, picking her up, taking her home. It takes a village. Thanks to them, going to this activity was one of the highlights of her week.
It's very likely this woman's family is well aware of what's going on. I think it would be lovely if you and the other members pitched in to make this time for your friend a happy one. As your relationship gets closer, you would then be in a better position to broach your concerns with her family.
Unless she appears to be a danger to herself or others, I personally would stay out of it. And even then I would quietly go to the person in charge. If she appears to need some help getting to and from the group, you could offer to escort her or drive her. You don’t know what else might be going on with her - a recent surgery or grief and loss can also cause some temporary changes in cognition. And I say this even knowing that many people who had some regular contact with my mother must have seen her decline (although she covered very well) and never reached out. It wouldn’t have changed anything because my mother would have refused any intervention. She even fooled Adult Protective Services a few times. It was only until she was a complete danger to herself that action was able to be taken. I know you have a good heart and are trying to help. Just walk a slow and careful path while doing so!
Her family and own Dr should be able to see it and maybe she already knows.
And, like you said you don't really know her.
What you can do. Is get to know her, be a friend, invite her to lunch, ect.
Then in one of ya's many talks, you can bring up dementia in your mom and even you talking about yourself, like how you forget things because we all do at some point forget where the keys are, ect.
Wair for this women to feel comfortable enough with you to talk about herself.
I only wish that years ago someone would point out my MIL’s weird behavior was not normal aging but the beginning of her dementia. since no one in the family had any experience with dementia we were truly clueless until my FIL passed away suddenly and we had to deal with the aftermath.
That’s why I was wondering if or how to bring it up to someone’s attention. it is not to exclude her from attending our group activities.
my MIL was in singing group for years but nobody said anything until I told them we’re moving her, then they all agreed it’s the right thing to do. Obviously they all saw it coming but said nothing. even if they did, my FIL would be in denial anyways.
However, if I had known about the existence of mini-cog, probably would strongly suggest have MIL tested years ago, especially after she drove her car into an open field and then a structure, and crashed the car. We all thought it was just part of aging process because she’s getting old.
First I want to say that those of us who have experience with dementia tend to be hyper sensitive and see signs of mental decline wherever we look.
Secondly, unless you know this woman and her family you really have no idea whether they are blind to these changes or they are instead allowing her to carry on doing the things she enjoys as much as she possibly can. A woman from my community was accommodated by her bridge playing group for many years after she could no longer play up to the group's standard because that's what friends do.
And lastly, if her behaviour is really obviously off her family may be in denial, and no amount of outreach from an unknown, untrained busybody (which is how they'll view you) is likely to cause them to suddenly sit up and take notice. My good friend has very often told the story of how she was "floored" when her mother could not draw a clock on a short cognitive exam, and yet the community had been aware that there was a problem for years prior, and my friend had heard from several people.
Sadly, this was just pre-Covid, so I didn't see her often. When I really DID see her, I was shocked. I know her kids, so called the one I knew best and since she lived 300 miles away, she was not aware of this.
Turned out, her other daughters had been dosing her with essential oils (grrr) and she wasn't getting better. YD blew into town and had a complete cog-eval done. I know my friend is on some meds and is doing a little better, but has stopped driving and is very slowly going down that sad path of dementia.
If this had been someone I didn't know well--I don't know how involved I'd have been. It's a sensitive situation.
I agree that getting the attention of the Sr Center involved could be a good way to go.
(My friend was also a great singer and sang in Ladies Barbershop for years and years. One big tipoff was that she couldn't read the music anymore. I know I stood next to her in church choir and she was holding the (wrong piece) of music upside down. She was so baffled. That broke my heart.)
Before the meeting please organize your thoughts, write down specific incidents when you though possible dementia might be a consideration.
Please do not expect this to be a 2 sided conversation to a great degree. Much will be covered under confidentiality.
There might be a good possibility that the Center is aware and that the family is aware but they are allowing this person to continue with "normal" routine as long as possible, as long as it is safe to do so.
W/o sounding critical, are you concerned for her safety, etc., or b/c she's not able to sing as well as others? If it's the latter, perhaps the chorus leader can find ways for her to sing but be overshadowed by others, i.e., place her next to others with stronger voices, or the baritones so that she's "drowned out."
I think it's important that people who sing be allowed to participate in some way, to maintain self respect and/or benefit from the positive effects of music.
If your group is more like casual club, then you may want to work with others in the group to figure out ways to get her to allow you into her home, where you may see more evidence and may have a chance to "casually" bring up any local relatives and their contact info. You will need to create a "therapeutic fib" in order to do this, and it is morally justified since you're only trying to alert her family. Maybe she has a FB page and you can have her show you posts by her family, etc. Often some with dementia has a home that shows obvious disarray before it begins to spill out into public behavior.
Final option if she does things that are unsafe, or she's showing signs of illness, you can report her to APS for her county to get her on their radar as a vulnerable adult. They'll take it from there. I wish you much success.