Connections from the Heart – a new name for the Connections and Skills project
This article is dedicated with love and deep appreciation to the coordinators and volunteers of the "Connections and Skills" project (and its new name "Connections" ❤ "From the Heart") to their generations, that thanks to your dedication and tireless work, we are privileged to provide such a significant service and such vital support to people with dementia and their families across the country.
Dementia is defined as a family disease, and not just a disease of the person suffering from the symptoms alone. When one family member is diagnosed with dementia/Alzheimer's, the entire family's world is shaken, and the family is required to prepare for long-term treatment. Also, the progressive and changing nature of the disease requires the family to make changes and adjustments throughout all stages of the disease.
In order to improve the general condition of the person living with dementia and reduce the treatment burden on family members, the Emda Association has developed various tools adapted to the different stages of the disease. The "Connections and skills"And the project that uses it, under its new name"connections ❤ from the heart", are part of these tools.
Connections and Skills Kit – Fun and Meaningful Stimulation
You set "Connections and skills"Created by Debbie Lahav, a veteran occupational therapist and arts therapist, andDafna Golan Shemesh, a senior social worker and an arts and animal-assisted therapist, both of whom are dementia experts with extensive experience, in collaboration with Emda Association.
The kit includes a variety of activities; "collections", including a physical training collection and a sensory stimulation collection; brain training, games, reminiscing, creativity, songs and recipes; with each topic accompanied by an explanatory booklet. By using the kit, the variety of skills of the person with dementia can be stimulated in order to maintain brain and interpersonal connections and skills - in a fun and meaningful way.
Working with an assessment helps the operator – the family member, the volunteer, and the paid workers – to better communicate and understand the person with dementia, to innovate and develop quality relationships, and to add meaning and activity to the daily routine.
In many cases, people with cognitive decline are inactive for long hours, and primary caregivers feel helpless in the face of the lack of initiative, inaction, and emptiness that accompanies them.
The creators of the assessment sought to include tools aimed at renewing activity, discovering the person's existing skills, and creating contact and communication with the person with dementia, through mature and adapted activity.
Connections from the Heart Project – Community Support
project connections ❤ from the heart, which is centered around the "Connections and skills", operates through various authorities across the country.
Project volunteers undergo 12 hours of training by Emda Association On the topic of dementia, adapted communication and creative activation of people with cognitive decline at home. They come with a kit "Connections and skills"Once a week, we visit the home of the person with dementia and identify existing skills that often go unnoticed by the primary caregivers."
During the sessions, volunteers also teach family members or paid employees ("outsiders") how to communicate with the person with dementia and how to keep them active. In this way, they encourage continued activity and activity throughout the day.
We recommend that grandchildren and other visitors to the home also use the kit, thereby contributing to the quality of life of the person with dementia and their caregivers, through the very existence of a fun and bonding activity.
Home visits are an extremely important tool in the context of caring for people with dementia in the community. The volunteer also serves as a listening ear, support and even guidance to the primary caregivers and can also refer them to local services.
Noa Matias, Project Manager for Connections ❤ from the Heart of the Emda Association
In the past, she managed Noa A day center for the mentally ill, and she is very experienced in the field of dementia. As part of project management, Noa is responsible for planning, organizing, executing and controlling the project throughout the country, accompanying and training the project coordinators in the various authorities, and solving problems and challenges.
Noa notes that the project is successful mainly thanks to the good relationship with the local project coordinators: "The project coordinators are very special professionals, who invest time, energy and a lot of resources in the operation and success of the project. They create close relationships with the volunteers, meet the families and people with dementia and ensure the most appropriate match. In addition, they accompany the volunteers throughout the entire volunteer period and ensure that they are a source of support, advice and guidance for them."
Volunteers – Companion Angels
Once a month, the project coordinator holds a meeting of all the volunteers, who share with each other the difficulties, challenges, and good and exciting moments they are going through. The group is very meaningful to the volunteers and gives them a sense of belonging and recognition for their hard work. The volunteers learn to relate to different areas of life, and sometimes even are in contact with the senior citizen departments of the local welfare services, in order to help family members.
Miri RitterMiri, who has been volunteering for about four years and is considered the most experienced volunteer in the Afula project, notes the high emotional reward she receives during her volunteering. Today, Miri serves as a companion for new volunteers, who enter the home of a person with dementia (who is usually in the advanced stages of the disease) once a week. The initialsThe first visit to the family home is made by new volunteers accompanied by a veteran volunteer.
In addition to the meetings, the local coordinator also holds training days for volunteers with a variety of lectures in various fields. In addition, there are regular meetings between the project facilitators and the accompanying professional team. This team is available to the local coordinators and volunteers for any questions or concerns.
Volunteering gives volunteers meaning and the knowledge that it is possible to help families in difficult situations, and provides a spiritual anchor for those involved. They are described by families as "guardian angels" and "magicians" who bring light and change into the home.
The volunteers themselves are empowered by volunteering and note the added value of volunteering in understanding dementia, in developing their creativity through the activity and connection, in understanding the importance of bringing a worker close to the family, the need to receive individual help, and especially the significant support for families who feel they are not alone. This is evident in the volunteers' difficulties in parting with their families and participants.
How to join the Connections ❤ from the Heart project
Families interested in participating in the project in the authorities where it operates can contact the local coordinators and check suitability and eligibility according to the criteria - some authorities participate in the project in cooperation with the Claims Conference, in which only Holocaust survivors are eligible.
For more information about the project connections ❤ from the heart and you have set Connections and links, you can contact:
- Information pages on the Emda website:
- project Connections ❤ from the heart
- Kit Connections and skills
- Or to Noa from Tiash: noa@alz-emda.org.il
Noa Matyash She is managing Connections from the Heart Program and the Northern Region Coordinator inEmda Association.
