<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default"><span style="font-size:27.2px"> are not really in the late stages of dementia so much as they are bored out of their everlovin' minds. If they don't have or do not use a computer, what do they do? Watch soap operas? Daytime game shows? Well hell, no wonder their minds atrophy. spike</span><br></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="font-size:27.2px"><br></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="font-size:27.2px">Now I know very little about dementia, so do not get your ruffles up if I get something wrong. What's wrong with the Spike quote above? It assumes that their motivation is as far gone as their minds. Why can't they get stimulation for themselves? </span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="font-size:27.2px"><br></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="font-size:27.2px">I knew one man, our former chairman, who had a stroke. I was not around him much, but I learned that he spent a good part of the day watching soap operas. And in the dept. we wondered - such a brilliant man; why was he dipping so low on the entertainment pole? A man who extolled the virtues of Nova on TV. Maybe his damage reduced his IQ in a sense and soap opera was now at his level.</span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="font-size:27.2px"><br></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="font-size:27.2px">I have heard of other cases where an elderly person started to like pop music, as opposed to his usual classical. Another drop in IQ? bill w</span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="font-size:27.2px"><br></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="font-size:27.2px">-------------------------------</span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="font-size:27.2px">I am not a Waltons trivia expert but he named the children accurately enough</span><br style="font-size:27.2px"><span style="font-size:27.2px">for me to realize he had learned the names of the characters accurately and</span><br style="font-size:27.2px"><span style="font-size:27.2px">recited them later, this after having been deep in what we thought was</span><br style="font-size:27.2px"><span style="font-size:27.2px">end-stage AD. spike</span><span style="font-size:27.2px"><br></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="font-size:27.2px"><br></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="font-size:27.2px">Long term memories are the last to go. Don't make any assumptions about what that man could remember from yesterday or what he could learn. bill w</span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="font-size:27.2px"><br></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="font-size:27.2px"><br></span></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Nov 1, 2016 at 11:01 AM, spike <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:spike66@att.net" target="_blank">spike66@att.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><br>
>...From: extropy-chat [mailto:<a href="mailto:extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org">extropy-chat-bounces@<wbr>lists.extropy.org</a>] On<br>
Behalf Of spike<br>
...<br>
<span class=""><br>
<br>
>... On Behalf Of BillK<br>
Subject: [ExI] VR for dementia care<br>
<br>
This is a marvellous use for virtual reality!<br>
<br>
<<a href="http://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-virtual-reality-is-transforming-dem
entia-care-in-australia/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.techrepublic.com/<wbr>article/how-virtual-reality-<wbr>is-transforming-dem<br>
entia-care-in-australia/</a>><br>
<br>
</span><span class="">How virtual reality is transforming dementia care in Australia...<br>
-----------<br>
BillK<br>
<br>
______________________________<wbr>_________________<br>
<br>
<br>
Thanks BillK. As you know, this is a topic which has been on my mind for<br>
some time.<br>
</span>...<br>
<span class="">Go Australians! We are cheering for ya, mates!<br>
<br>
spike ______________________________<wbr>_________________<br>
<br>
<br>
</span>From BillK's article:<br>
<br>
... an elderly Italian gentleman cried when they removed the goggles from<br>
<span class="">him. When asked why he was so emotional, he said that he had given up ever<br>
</span>returning to Venice, and he had felt like he was there in a gondola...<br>
<br>
This comment reminded me of an experience that happened a quarter century<br>
ago but I remember it like it happened yesterday. In college I worked at a<br>
nursing home, that wing back there (details needed? Didn't think so) night<br>
shift. Ten years later, my bride's grandfather was a patient in that<br>
nursing home and was in that wing back there. In the early 80s, they had no<br>
TV (they thought there was no point in it (dammit)) but by the early 90s,<br>
some sane kindhearted soul had made some fundamental changes. They had a<br>
big-screen TV (rare in those days, a big very expensive CRT) in a commons<br>
area and a number of seats and places for wheelchairs. Someone had recorded<br>
a bunch of episodes of the Waltons, cut out all the commercials and placed<br>
them continuously end to end on a video tapes. They played continuously<br>
round the clock (AD patients don't always sleep at night.)<br>
<br>
We visited, he commented "I had dinner today with the nicest family. They<br>
have a sawmill and the oldest son is called John Boy and their daughters are<br>
Mary Ellen, Esther, Erin Elizabeth... etc.<br>
<br>
I am not a Waltons trivia expert but he named the children accurately enough<br>
for me to realize he had learned the names of the characters accurately and<br>
recited them later, this after having been deep in what we thought was<br>
end-stage AD. That happened in 1992 but I can't get it out of my mind. His<br>
damaged brain was still able to experience and still able to remember. I<br>
think had we known, we might have been able to keep him home with nothing<br>
more sophisticated than a VCR.<br>
<div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5"><br>
spike<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
______________________________<wbr>_________________<br>
extropy-chat mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org">extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</a><br>
<a href="http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://lists.extropy.org/<wbr>mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-<wbr>chat</a><br>
</div></div></blockquote></div><br></div>