The Eden Corn Festival used to be a favorite stop for Donna Brese, who spent her early retirement years working at the town library.
That began to change when dementia set in four years ago. In time, she needed to leave the part-time job she loved, and visits around the community where she has lived for decades became a growing exercise in trying to remember the faces and names of library regulars who approached her with a smile or hug.
“She always says, ‘Can't we fix this?’ I say, ‘Right now, they're working on it,’ ” said her husband, Richard.
Brese remains physically adept, regularly keeping a very clean house, taking walks with her husband, and joining him on visits to antique shops and restaurants in the nearby countryside.
Still, she struggles to keep her train of thought, find words and string together sentences. The challenges can bring outbursts.
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“I get so angry,” she said. “I do. It's not fun, and then I feel so bad.”
But an animatronic cat she named Angel helps calm her down, often for hours.
“It's almost like having a real cat,” her husband said. “She loves that thing.”
Angel has become the latest fixture in a Brese living room dotted with Elvis Presley memorabilia, dozens of pig figurines and stuffed animals, and antique artwork. Angel “sleeps” on the couch. She starts to meow, and demand a bit of attention, as soon as the lights go on in the morning. She can bat her eyelids, purr, and move her head and paws. She lies down, sits up and rolls over.
Brese got her companion pet a year ago from the Alzheimer’s Association of Western New York, which channeled part of its grant money for caregiver respite programs – silenced through much of the pandemic – into sensory items that can captivate and comfort those with dementia at home.
Robo cats and dogs have become the rage in a collection that also comprises calming weighted blankets and “Color Your Mind,” a book by Maria Shriver that includes tips about how to talk with someone with dementia while they fill its pages with different hues.
All are free, thanks to the New York State Office for the Aging and private foundations that embraced and fund the idea.
“We've had to be creative during Covid, especially because a lot of the resources that we've relied on in the past were bringing people together,” said Andrea Koch, manager of support groups with the Alzheimer’s Association of Western New York. “We've been looking into products that can be used in people's homes to give the caregiver a break.”
Stress relief, other benefits
The Hasbro Ageless Innovation team, created six years ago, came up with the Joy for All companion pets the association distributes. They cost $120 to $140 online and at several major retailers. The company makes two different dogs and three different cats.
The Alzheimer’s Association believes its 24-hour helpline could be busier still with calls from people concerned that the physical and cognitive skills of older friends and family members have worsened.
These pets promote tactile learning, Koch said, and studies show that petting a cat or dog can reduce the stress hormone cortisol and lower blood pressure.
Studies also have found that animal assisted therapy can ease symptoms of autism and some mental health conditions. Researchers in a 2019 paper published in BMC Psychiatry concluded it also may work “as a beneficial and effective complementary treatment” for dementia, though they said more study is needed.
Dementia is an overarching term for several conditions that hamper memory and learning. Thinking, behavior and the ability to carry out daily tasks diminish over time. Alzheimer's disease is the most common form. There is no cure, although health care advances during the last two decades have helped slow its progression.
“One of the best ways to reduce agitation and reduce distress in the middle stage of dementia is through meaningful engagement,” said Katie Keith-Badeau, director of care and support with the regional Alzheimer’s Association affiliate. “That can mean a lot of different things. It can mean one-on-one conversation. It can mean listening to music. It can mean one of these pets.”
Such engagement, she said, can relax and focus those with dementia, and lower the risk of a common and worrisome symptom – losing track of where they are and wandering away.
It helps explain why Angel, a battery-powered Tabby, quickly captured the imagination of Brese, 74.
While working with Verizon for 37 years and later at the library, she was the person who could brighten a day for others with a quick smile or a playful quip.
“She's always been high-energy,” said her only child, Debbie Gangemi, who also lives in Eden. “Great spirit, and she still has that.”
Brese always has loved children and animals, including two cats she and her husband had years ago. Angel plays a similar, less demanding role.
Richard Brese, 77, a retired mechanic and electronics specialist, has taken his wife in recent years to a monthly dementia respite program at Eden United Methodist Church, where caregivers can drop off loved ones for a few hours in the care of trained volunteers.
It gives many who care for those with dementia some time away, but he often stays, a decision borne from 53 years of a steady marriage steeled with its share of ups and downs.
“I enjoy it,” he said. “There's so many different activities, and it brings a smile to her face. It means a lot to me to be able to stick around and see that.”
An animatronic cat and dog are often part of the fun, though the Brese family wasn’t sold at first about getting one for its matriarch.
Gangemi learned about the companion pets after she started to volunteer three years ago with the Alzheimer’s Association. She had already been pleasantly surprised by the resources and sound advice the association can share with families like hers. Those also include support groups, and other helpful devices including free medical alert bracelets and door alarms.
She brought home the cat last year when the companion pet became available.
“I thought Mom was going to ask, ‘Why are you buying me a stuffed animal,’ " Gangemi said. “But from the second we took the cat out of the box, she was loving it. She had to fix its hair and name it. And the animal does respond. It purrs when she's giving it attention. And if she walks away or gets on the phone, that thing starts yammering like nobody's business.”
“She likes to watch TV,” said the thankful owner who is often at her side. Their favorites include “Heartland” and “The Big Bang Theory.”
Angel never gets bored and leaves, or needs to eat or use the bathroom – a blessing for the family in such challenging times.
Not for all
Robo pets and other sensory products may work better for someone in the early to middle stages of dementia but will not help everyone, Keith-Badeau said, because some with these conditions react negatively to greater stimulation.
The Alzheimer’s Association regional affiliate also can only make them available to families in the region with a loved one who has some form of dementia.
Contact the affiliate during business hours at 716-626-0600, Ext. 313, to arrange a companion pet – limited to one per family – or other sensory items. Visit alz.org/wny to learn more about its support groups and other programs. Its leaders also encourage those who have loved ones with dementia within the region outside Erie County to check with their county office for aging, which provides the sensory items, too.
Elsewhere, greater support can start with the association website at alz.org or its toll-free helpline, 800-272-3900.
For those who can otherwise afford to try a companion pet, “they’re well worth the 100 bucks,” Gangemi said.
“With dementia, it's all about creativity,” added Keith-Badeau. “People living with a form of dementia are some of the most creative people I have ever met. The only people more creative are caregivers because they're trying to keep up and stay one step ahead – or at least on pace.”
Richard Brese agreed.
“You’ve got to take every day as it comes,” he said. “Hopefully in her lifetime, they'll find something, if not a complete cure, that can back her up just a little bit to where she’s happier even more of the time.”
This story was produced through the New York & Michigan Solutions Journalism Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations and universities dedicated to rigorous and compelling reporting about successful responses to social problems. The group is supported by the Solutions Journalism Network.