Meanwhile at the VA Dementia Ward

2 people

Horses

It was raining today, so instead of taking my guy out for a walk (a wheelchair roll) I brought a book of my photos and we went through it, page by page.

Speaking is difficult for him, so an activity like looking at photos (or listening to music) is better.

I told him that I had been driving around in far upstate New York on a splendid fall day, looking for something to photograph when I ran across these horses.

The horses had all came over to the wire fence to greet me.

My guy smiled at the photo, which was a great reward for me, a good reason to take and show a photo.

After we finished the book I went to show the book to my other vet buddy, and we went through it page by page.

He also smiled at the photo of the horses.

Then a fellow at his same table, who had been either asleep or otherwise not present, woke up and looked to see what was up.

So from there on, I showed each page to both of them, and gave them both of them the story of each photo.

So for non-walk days, and for people whom I am not allowed to take for walks, picture books seem like the thing.