Yoga practitioners are possibly acquainted with the phrase Namaste, which is used to greet fellow practitioners at the end of each yoga session. When the phrase is accompanied with hands put together, prayer-like, and a little bow, it is an Indian equivalent of a Western handshake, but it’s also more than this. It signifies a humble confirmation of and respect for the spirit or spark of divinity in a fellow person.
The Namaste program, a new program for patients with End Stage Alzheimer’s Disease, attempts to respect the inner spirit of dementia patients facing the end of their life by using the resources of family and staff inside nursing facilities in an innovative way.
It doesn’t call for more people or money. Instead, it needs specialised coaching, caring and creative staff, and an eagerness to execute straightforward activities into dementia patients’ last days that may respect their life and their death. In a case study the Namaste program’s creator provided for a story in the Jan / March 2005 issue of Alzheimer’s Care Quarterly, a special room in the Vermont Veterans Home in Bennington, Vermont was put aside for day programming for patients with End Stage Alzheimer’s Disease.
Special attention was paid to their comfort, and staff targeted on clothing, grooming and cleanliness, nourishment, exercise, soft music and comfy beds and chairs. Patients’ humanity was stressed with activities that they might personally enjoy. For instance, gazing out a window and listening to a tape of birds chirping was planned for a man who was an out of doors fan. Staff constantly communicated with the patients with praise, conversation, and physical contact, for example cuddles and massages, which didn’t permit isolation to happen. Eventually , staff supported family members emotionally and welcomed them to share in both their loved one’s life and death. Ultimately, when death was close, patients were moved into a personal room, given pain medicine, and surrounded by their friends who were fed, housed, and supported by staff. When death happened, the patient was feted with souvenirs of their life, for example pictures and a plant. Family members and staff accompanied the patient to the hearse.
No part of the journey was left unappreciated or unrecognized. Programs like Namaste are critical for patients with End Stage Alzheimer’s Disease. While nursing facilities frequently have special sections of their facility dedicated to Alzheimer’s patients and special activities planned for them, options for programming reduce as dementia increases and patients reach the end of the lives.
Facilities are commonly too shorthanded to supply the sort of private attention that care providers wish for their family. Some professionals believe that placement in a normal retirement home may speed death in patients. Alzheimer’s disease is, finally, a deadly condition, and patients and their families have as much right to the very best quality of end-of-life care as other terminal patients. Without programs like Namaste, which target the entire being – mental, physical, and spiritual – nursing facilities may deprive patients and their families of the support and respect they merit.