Dementia

Program director Jessie Ritter said that at Senior Star, one thing in the memory wing that helps the residents the most is the destination stations. These are stops on a sort of make-believe tour that transport the residents’ minds back in time and resurrect happy memories.

There is a nursery where they can care for dolls, a wardrobe filled with fancy dresses and suits and hats from bygone eras that they can dress in, an office with a manual typewriter and a rotary phone where they can get some work done.

But because of the repeated touching at these stations, they had to be closed for a time during the pandemic.

Ritter said with all the necessary adjustments, staff saw real cognitive changes in some residents such as depression, aggression and increased confusion.

But when the weather finally turned nice and the secure outdoor garden with its own destination stations became available, moods improved.

Outside on the patio, in addition to gardening, residents can wash or sit in a 1957 Chevrolet, hang out at the bus stop at the corner of Senior and Star boulevards, hang clothes on the line, check the mailboxes, hang out in the rock garden or just lounge around.

Getting the residents outside and back into those tactile activities has made a world of difference, said Dionne Nicol, the facility’s administrator.

“Even just pulling weeds in the garden, it brings back happy memories,” Nicol said. “And it’s a sense of purpose.”

As the pandemic drags on, more and more people are calling to seek guidance when caring for loved ones who seem to be failing more quickly now, said Vince McGrail, executive director and CEO of the Central Ohio Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association.

“We are hearing it a lot: ‘I feel like she’s fading. I feel like she’s deteriorating and I don’t know what to do,’ ” McGrail said. “To that person with dementia, a change in routine, not being able to understand where their family is, it’s heartbreaking.”

McGrail said that as we emerge from the pandemic, getting back to contact and routine will be key.

Moore, who was munching on an ice cream sandwich following her garden weeding and dance routine, hasn’t let the changes in routine get her down.

“I’m a happy person anyway,” she said. “I’m ancient, but you got to keep going. What else are you going to do?”