Can 'memory wells' improve the lives of elderly patients? – BBC News

 

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hospitals around the world are

struggling to cope staff are often

stressed patients can feel isolated

but at this health facility in the US

their solution is to really get to know

their patients

did you go to Europe by yourself by

myself yeah and then I call the

highlight of my life I

believe that's amazing they're producing

short biographies to help patients and

staff you would see a resident and you

would think one thing but then when you

go and you read the memorial well book

you you just be like wow I didn't know

that you might be in a wheelchair but

you're still a person

Gray Birch in Maine they had a problem

that's typical of many hospitals after

the pandemic

staff were becoming burnt out and

turnover increased to 400 percent people

had become sick or financially there

were other opportunities for them that

were more rewarding and as we had more

turnover on our staff there's a lot of

new people that is helping care for

people who this is their home this is

where they are going to live out the

rest of their days

so Deidre was looking for something to

help those temporary staff connect

better with the patients

is there something we can do so that as

we have new staff working with our

residents they will have a little bit of

a bigger keyhole into kind of the person

they have been before so that they can

form relationships a little more quicker

My Hope was that it would make people

feel connected to the work they do here

and I hoped it would help retain some

staff

then did we found out about a company

called memory well they've been

producing short patient biographies in

other hospitals and it seemed to be

helping build those relationships

Dorothy hi I'm Amy I am today 85 year

old dot is telling her life story

Amy a social worker is asking the

questions and recording the answers what

is your fondest and our strongest

memories of your childhood the longest

memories

well first thing that comes to mind

right now was that in Quincy I was went

to a one-room schoolhouse

and we learned cursive handwriting

and Dot's life has been eventful she's

trained as an engineer she's been a

writer and she's traveled the world I

went to Europe with no plan no ticket

and I had a book this thick and this big

and it was a 0.5 dollars a day can you

imagine that

dot found the experience stirred up lots

of memories it was amazing because I

didn't know that I would be able to talk

that much and and think of so many

different ideas

what are the things that you hope the

nurses and the doctors when they read

the story what are the things that you

hope they will really notice

I don't know me as a person I guess and

and not as a patient that they have to

give pills to really would like that

I was quite amazed with Dorothy for a

lot of us we really don't think about

our journey and I think her saying it

out loud it made her think yeah I did do

a lot of things in my life

no

once Dot's life story is recorded it

gets sent to a professional writer from

memory well who turns it into something

for everyone to read

I find just the people's stories are are

fascinating

what's that line if you live past 40

there's at least one novel In You

I mean dot is really interesting I think

here she was she was trained as a

mechanical engineer didn't really want

to be her father pushed her into it she

became a writer and this is what I was

supposed to do and there's that through

line of her life where she thinks

because she is a person of such faith

that

it's how it's supposed to be

one person who's already had his

biography done is Jim Dennis he's been

in a wheelchair since he was a teenager

but that's not stopped him from leading

an active life the day after I came home

from the hospital I was out hunting

I told the nurse I'll see you during

hunting season

to which she responded was skepticism

and sure enough Jim and his dad showed

up at hunting season she couldn't

believe it she exclaimed oh my goodness

oh wow I never thought I was going to

CEO

Jim also had a successful career as a

racing driver

the night of my first win was just the

place was packed ironically I started on

the front row and I took the lead and

they embraced one caution free

and I led the whole race it was quite

nice that's for sure

the experiences that his story revealed

made the medical staff see beyond his

health issues and it's made a practical

difference to his treatment

we're catching him in a moment in time

when things aren't really all going his

way and you can't picture that not that

long ago he was in a race car and when

you put that together all of a sudden

you're like oh okay we need to get you

back to your best and I think your best

is better than what I thought it might

have been

and for Jim it's helped people see the

real person very important to me that

people look at you and they don't

stereotype you as hey you're in a

wheelchair

for the nursing staff at Gray Birch the

memory well stories can provide new ways

to look after patients who are upset or

whose behavior is challenging if we have

a patient who may be trying to leave the

facility what we do is we can refer back

to the memory well and from prior

experiences of their jobs like baking

carpentry things like that we can bring

out supplies that'll help them be active

at that moment with that and it

alleviates the behavior for the most

part Sharifah is one of the temporary

staff who move around different

hospitals the memory well stories make a

real difference being in a lot of

facilities coming to Maine and seeing

this memory well program I think it's

phenomenal because I did not in other

facilities see that so I think it's a

great program

for one of the senior nurses the life

stories have affected her on a personal

level her mother has dementia and is a

patient at Gray Birch a lot of people

actually were surprised by my Mom's

memory well a lot because where is she

so confused right now they didn't know

that she went to like say Harvard and

she has three kids and stuff like that

so I mean I think knowing that has made

all the difference in the world for her

people especially when they're first

admitted here

um you know they're scared they're

leaving a lot behind they're losing some

of their independence and I think this

is a real great way to kind of make them

feel more comfortable and understood and

heard

what she had was the book Europe on five

dollars a day and a huge suitcase which

she quickly got rid of in exchange for a

smaller more sensible suitcase shortly

after dot told her story to Amy the

written version is ready

she says her singleness of purpose is to

do God's will

that is wonderful

how does this make you feel

to know that you're getting your story

out there

it's good it's very good

memory Wells stories have helped more

than a thousand patients and their

carers to develop closer bonds

I wanted to treat people with the full

Dignity of their humanness you really

need to know more about them

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