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Everything fits into place for dementia jigsaw inventor in The Pitch 2010 grand final

October 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Everything fits into place for dementia jigsaw inventor in The Pitch 2010 grand final

Article by NeonDrum









November 19th 2010 – South East heat champion Ben Atkinson-Willes, founder of Active Minds and inventor of a series of games and puzzles for people in long term care, impressed a panel of expert judges and beat off stiff challenges from five other grand finalists to claim the title of Britain’s Best New Business, and a prize package worth ?50,000.

Atkinson-Willes, from Andover in Hampshire, said that during his grandfather’s illness, he was dismayed to find that there was nothing on the market specifically designed for care patients, meaning they often ended up struggling to complete children’s puzzles or colouring books.

Ben Atkinson-Willes says: “It’s been amazing. The build-up was almost too much, but I’m really happy to be the winner. I’ve learned a lot about myself and my business. It’s been fantastic.”

The Pitch 2010 grand final, organised by SME advice website BusinessZone.co.uk, in association with leading marketing solutions business, Yell and sponsored by Sage, was held at the Institute of Directors on Pall Mall, central London as part of a day conference which saw new ‘Enterprise Tsar’ Lord Young deliver his first public address since taking up the position.

The judging panel, which included investment guru and Dragons’ Den Online judge Julie Meyer, winner of the first series of TV’s The Apprentice Tim Campbell, Wilfred Emmanuel Jones, founder of The Black Farmer range of products and serial entrepreneur and founder of Simply Switch Karen Darby.

Karen Darby comments: “We had the crème de la crème of UK entrepreneurial talent out there and it made it really tough to choose between them”

Tim Campbell adds: “All the pitchers showed incredible passion for what they were trying to achieve. The Pitch shows how it is at the sharp end of business for people who are looking for support to take their ideas forward.”

For more information, visit: http://www.thebusinessfactory.co.uk/pitch-2010

Notes to editorsThe Pitch is Britain’s biggest pitching competition. Now in its third year, The Pitch 2010 has visited five British cities searching for the best entrepreneurial talent and asking our crack team of high profile business experts to scrutinise business concepts and presentation skills, searching for the best of the best. The competition visited Bristol, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Liverpool and London in a series of regional heats, uncovering some of Britain’s best new businesses.

The winners of the regional heats progress into a national final, held in London on 16 November, competing for the title of ‘Britain’s Best New Business’ as well as £50,000 worth of business support prizes. The final, a Global Entrepreneurship week High Impact Event, will also include a day conference, delivering a range of practical advice and insight for entrepreneurs and small business owners.

The Pitch is an initiative by Sift Media, in association with Yell.

About Sift MediaSift Media is a leading business-to-business publisher specialising in online professional communities and face-to-face business events.With a range of services including websites, email publications, industry awards and exhibitions, Sift Media delivers original, branded content to over half a million professionals every month, across small business, finance, accounting, HR and training, IT, marketing, customer management and knowledge management.About BusinessZone.co.uk BusinessZone.co.uk is Sift Media’s online publication for entrepreneurs providing free, practical and no-nonsense advice on how to start and grow a successful business.

About YellYell offers quality business leads and marketing solutions to small and medium sized enterprises in the UK, US, Spain and some countries in Latin America through an integrated portfolio of simple-to-use, cost effective advertising. Our products are available through printed, online, telephone and mobile based media. Yell’s principal brands include: in the United Kingdom – Yellow Pages, Yell.com and 118 24 7; in the United States – Yellowbook and Yellowbook.com; and in Spain – Paginas Amarillas and PaginasAmarillas.es. Yell’s online image library, containing product shots and logos can be found at: http://www.yellgroup.com/imageshttp://www.yellgroup.com

For more information, please contact:Matt Henkes, commercial editor, Sift Mediamhenkes[at]sift[dot]com+44 (0) 117 915 8654

Distributed on behalf of Yell by NeonDrum news distribution service (http://www.neondrum.com)



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NeonDrum Online news distribution










Filed Under: Dementia Conference Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

IN PACIFIC GROVE A RARE STORY UNFOLDS: DEMENTIA PATIENT WELCOMED HOME

September 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

IN PACIFIC GROVE A RARE STORY UNFOLDS: DEMENTIA PATIENT WELCOMED HOME

Article by Richard Kuehn









I was pleasantly surprised to see a story today in the Monterey Herald about seniors moving out of assisted living and back in with relatives. You don’t see endings get much better for a person like Ed McLaughlin, the 92-year old profiled in the article who has dementia so bad he regularly proposes marriage to his daughter Elizabeth McCloud who was kind enough to move him out of an assisted living center and into her home in Pacific Grove.

His daughter is a newlywed, just married last September, but her husband (who must be a saint, dealing with late-stage Alzheimer’s patients is no treat) is fully supportive of her efforts to move him back home. He told the Herald he would support any decision she made, and although she struggled for some time with the issue, she told the reporter, “He just sat in front of the TV all day. When he’d go to breakfast, it would be like, ‘OK, here’s your food. Here are your pills…It was boring for him to be there–there was nothing happening.”

Instances like this are rare. The article quotes Mia Gomez, program director of the Monterey Hilltop Center, a day facility for people with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia as saying, “It’s pretty rare to see a family do that. I think I only know one other local family who did it.”

http://www.montereyherald.com/ci_15053458?source=most_viewed&nclick_check=1

As I’ve written before, a similar story unfolded in my family when I removed my grandmother, then 92, now 97, from an assisted living center where I felt she was not getting the love and care she needed. Since then, she has made tremendous strides forward in health.

Unfortunately, like Mr. McLaughlin, she no longer remembers my name which can be heartbreaking at times. However, I don’t regret it and I echo the sentiments of Elizabeth McCloud who told the Herald that her husband told her, “When you look back on this time, you’ll be happy with the decision you made.”

I am proudly supporting the Alzheimer’s Association Family and Professional Annual Education Conference May 19 at the Hyatt Regency in Monterey as well as the Memory Walk, which will be held on October 16 in a number of cities including Monterey.

I urge you to support great organizations like this which can provide emotional support to people dealing with family members who have Alzheimer’s, dementia, and the many other afflictions which impact the elderly. As our population lives longer and longer, all of us will deal with a loved one going through terrible times like this, if you haven’t already.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/29552775/Alzheimer-s-Association-Family-and-Professional-Annual-Education-Conference-Monterey-California

http://memorywalk.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=335908

Visit our website, http://www.familyinhomecaregiving.com, serving families and seniors in the California areas of Carmel, Carmel Valley, Carmel Highlands, Marina, Monterey, Pebble Beach, Salinas and Seaside.



About the Author

After more than a decade of caregiving, both in a professional environment and for a 97 year old family member Richard Kuehn was dissatisfied with service from local caregiving agencies. He became convinced of the need for a service which provides very personal assistance to the elderly and founded Family inHome Caregiving serving the Monterey Peninsula.










Filed Under: Dementia Conference Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Making Reborn Dolls For The Alzheimer and Dementia Market

September 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Making Reborn Dolls For The Alzheimer and Dementia Market

Reborn doll therapy has been used in recent times with great success in the treatment of Alzheimer and Dementia patients around the world. It can have such a positive effect that the patient’s psychotropic drug dependency can be reduced.

At Ashcroft Care Home based in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, UK, they have reported that reborn doll therapy has cut the number of patients using psychotropic drugs from 92 per cent at the start of 2008 to 28 percent.

Reborn dolls in particular seem to have the best effect with these patients, as they are so much more lifelike than traditional dolls. The dementia area is a large market that is reasonably untapped for reborn doll artists. In my research I visited a website that showed the most touching photographs of Alzheimer’s patients holding their dolls. They appeared happy and calm.

The reborn dolls seem to alleviate the agitation or distress suffered by the dementia patient. They help to reduce withdrawal and help overcome communication difficulties between the carer and the patient. This research on reborn doll therapy was recently presented at a British Psychological Society Conference.

Reborn doll therapy seems to work extremely well with female patients as it takes them back to a time when they were housewives and highly productive. Due to effects of dementia many of these patients still believe they are young, so when they adopt a reborn doll, it brings back happy memories of parenthood.  Having a doll can reawaken positive memories of being useful and needed; being loved and of loving.

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Doll Therapy is best introduced in the early to middle stages of Alzheimer’s. In the early stages the patient may know the reborn doll is not real but will enjoy the pleasures of naming it and constantly changing it’s clothes. Women in the middle stages of the disease are likely to communicate with the doll; they may sing to it, talk to it, rock and cuddle it. They start to become extremely attached to their doll and keep it with them for many hours of the day.

Introducing a doll in the late stages of Alzheimer’s is not quite as effective as in the early stages. By introducing it earlier the patient becomes used to the doll and they will be used to getting comfort from it. 
 
Reborn dolls however, are not a cure and the sufferer will not suddenly transform back to their former self because of a reborn doll but it is the comfort the patient feels that is the real benefit of reborn doll therapy. 

“I have worked with people with Alzheimer’s disease for 12 years and if you ever witnessed one of my residents singing, cooing, interacting with the life-like doll, you would know that it does work. Many of our ladies were homemakers and their number one priorities were family. It was a time in their life when they were useful and had a sense of purpose. Giving someone a “doll” brings them back to that safe and secure time in their life. We must join them on their journey, not ours!!!” (A quote from a discussion forum for Alzheimer’s patients).

If you are touched by the above story and feel this may be your niche for making reborn dolls, we suggest you first visit your local nursing homes to get a better idea of what is needed. Nursing homes do not always have the finances to buy full priced reborn dolls so you may need to get in touch with the family members of patients. This is possible if the nursing home believes in your work and the positive effect your dolls have on the patients.

Take some evidence to the homes with you about the positive effects of reborn dolls on Alzheimer’s and Dementia patients.

This is a very rewarding market to be in. Your reborn dolls are not only going to a good home but are helping people in the last years of their life to feel more contented and comfortable.

We wish you luck.

Fran and Nicola

Fran and Nicola share many other great Internet Marketing Strategies in their Reborn Doll Web Business Book – http://www.reborndollsforfunandprofit.com

 
 
 

Nicola and her partner Fran run an internet publishing company bringing hobbiest globally the tools need to get their products to the market place.

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