A message from our friends from the Alzheimer's Association

As the holiday season approaches, our friends from Alzheimer's Association asked that we share this list of ideas for possible gifts a caregiver might like.  Also, check out Holiday Guide for printing.


For the Caregiver:

• Money/your time
• Something frivolous but fun (massage, spa treatment, etc)
• A supply of frozen homemade meals
• Long-distance phone card
• Safety/assistive devices (exit alarms, hand-held shower, safety knobs/locks)
• Books, magazine subscription, Kindle or reader loaded with books
• Personal CD player and CDs or ipod loaded with favorite tunes, itunes subscription loaded onto an ipad
• Respite for a loved one with dementia
• House cleaning services
• Gift certificates
• Homemade coupon books with offers to run errands, buy groceries, iron, do laundry, home repair, gardening or spring cleaning
• Your sympathetic ear and hugs
• An item from the Alzheimer’s Store alzstore.com

 

For the Person with Memory Loss:

• Sneakers with Velcro, easy care clothes
• Enrollment in Medic Alert+Safe Return or Comfort Zone for wandering
• Soft pillow or life-like stuffed animals
• Memory aids (large clock, wipe off calendar, post it notes, simple recording devices)
• Night lights
• Natural light bulbs
• Simple and familiar games (early stage)
• Taxi charge account (early stage)
• Bus pass (early stage)
• Materials to sort (e.g. nuts and bolts)
• Tickets to ballgame, circus or concert (early stage)
• Music loaded onto ipod or ipad, record player with vintage records
• Pet visits (mid to late stage)
• Short car trips
• Photo albums

 

Gifts for the Caregiver

Consider these possibilities for a caregiver you  know:

• Tickets to a show and respite for the person with dementia
• A shopping spree
• Certificates for house repairs, cleaning or gardening
• Respite care (volunteer to have coffee, listen to music, read or simple sit with the person with dementia)
• Donate to the local Alzheimer’s Association Chapter in their name
• Gift certificates
• An invitation to a holiday meal
• Regular visits their spouse or family member in a long term facility
• Relaxation tapes
• Time to sit and listen
• Dinner out
• Recorder for messages or reminders for the person with dementia or memory loss
• Frozen home cooked dinners or plan to bring dinner in one night a week, warm and ready to serve
• Research and put together a “community resource book” listing services, little known contacts, etc. Offer to make contacts and gather information
• Set up a care schedule for neighbors, friends and professionals providing in home care or visits
• Surprise telephone call or hand written note to say “I’m thinking of you”
• Offer to pick up laundry, groceries, medications
• Books: practical, fun or inspirational (check the Alzheimer’s Association bookstore)
• Make your own coupons for free errands or favors.
• Magazine, newsletter or newspaper subscription
• Movie subscription to NetFlix or another online or mailing service
• Freedom from the stress of traditional rituals and holiday activities. Take a hard look at what you’d done in the past and talk with the caregiver about what might work better now.
• Respite and support after the family has left following the holidays. Caregivers are often exhausted from all the activity and additional care.
• Medic Alert+Safe Return or Comfort Zone subscription in case of wandering.
• Ipod filled with favorite music
• Gym membership and an offer to sit with the person with memory loss during a daily or a weekly workout
• Kindle or other electronic reader with books loaded

Photos courtesy by JLuJan