Memory Care: National Gardening Month

Gardening is potentially a “long-term” memory for VITALIA® residents with dementia. Some of my best memories are gardening with my dad and my grandma. It was such a simple thing, but spending time together, being outside in nature and working together to grow vegetables is something I think will always stay with me. Residents had similar experiences, if not more so, as gardening was even more prevalent in their generation. Those memories from when we are young and memories of things that gave us purpose are the ones that tend to stick with us the longest.

It is beneficial to connect individuals living with dementia to long term memories. These memories are full of familiar activities to residents, especially those with dementia. Being able to remember those familiar activities gives residents comfort, a sense of control, and independence. This is why we spend so much time getting to know residents through engagement plans. We want to make sure they are involved in familiar activities they will remember with fondness and be successful doing. This is also why we work so hard at building a routine in our Memory Care Neighborhoods. The routine becomes familiar to the residents over time and gives that same sense of comfort.

Here at VITALIA Senior Residences® at Stow in Stow, OH to celebrate and participate in National Gardening month we’re not just planting some seeds in the ground. It is a whole experience that we want residents to be involved in, starting with looking at catalogs to plan what we are going to plant. We have raised garden beds to paint and decorate and seeds to plant. Of course we’ll be checking on them every day to make sure they are getting the right amount of sunlight and water, until the end when we get to eat the fruits of our labor. We can have a salad bar from the veggies we’ve grown, have a picnic outside in the garden, and harvest our fresh herbs and use them in our recipes.