Dementia of all kinds, including Alzheimer’s disease, is a growing concern for Canada; the Alzheimer Society notes that nearly 1 million Canadians are projected to have dementia by the year 2030. Given that nearly 25% of Burlington’s population were seniors (21% were 65 years and over; 3.3% were 85 years and over) according to the 2021 census results, it stands to reason that it is a growing concern for our city as well. Burlington Public Library (BPL) is continually evaluating how to better serve the needs of the community, and their Cognitive Care Kits are a reflection of that.
While the Cognitive Care Kits have been at the library for some time, BPL decided to refresh and update the kits in the last year, based on the needs they were seeing in the community. BPL partnered with the Hamilton-Halton Alzheimer Society to revamp the kits.
Digital Resource and Collections Librarian Brynley Eckhart says that it was great working with the Alzheimer Society. “What great staff, what a great community partnership we have with them,” she enthuses.
Eckhart says that it was a collaborative process: she would send Alzheimer Society staff some lists of possibilities, “they would give the thumbs up or thumbs down, and it went from there.”
So what exactly is in the kits?
There are a range of materials in each kit, and there are three “levels,” for early-, middle-, and late-stage dementia. Each kit has a list of instructions that people can read over with their loved ones; previously, people had to be “trained” before borrowing a kit, says Eckhart. The instructions offer different ways of doing the activities; for instance, if someone wants to colour but is finding it difficult, the instructions suggest trying “hand over hand” colouring.
In the eight early level Cognitive Care kits that are available to borrow, there are readers; a deck of cards (with a list of simple card games included); activity books; a chair yoga book (“Keeping yourself mobile is important,” notes Eckhart); large-type books; a 100-piece puzzle; and trivia books. The activity books might include an adult colouring book, a word search book, or a sudoku book, activities designed to keep the brain active in different ways.
“A lot of times, the focus is on things that happened in the ‘good old days,’” explains Eckhart of the trivia books.
The middle-stage kit also contains large-type books, of course; as well as a water colouring kit (“It’s actually really cool, you just paint with water, it dries, and you can do it again,” Eckhart describes), conversation starter kits for the borrower to use with their family members to help conjure up memories; a colouring book; and a deck of cards to play sorting games.
The late-stage kits are more focused on sensory activities, says Eckhart. Included are a music CD; a coffee-table-style book with large photos; a maze that can be manipulated with the hands; a set of dominoes to sort or stack; and beading kits with large beads. These kits are more about maintaining dexterity.
All of these kits, says Eckhart, are “great for people to do with their loved ones, to create more of a bond while their loved one is struggling, and noticing more signs and symptoms [of dementia].”
The books in each kit are a mix of fiction, non-fiction, and trivia.
Research has found that reading, playing games like chess, and doing puzzles such as crosswords can slow down cognitive decline and/or reduce the risk of dementia.
The responsiveness to community needs is very important to BPL. Says Eckhart, “We are trying to push the library forward.”
“It’s reaching those couple of people we weren’t reaching before…bringing them to us and us to them.”
Sources:
Alzheimer Canada. n.d. About dementia. Url: https://alzheimer.ca/en/about-dementia/what-dementia/dementia-numbers-canada (accessed April 5, 2024).
Lennon, A. 2023. Do reading, puzzles and similar activities really stave off dementia? Medical News Today. Url: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/do-reading-puzzles-and-similar-activities-really-stave-off-dementia (accessed April 8, 2024).
Statistics Canada. 2022. Census profile, 2021 census of population. Url: https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&SearchText=burlington&DGUIDlist=2021A00053524002&GENDERlist=1,2,3&STATISTIClist=1,4&HEADERlist=0 (accessed April 5, 2024).
