Art speaks when words fade

The theme of this conference is nicely stated on this somewhat rumpled sign outside the Emily Carr Art Institute where the meetings were held: art speaks when words fade. Another interesting detail on this sign is the sponsorship by Canada Post, the Canadian postal service which gave about $20,000 to support the meeting. Astonishingly, this organization has selected "mental health and dementia" to be the focus of its charitable giving. It matches employee contributions and gives 5% in addition to support groups that address these issues. The head of their community outreach area give a brief talk yesterday, speaking simply and movingly about the need to talk about mental health issues and move beyond stigma.

Today began with the woman I was assigned to room with giving a brilliant lecture on the politics of drug trials, especially for drugs like Aricept. She's a medical anthropologist and it was fascinating to hear her analysis of the design of clinical trials. Another wonderful talk was by Peter Spitzer, a physician from Australia, whose been a "clown doctor" for 25 years. He showed a moving video clip of his work to bring humor into medical settings where laughter is rare, but can be so healing. He's put together a very good program, starting in children's hospitals, then moving to palliative care units, and now to nursing homes. Ruth Bright, a 79 year old music therapist, also from Australia gave a lovely talk, and illustrated it by playing some short pieces on the piano (she usually uses a piano squeeze box but it was too bulky to bring on the plane). She's incredibly sharp and lively and is still working in nursing homes. We all got to sing "Waltzing Matilda"! Hilary Lee, another impressive Aussie, is organizing a chapter of the Society for Art in Dementia Care in Perth and has worked tirelessly this year to get it going; the last Australian to speak was a dear young art therapist who grew up in Malaysia and now works in a nursing home in Adelaide. (The picture shows the Australians: Ruth, Hilary, Peter, and Katherine.)

I don't know exactly what the outcome of all of this will be for me professionally, but I definitely feel like I've met some people who will continue to matter in my life. Even if I don't see them again, and only correspond by email, it's good to know they're out there, committed to a new model of dementia care that recognizes all the surprising and wonderful ways persons with memory loss can express themselves through the arts.

Houseboat life, dementia and creativity

This morning before the conference began, I took a walk on Granville Island and discovered "Sea Village" which is a small community of architecturally interesting houseboats (and mailboxes). I wonder what they're like in a storm...

The meeting today consisted of a number of excellent presentations and one that totally gave me the creeps because it was by an extremely narcissistic baby-boomer pseudo-hip academic psychologist who is probably quite attractive to naive undergraduate women. Need I say more...

It's fascinating to hear folks from Australia and Canada talking about trying to persuade administrators that the arts in dementia care matter. I do think progress is being made and look forward to hearing more tomorrow about an "instrument" that's been developed to quantify creative engagement for care conferences. There are visual artists, musicians, theater people, etc. here, in addition to recreation therapy folks, MDs, skilled care facility administrators, psychologists and others. I gave a talk this morning and moderated a discussion at the end of the day. Tomorrow will be another full day, but the conference ends at 4:00 so I'm hoping to poke into some of the markets on the island and take some more pictures.

And now... Vancouver!

I arrived in Vancouver about 12:15 this afternoon and took a cab to the Granville Island Hotel, which is located in an area that's been reclaimed from run-down warehouses and is now quite a lively place with markets (a famous farmer's market, for example) and restaurants. My room faces the water and I spotted this kayaker a little while ago in an area to the east of the "island" called False Creek. I don't know how much time I'll have for exploring as the agenda for the meeting is quite full. This is a gathering of the Society for Arts in Dementia Care and there are people here from Canada, the US (some of you may have heard of Elinor Fuchs, Professor of Dramaturgy in the School of Drama at Yale), and Australia. My roommate (whom I just met) is a medical anthropologist at the school of medicine at Dalhousie University, Halifax. She and I were both surprised to learn when we got here that Pfizer is partially sponsoring the conference. She was especially surprised since apparently the talk she's giving on Saturday is quite critical of the way drug trials are conducted. This should be interesting...

I wished I had thought to take my camera out as I walked through the Vancouver airport. It's such an enormous contrast to O'Hare's international terminal. This airport actually makes a visitor feel welcome, as you walk along a carpeted path, past lovely, large displays about Northwest nature and native peoples. About every 50 feet is a sign that says "welcome" which is really a way finding device presented in a friendly fashion. At O'Hare there were a bunch of threatening signs about how people are not to take pictures, use cellphones, etc. One definitely does not get the feeling of being welcomed to the US.

I just heard from Klas, the man who organized my stay in Sweden, that Condoleeza Rice is in Sweden to talk with people about Iraq. I'm curious about whether that will be covered in the US press. Everywhere I went in Europe, people wanted to talk about the US political situation and I'm sure the same will be true here in Canada, too.

Breaking Barriers

The theme of this conference has been "breaking barriers," which can be interpreted in many ways, but mainly in terms of the barriers between persons diagnosed with dementia and those not so diagnosed. There are also the barriers of stereotypes, some of which were broken tonight when a wonderful Norwegian New Orleans jazz band played at the "gala" dinner and the folks so committed to persons with dementia danced in their fancy outfits. There were many wonderful moments, like sitting at dinner between a neurologist from Jordan and a Swedish clinical psychologist talking about national stereotypes. The Swedish woman told how impressed she is with Norway which she grew up thinking of as a backward nation. This is no longer true, thanks to oil money and a smart government that has been spending it wisely on infrastructure and social programs.

Now, I must contemplate a very long travel day: Oslo/Copenhagen/Chicago/Appleton. It will be wonderful to be home again but this certainly has been an amazing experience in travel, meeting people, gaining all kinds of new insights into dementia, and experiencing the world beyond Appleton/Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and the US. I feel very blessed.

Norlandia Karl Johan Hotell

I'm aware that some people reading this blog may not be quite as interested in dementia as I am, so I thought I'd say a few things about the hotel where I'm staying. The entrance to the hotel is in back of the "park" sign and the pansies are in the park (actually a very wide boulevard) in front of the hotel. To get to my room, I take an elevator to the third floor, walk down a hall a ways (past lovely old paintings and a very large Norwegian painted chest), then turn right and go down about 8 steps, walk a short way down another hall, down two steps, then up two steps, up a slight incline, turn a corner and finally get to room 325! Fortunately, there are rooms near the elevator for people in wheelchairs! The room faces on an interior courtyard which is probably a good thing as the street is quite active with outdoor cafes. Everyone wants to sit outside once the "midnight sun" emerges (May 21). I was astonished at how bright it was at 8 p.m. tonight when I returned from dinner outside at a cafe. When I was in Sweden, I was waking at 4 when the bright sun peeked in around the blinds.

It was another very good day at the conference with some amazing sessions. I went to one session on sexuality and dementia, a topic I never hear raised in the States. One presentation was by a woman who married at age 28 to a 47 year old man who started into early onset dementia a few years (and four children) later. He died at age 70 and she talked quite frankly about their relationship, how hard it is when you are caring for the person you love but you don't feel you're "equal adults" as she said. Another speaker addressed the issues of sexuality in dementia care facilities and a third speaker talked about the problems gays and lesbians have when their partners have dementia and their relationship is not honored by "the system." At another session, a man who's a physics professor talked about his wife having dementia. He actually moved with her into a dementia care facility 5 years ago; she no longer can speak or recognize him. She was an artist and he showed a remarkable series of paintings from just before the diagnosis, just afterwards, and somewhat later as she went from bright, active paintings to dark, threatening ones. These are not the kinds of discussions I hear at conferences in the States where everything is all about "evidence based interventions."

I have continued to have fascinating conversations with people, including today at lunch with a retired Catholic priest who moved to Norway after being diagnosed with dementia in Japan (where he'd worked for many years with the Spanish speaking community -- huh?). He was the first speaker of the day -- interviewed by his Norwegian physician. He was with a Japanese woman who is his caregiver. The other person at lunch, coincidentally enough, was a young woman from England who had emailed me earlier in the year about her doctoral research on hope. I also talked with an Algerian neuropsychologist, a Danish researcher, an American who is now teaching in Ireland, etc. Most amazing.

Opening of the 18th Alzheimer Europe Conference

I have fallen in love with Oslo, and it's not just because there are 620 people here from all over the world to talk about dementia. The picture shows one of about 20 women in Norwegian dress who led us from the Radisson where the opening speeches occurred to City Hall where we had a reception and a marvelous, informative tour. At the reception, I talked with people from Denmark, Norway, Poland, Hong Kong, and the Faroe Islands. I had to ask where they are -- somewhere by Iceland.

I got here by the express train from the airport. I only had to walk about two blocks to the hotel which was built in 1896. The room is small but just fine -- single bed but they gave me (free I think, since there's other stuff in the fridge) a small bottle of white and one of red plus some snacks. I love the neighborhood -- it's right on the main boulevard of the city and it's gorgeous with lots of enticing restaurants, cafes, and shops plus beautiful flowers everywhere. Everywhere I've walked, there's been the scent of lilacs.

The conference is so exciting -- out of 620, there are only 8 people from the US! The opening program was great -- the theme of the conference is "breaking barriers" and they had four very talented break dancers (white guys) dancing to hip hop plus an old guy who was pretty good too. The main speech was excellent -- tying together world concerns like food, water, war/conflict, and urbanization/migration with the growing aging population and growing numbers of persons with dementia.

After the speeches, we all were wearing backpacks from the conference, following these Norwegian women with their signs about "breaking barriers". I felt like I was in a global dementia consciousness raising exercise in the middle of Oslo. At City Hall, there was a special reception for us and then people led groups of about 20 around in the various rooms with have amazing old tapestries and marvelous paintings. I am ashamed to say how little I knew of Norwegian history but now I feel a bit more informed. I am having one of those "instant fall in love with a country" experiences.

Uppsala

Here's another travel blog "tradition" thanks to Colin: a fascinating street sign. Apparently there's a beloved story in Uppsala about a cat that lost its tail. I wish I could remember more of the story but I've heard a lot of stories today...

This morning, I caught the 8:30 bus to the train station where I met Klas. We rode the train to Uppsala which is a gorgeous town -- many flowers, beautiful old buildings, very attractive people (many of whom remind me of slimmer versions of my students in Oshkosh). We met first with Lars Tornstam, a very well known social gerontologist. He invited several of his research colleagues to join us and the conversation was very interesting, ranging over many topics related to various studies of older persons. Next, we walked to a place where we joined a group from a new organization being established in Uppsala -- the Newman Institute, which is being run by a very tall, handsome, incredibly bright, nice Jesuit priest from Germany. They showed us around their new quarters (in a very old building) and then we went to lunch. There were 8 of us at the table, plus one 11 month old. There work is quite interesting, given the fact that Catholics have not been exactly welcomed in Sweden for about the past 5 centuries! Lunch was in a very old restaurant, and we sat in a room that had been the PRISON for misbehaving students from Uppsala University (which is over 500 years old).

We took the train back to Stockholm and then rode a "trolley" (really a fancy above ground train) around to take in the sights of the city. We stopped for coffee and I bought a sandwich to bring back to my room -- the earliest I've returned so far in this trip (about 7 p.m.). I'm trying to organize my bags for the early morning departure for Oslo tomorrow. I have accumulated many books and papers...

Frogs!

In the fine McFadden tradition (actually Colin's tradition) of posting pictures of food, I hereby submit these wonderful frogs that are apparently a Stockholm tradition. Klas and I stopped in an old cafe that he used to visit as a child in the 40s where not much has changed and the frogs are famous. He told me stories about life in Sweden during the war when the Germans were allowed to run their trains through the country, and how his father was in the underground fighting against the Germans.

This has been quite a busy day, starting with my lecture. Immediately afterwards, I exchanged my laptop for my canvas bag with notebook, camera, and purse, and Klas and I took the bus to have lunch with the President of the Swedish Seniors' Association (also the VP of the European Senior Citizens Union) and the Vice Mayor of Stockholm in charge of the "Elderly Division." They take aging quite serious here, being the oldest country in Europe. By 2010 they say that 20% of Stockholm will be 65+ and currently 5% of the entire country is 80+. The lunch was wonderful (another lovely fish stew) and the conversation was very stimulating. Then we went to the Stockholm Gerontology Research Center where we met with two researchers who gave me a great summary of all their research programs. We talked intensely for an hour. Klas and I then walked about in the city, stopping for frogs and coffee before he dropped me off at the apartment of Dr. Valerie de Marinis. I've never met her, but we both serve on the editorial committee of a journal and we babbled about psych stuff for two hours. She and I then took a bus and met up with Klas again and another woman who is a retired journalist -- another fascinating conversation and very good food at a fancy restaurant. Tomorrow, I'm meeting him at the Central train station (I'll catch a bus close to where I'm staying) and we'll go to Uppsala where he has several meetings lined up -- plus some sight-seeing.

The internet connection has been a bit dicey tonight and I had to pay again even though my time wasn't up. However, I wanted to post this, and also write a note of condolence to John about his TT... I'll be trying to call him later, too.

Stockholm, Day 1

The picture on the left is of the Ersta Conference and Hotel which is on the campus of Ersta Skondal University (free lodging courtesy of Dr. Klas Magni, a retired psychology professor). There are several accents in the letters of the university name but I don't know how to insert them in the Blogger program. The picture on the right is what I see from my window, which is on the second floor, right above the rounded window. Beautiful!

I flew from Manchester to Stockholm today on SAS. The Manchester airport is kind of crazy but not nearly as crazy as I've heard Heathrow can be. You have to stand around waiting for the board to tell you where you plane is boarding and then dash to the gate in time to walk on the plane. All was well and the flight was nearly on time. I was met by Klas and his friend Anders Westius who teaches in the School of Health and Medical Sciences at Orebro University. He's also ordained in the Church of Sweden. Both men are lovely and took great pleasure in giving me lots of information about what I was seeing as we drove in from the airport. I continue to enjoy seeing all the different cars -- lots of Volvos and Saabs, of course, but other interesting ones, too, including Meganes like we drove in Italy.

I checked in, washed my face, and then was met by a reporter and photographer for an hour long interview and many pictures. Too bad I won't be able to read the article since it will be in Swedish but maybe I can see the picture. I then dashed off to change my clothes for dinner. Klas and I took two buses into the center of Stockholm (he is 74 and grew up here so knows a lot about the city). Stockholm is, as you would expect, very stylish with beautiful buildings and fashionable people. I was impressed to see the wooden floors in the airport! Klas, Anders, and Elisabeth, Christiansson who teaches theology at the university where I'm staying, all took me to dinner at a wonderful fancy restaurant where I had an incredible fish stew with saffron sauce.

I have to pay for my time online so won't write more, and anyway, I need to review my lecture that I'm giving at 9 a.m. tomorrow!

Cheltenham to Manchester

At the moment, I'm sitting in my room at the Holiday Inn about 2 miles from Manchester Airport and am listening to BBC 2 (Big Band with a British accent). The picture is from the train from Stafford to Manchester Piccadilly. The train to the Manchester Airport stop was undergoing maintenance so they substituted a bus that was right outside the doors of the Piccadilly station as I arrived.

The day was both stimulating and restful. I walked to St. Luke's Anglican Church with Rob this morning, through the streets of Cheltenham. The service wasn't all that different from the Congregational church as this particular congregation has cast off "high church" associations. The people were incredibly warm to me and the sermon was quite good and coincidentally, about aging! I heard an amazingly painful story from a woman whose husband had early onset dementia. She finally had to place him in a home where several months later, the police raided it and arrested the director (a physician) for killing 8 residents! Within 2 days she had to find a different placement for him, and she thought that place was good. However, it, too, was providing such bad care (during hours when families couldn't visit) that the police shut it down. Now, three years later after her husband died, both facilities are being tried in court. I am gaining a real appreciation for the resources we have in Wisconsin.

Rob cooked a wonderful big meal that we had about 3:00. We then drove north to Stafford where I got the train to Manchester. Tomorrow morning, I'll take the hotel shuttle to the airport and get the 10:05 flight to Stockholm. More adventures to come...

Oxford ... and old people

After a leisurely breakfast, Rob and I headed to London (Bromley to be exact) to visit two nursing homes. The traffic was bad because of a big "football" game so it took us longer than we expected (about 3 hours), but we finally arrived and had a very good visit with the Director of Operations. One is a skilled nursing facility (SNF) and the other is specifically dementia care, although there are people with dementia in the former. The care is very good and compassionate but I've gotten spoiled by the "culture change" in architecture and staffing in the local Oshkosh/Appleton places I've been recently. We had lunch in the cafe of the SNF and talked at length with one resident and his daughter. This was a Black man who achieved a high post in the Army in WWII (he now has Parkinson's dementia) and we looked through the album his daughter had made. He didn't experience prejudice in England, but in India, he wasn't allowed to be with the white officers.

We left Bromley and headed to Oxford which was enchanting to me -- very old, very rich with scholarly tradition. I would have happily spent days (or months, or years) there. We stopped into a bookstore which on the outside didn't look very big, but inside, it was huge and wonderful. I was thrilled to find lots and lots of books on emotion in the "cognitive psychology" section. Wow -- thinking and feeling are finally getting back together in the 21st century, at least in this bookstore.

We stopped at a grocery store on the way home to pick up a few things for dinner and had a leisurely meal -- Tamsin, Rob, me and their two dachshunds (Myrtle and Monty). By the way, Cheltenham is kind of like Langley, VA, with a top secret facility called the GCHQ -- a "listening post" that no one is allowed to talk about. I spotted part of it from the grocery store parking lot because the elderly woman who checked us out told us she used to work there and pointed out the building. It's kind of a weird green color, but apparently there's also another building shaped like a donut and no one is supposed to know what goes one there. I wonder if they know where Osama is....

Cheltenham Ball

I'm writing this post a day late since last night, I was too tired after getting my pictures uploaded and clearing out my email. This is a picture of me and Tamsin Merchant before we left to go to the Cheltenham Ball. I'm wearing a dress I bought 3 years ago for a wedding in Appleton, but I never went to the wedding because I got invited to give a talk in Vancouver about dementia and creativity. It hung in my closet and still had the tags on when I heard from Rob (Tamsin's husband) that we'd be going to a ball the first night I arrived in Cheltenham. Tamsin is an Anglican Vicar and is chaplain to the mayor of Cheltenham so that's why she was going to the ball. Her "day job" is as the chaplain at the university here.

Before describing the ball, I should say that the day began with me getting a cab from the hotel in Bangor, Wales, to the train station where I caught a train to Stafford (changing in Crewe, England). Rob met me at the train and took me to Staffordshire University where he's Associate director of the Centre on Ageing and Mental Health. We met with the director and had a fascinating talk about elder abuse and suicide. Then we drove to Derby where we met with 3 people who work for the Methodist Homes for the Aged. That was a 3 hour intense and deep discussion. We had a 90 minute drive to Rob's flat in Cheltenham, where we had about 20 minutes to get ready for the ball. It was held in a very old and beautiful building that was originally a spa for wealthy Victorians. All the men were in black tie and the women were in fancy dresses. They had tiaras for the women to wear that had LED lights that blinked but they were quite uncomfortable; the men all got black top hats. We had dinner and then there was dancing to incredibly cheesy music by a DJ and a singer -- 70s disco, 80s bad pop, and some 60s bad pop, too. But, it was fun to chat with people and watch. I sat next to the mayor who was wearing an enormous gold chain and medallian around his shoulders. The point of the ball was to raise money for the Mayor's charities and it was interesting to talk with him about how he selected them (one for caregivers, one for teens with drug problems, one for people with physical disabilities).

A garden in Wales

Linda Clare and I toured this gorgeous colorful garden yesterday while talking passionately about dementia... and gardens. She was a most gracious host, buying me dinner on Wednesday and Thursday nights, as well as lunch on Thursday. She would only let me buy her a cup of tea and a scone at the garden. She also gave me a new handbook of the clinical psychology of aging that she edited. I met a number of her research assistants and we shared several meals with them -- what intense and intriguing conversations. They are doing amazing work, including using a Microsoft gizmo that people with dementia wear around their necks; it takes consecutive pictures of where they are and helps orient them to what they've done that day. I'm sorry I couldn't post yesterday from the hotel in Wales -- the wireless system couldn't seem to connect to the Internet. I left Wales this morning, taking the train to Stafford. I'll say more about that in another post.

Arrival in Wales

I just set up this blog and am not quite sure how to work with it, but I feel like getting this far is progress. I'm happily sitting in my bed in my sunny little room at the Eryl Mor Hotel. The whole front porch area is a restaurant that looks out on the water. My room is at the back, with a view of the garden. I'll add more later!