CAREGIVER • SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2019 • 9
JoyThrough Music!
Music holds a very
special power in our
lives.
Memories of your first
love, a high school
dance, the birth of
a child and other
milestones can be
triggered by a song.
Music can bring you back
to that special place in
time like nothing else.
Listening to music connects patients and caregivers in a
way that’s otherwise impossible.
Music has the power to:
Shift a person’s mood
Manage stress-induced agitation
Facilitate cognitive functions
And coordinate motor movement So sing, sing a song!
Music plays an integral role in our memory care program.
For more information about St. Barnabas Memory
Care and our five Living Assistance Facilities, visit
StBarnabasMemorycare.com or contact Anne Nelson,
director of Clinical Admissions at 724-625-4000.
adno=6731195
THEDOWNSIZING DILEMMA
until the last minute because they thought
someone would want it on Craigslist or
NextDoor or Offer Up.”
When it comes down to it, though, if an
item holds such value in a loved one’s heart
that it would pain them to get rid of it, Yesko
said, caregivers might want to ease off.
“Sometimes I’ll convince someone to
keep something because she’d be regretting
this forever and missing this forever, and
that’s not OK,” Yesko said.
“The idea is to downsize and create a new
space for yourself with some of the old
items that you still love and want to have
around you so it still feels like your home.”
For a lot of people, the process of moving
becomes a life review, Regan said.
As the child or the caregiver, it might be
tempting to come in and say just get rid
of it, but there are often strong memories
attached to peoples’ belongings.
“You have to be sensitive to a lot of the
emotions that come with the stuff,” he said.
“I’ve worked with people where you’d think
that chair was the person’s grandmother.
“To you, it may look like junk, but to that
person it means something. It’s a part of
the people who are gone, and that’s all you
STOCK.ADOBE.COM
have left of them, so it’s a fine line.”
It can also be the ideal time to learn more
about your loved one and your family history,
Yesko said.
She suggests that caregivers take the time
to photograph the furniture, dishes, collections
and other items they remove from the
home. Then send the photos to a drugstore
or online service to get physical copies
printed out and put them into a photo
book.
“And then write the story of that item,”
she said. “The Barrister bookcase that went
through four generations? Tell me why
it’s special. What did grandad put on that
bookcase? You start telling the story of an
item and it turns out to be the story of a
person. Maybe when your parents got married
they bought this piece at a thrift store,
or maybe this was the first real dining room
set they could afford and back then it was
so expensive and they were so proud of it.
“You come to learn so much about that
person because their things become witnesses
to their lives. We try to really honor
everyone’s stories and then encourage them
to gently release it to become someone
else’s joy.”