Puzzles To Remember: May 2014

Puzzles To Remember

PUZZLES TO REMEMBER is a youth led 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to enhancing the lives of individuals living with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias through jigsaw puzzles, cognitive engagement, and social connection. Led by Executive Director Hailey Richman, Puzzles To Remember has distributed more than 236,000 puzzles valued at over $2 million to more than 5,000 memory care communities, nursing homes, veterans facilities, senior centers, and other organizations across all 50 states and 16 countries. Our programs have benefited more than one million people while diverting approximately 148 tons of puzzles from landfills through donation and reuse. Puzzles To Remember also promotes intergenerational connection through Puzzle Time, which brings young people together with individuals living with dementia for shared puzzle solving, conversation, and companionship. Our mission is to provide engaging and purposeful activities that promote connection, participation, and joy while enhancing the quality of life of those affected by dementia. Donate Puzzles If you have puzzles you would like to donate, please contact us at Puzzles2Remember@gmail.com. We will help identify a location where your puzzles can benefit individuals living with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. Donation acknowledgment letters are available upon request.

Saturday, May 31, 2014

Puzzles for Alzheimer’s Patients and Book for Libraries

By Max Wallack
Puzzles to Remember

PuzzlesToRemember has now distributed over 32,000 puzzles to over 2430 nursing facilities. This includes facilities in every state, six Canadian provinces, plus Aruba, Australia, Colombia, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Mexico, Poland, Singapore, and South Africa. There are currently 12 different images available, and new images are being planned for this summer, including my favorite:

Here is a photo of the participants in the Cognitive Therapy Workshop for Seniors in the Gerontoclub at Centro Cultural Club, Lumen A.C., Mexico, as they busily work on one of the Springbok PuzzlesToRemember.

Here is a photo of the same individuals, smiling with a sense of peaceful accomplishment after completing the puzzle:

The book,“Why Did Grandma Put Her Underwear in the Refrigerator? An Explanation of Alzheimer’s Disease for Children,” is now available in English, German, French, Spanish, Polish, Italian, Norwegian, and Chinese. Japanese, Hebrew, Welsh, Arabic, and Sinhala, are all being developed.

I believe it is important for children to understand Alzheimer's disease so they can still interact lovingly with family members who have this disease. Having grown up as a caregiver to my great grandmother who had Alzheimer's disease, my hope was to provide some helpful coping mechanisms to the many children dealing with Alzheimer's disease among their family members.

If you are associated with a library or a veteran's facility and would like to have a copy of this book to help the children in your area, please contact us at PuzzlesToRemember@gmail.com, and we will do our best to provide you with a free copy.
•

Max Wallack is a student at Boston University and a Research Intern in the Molecular Psychiatry and Aging Laboratory in the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics at Boston University School of Medicine. His great grandmother, Gertrude, suffered from Alzheimer's disease. Max is the founder of PUZZLES TO REMEMBER. PTR is a project that provides puzzles to nursing homes and veterans institutions that care for Alzheimer's and dementia patients.