Alzheimer's: Mementos Help Preserve Memories

(CNN - October 29, 2009) The Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research suggests in this article that mementos are extremely important for re-introducing "life" back into a person suffering from Alzheimer's disease. When caregivers interview the one they love suffering from the illness, they preserve a special moment in time. That moment is so fleeting -- so precious -- in the life of an individual who suffers from memory loss. As the state of that individual progressively worsens, there may be no turning back to cohesive conversations. The Foundation presumes that by writing in journals, keeping important documents, and creating scrapbooks, family members can help jog the memory of individuals suffering from the disease.

However, I'd like to emphasize how important it is for the family caregivers themselves to keep these mementos. Although they indeed might help "restore" the memory of an affected individual, they also may serve as an incredible means of comfort for family members in the future. They could even serve as the highest form of education by portraying the true nature of the disease.