Picture this: Nine residents of a memory care community are sitting around the kitchen table, holding conversations, laughing here and there, munching on finger sandwiches they just made. "Cucumbers, yuck!" "Mine doesn't taste like cucumbers. It tastes like tomatoes." "I don't know what you're talking about." "Well, I don't like cucumbers or "This is the best sandwich I've ever had." "I think it's peanut butter. But it's sweet, too." "Well, you better not eat any more or you'll spoil your dinner!" These same residents sit in proximity of each other for every meal every day and hardly say a word. What's the difference between now and lunch earlier? They are experiencing rementia now, returning to full personhood as a result of meaningful engagement-otherwise known as an "activity." The word rementia is not common in the United States, though it is used in a sense akin to "rehabilitated" cream cheese!' in the United Kingdom. Thomas Kitwood, PhD, uses it throughout his masterpiece, "Dementia Reconsidered: The Person Comes First." PURPOSEFUL ENGAGEMENT With two kinds of bread and sandwich ingredients such as peanut butter, jelly, cream cheese, tomato, and cucumber, the participants are free to choose sandwich content. "Remember, food handler regulations require that we all wear gloves," says the Alzheimer's care consultant. "If you don't wear gloves, you touch it, you eat it. You are volunteering to make sandwiches for others in the community who didn't leave their rooms at lunch, and maybe they didn't eat enough. Some people here need more calories. This is a nutrition program. And, you can eat some of what you make, but not until after we finish!" Heads nod, a few comment, and one or two look slightly at a loss. The jar of peanut butter and bread are in front of Ruth, who asks, "What do you want me to do?" "Looks like you have the ingredients to make sandwiches," the consultant says. "
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