A heartwarming social interaction between “Michelle”, a client with severe dementia who lives at Ellna’s and “George”, a client with memory loss who has recently been receiving care at Ellna’s during the day.
Michelle is quite talkative with staff and another client with whom she shares residence. There is a disconnect between what she thinks she’s saying and what she actually says. Michelle’s resting countenance makes her appear angry. George is charming. He loves to greet and share stories from his life with everyone. He requires some assistance when walking.
As George and I were sitting at the kitchen table, he confided Michelle “never answers me when I say hello or talk to her”. He was worried Michelle didn’t like him. I said Michelle was likely just not feeling up to talking right now. By the expression on his face, George was clearly not accepting the explanation, so I changed the subject by asking him to tell me about being a pilot during wartime. George’s face lit up as he began to talk about flying.
Meanwhile, Michelle is pacing the room, slipping between George and the table, George and me, time and again. When Michelle bumps into George’s leg, it’s clear he doesn’t understand why she is only focused on the pacing, not on anyone else. He politely slides his chair back to let Michelle through.
Michelle turns to George and says, “Thank you.” George is so surprised and happy when he says to me, “She talked to me!”. Michelle made his day.
A few minutes later, George’s wife arrived to take him home. His wife and I were helping him to the door (Michelle was still pacing) when George looked at Michelle, reached out to her with a smile and said, “Goodbye.” Michelle shook George’s hand. He was absolutely thrilled.