Ron is a former engineer who played the steel drums and enjoys dancing to calypso music.
Margaret has a welcoming smile and a nice thing to say about everybody while Gwen has a wicked sense of humour.
Frank is going on a cruise to Paris and recently came back from a wine tour to Naramata.
All lovely people, all in the early stages of dementia, enjoying a cup of tea, a piece of chocolate cake and a walk down memory name.
"Who remembers Winston Churchill?" asks Angela Parkinson.
The program coordinator for Leisure Connections at Glen Pine Pavilion in Coquitlam is part hostess and part trivia master as she peppers her "guests" with information and asks them questions at a Remembrance Day tea. It's part of her style, her technique for getting the participants to work on their long-term memory when their short term memory is hard to reach.
"We learn about their lives, where they come from, what they did," she says.
"They all lived very interesting lives," adds Parkinson, as she passes around a plate of cookies. Tea is poured in gorgeous Royal Albert china and the conversation ebbs and flows among the dozen guests.
Leisure Connections is a program that has welcomed local seniors with mild to moderate Alzheimer's and dementia for the past seven years. Each week features a theme, games and exercise, with participants enjoying tea together and listening to music from an earlier era.
"The whole point is socialization," explains Parkinson. People with dementia or Alzheimer's often lose friends and sometimes close family members even stay away. "People don't know how to react to them, they end up quite isolated."
Too often, the isolation can lead to depression for the dementia sufferer and cause caregivers to be anxious and overwhelmed.
Fortunately, Leisure Connections, on Tuesday afternoons at Glen Pine, gives people with dementia a welcoming place to go and their caregivers a much-needed break.
"There is nothing else like it around," said Vivianne Seguin, whose brother-in-law was a regular until his dementia worsened and he had to be placed in a residential care facility.
It was the regular socialization that kept him coming back, and all the games and activities may have helped his memory. "He might not remember much but he remembers some of the clients here," Seguin says.
While participants pay a fee covering half the costs, funding has always been uncertain and Bill Wray, president of the Glen Pine 50-Plus Society, is worried about the future.
"The biggest problem is coming up with $10,000 a year to run the program," said Wray, whose group took over the program two years ago from Port Coquitlam-based Community Volunteer Connections when it lost its United Way funding.
A two-year grant is about to run out and a fundraiser that generated $5,000 isn't enough to keep Leisure Connections running.
Wray is hoping a Good Samaritan donor will come forward, one who sees the value in helping people with dementia and their caregivers, so some stable funding can be arranged long term.
Wray sees the benefits, as do the dozen participants who laugh, share stories, and even a few songs along with their tea and cake.
"Getting out into the community, and getting the connections going, that's what you have to do," he says.
• For more information, or to donate, email Bill Wray at [email protected].
