Memory Makers Respite Day Services is seen on Heritage Road in Oxford, Miss., Monday, Oct. 27, 2014. Photo by Cady Herring
Memory Makers, a respite day program, offers local senior citizens with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease a place to socialize while providing their caregivers a few free hours in the day.
Memory Makers, located on 125 Heritage Drive, is a non-profit program and resource center in Oxford that offers a four-hour program to 12 participants with early to mid stages of Alzheimer’s or forms of dementia as well as counseling services and a caregiver resource center. The program runs Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. It is led by Rita Cauthen, the program manager. Memory Maker’s four-hour block provides the caregivers time to run errands, clean the house and enjoy time to themselves.
“Generally families and loved ones step up to the plate without any training or without any experience in taking care of someone with these issues,” said Jo Ann O’Quin, president of Memory Makers and retired professor of social work at The University of Mississippi.
Cauthen sticks to a strict schedule with Memory Makers participants. From breakfast chats and Good Old Days magazine stories to brain stretching activities and fitness videos, the clock on the wall keeps the participants on an organized schedule. Simplicity is key for those with Alzheimer’s or dementia.
Memory Makers was founded by Dianne and Bill Arnold and O’Quin as a service to offer relief to caregivers. These three Memory Makers board members saw the need for the service during various support groups in which they participated. Dianne Arnold was exposed to a support group in Cleveland when her father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and the group made a world of a difference in her life.
Founded in 2010, the Memory Makers program and the services offered have grown immensely. During the beginning stages of Memory Makers, the program was held at First Presbyterian Church two days a week. Now, the space at 311 Heritage Drive is the third and largest space Memory Makers has utilized, and the program has doubled in days offered. It costs $20 per day to enroll a family member in Memory Makers.
“Bill (a participant) said to me one day that he used to be losing his marbles, but that he is getting them back now because of Memory Makers,” Dianne Arnold said.
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, 15.5 million caregivers provided an estimated 17.7 billion hours of unpaid care in 2013. These unpaid hours were valued at more than $220 billion.
“We know that family caregiving is a huge, unpaid ‘job’ in America,” O’Quin said.
More than 5 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s, according to the Alzheimer’s Association, and this number encompasses all levels on the Alzheimer’s range as well as dementia. At Memory Makers, there is no set criteria an individual must meet to be a participant.
“They all have such varied backgrounds, and they all bring something to the table, and they are so smart,” Cauthen said. “I just love learning from them.”
Alzheimer’s can cause people to be prone to wander, feel isolated, suffer from a lack of self-esteem due to cognitive loss and lose socialization skills, according to O’Quin. Counseling services to assist people with Alzheimer’s are offered at Memory Makers through sessions by Dianne Arnold, who is a professional counselor. In addition to the services being offered to people with Alzheimer’s, the services extend to family and loved ones of the Alzheimer’s participant, as well as their caregiver.
O’Quin offers two different caregiver support groups once a month. The “Alzheimer’s and Related Disorders Caregiver Support Group” meets on the first Monday of every month at 7 p.m. The second option is “C.A.R.E.,” which stands for “Caring for Aging Relatives Effectively” Education and Support Group, on the last Wednesday of the month at noon. Both groups meet at Emeritus in Oxford, 100 Azalea Drive.
Volunteers from the Oxford community and students from the Ole Miss campus help Memory Makers succeed, along with individual and group donations and grants.
Carol Van Besien, an Oxford volunteer and recipient of the prestigious Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award in 2014, said she enjoys volunteering and cooking for the Memory Makers group.
At the end of the day, Memory Makers is there to provide relief to caregivers for four hours and to provide an enjoyable, comfortable space for the participants to come and socialize. Cauthen said the best part of her day as program manager was to hear the participants laugh and enjoy the four hours they are all able to spend together.
“Nobody wants to go to daycare, but everyone wants to go to a party,” Arnold said.
