The James L. West Center for Dementia Care is hosting an online class Wednesday to help people with loved ones who have dementia or Alzheimer's.
The class, called, "The Heartbreak and Cost of Isolation: Strategies for Coping" will take place at 11 a.m. Wednesday and will be available on Zoom. Registration is free HERE.
"The senior population has had difficulties or challenges with isolation before COVID ever happened," says Jaime Cobb, the vice president of community education at James L. West Center. "Then you throw in COVID, places have been shut down, our residents and families have not been able to see each other face-to-face. It's different seeing your loved one face-to-face than it is over Facetime or through plexiglass."
Cobb says seniors and people with dementia may be struggling with not seeing family members, but she says the class will help those relatives cope with feelings of isolation, too.
"We've all experienced some of these costs, some of these feelings," she says. "What are these feelings? What's going on in my own mental and emotional state?"
Cobb says the seminar will also help families look at ways to keep connected if they have relatives who are staying at home and no longer have community services available.
"There's confusion, and they don't understand COVID. They may not remember we're trying to keep you safe," she says. "We're working with people with dementia, so we've got to live in the moment."
Long-term care facilities have been able to open up for family members as "essential caregivers." Cobb says that has given families an opportunity to see loved ones in-person, but she says the class Wednesday can help family members who are struggling with the emotions they might feel during their first trip.
"It's a lot to encompass in an hour, but starting that conversation and letting families know the feelings you have are normal, and they're okay," she says. "These are not normal times, so the feelings you have are not normal to you, and that's okay. But then we'll go into, 'How do you cope? How do you manage these feelings? How do you prepare to see your loved one, or what can you do when everybody is still at home, and you don't have the respite?'"
