One of the lovely residents (a former nurse) whilst sitting in the communal lounge room noticed my ‘spotted’ hands, as I have a mild case of vitiligo, and she was concerned as to what it was.
Vitiligo affects the pigment of the skin and does not hurt, but just looks odd (which doesn’t bother me because I could have something worse). What was interesting was that many residents jumped in on this conversation and were absolutely intrigued with my hands, asking me all sorts of questions.
I then talked about this beautiful black model (pictured) who has the same skin condition but much worse, so I searched on Google to show them pictures of her on my phone. When they saw her photos they were amazed but could still see her beauty, and the ‘compassion’ they all showed for her was another ‘magic moment’. The conversation went for 15 minutes and the residents were happy to not watch the tv and joined in the chat to work out ways to help her.
What it taught me was that people with dementia still retain those ‘core feelings’ and these emotions can still be brought to the surface when the timing is right.They may not always show or be able to be expressed, but they are still there.
A fabulous adult conversation that we all benefited from.
This is dementia..
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