We took care of over 50 people in the 12 years of running my board and care, but the one that probably had the biggest impact on us was a woman I'll call Clara, for privacy sake. Clara was depressed ans angry from the effects that Alzheimer's disease was having on her cognitive abilities and subsequent loss of independence. She was often verbally abusive to my caregivers and to me, no matter how much compassionate care we tried to bestow on her.
Clara's daughter started bring fresh cut flowers to my caregiver employees, to show her appreciation for them dealing with her mother's difficult behavior. I observed first-hand the profound positive effect that the fresh cut flowers had not only on my caregivers,but also on Clara and our other residents.The caregivers told me they liked the flowers both for their natural beauty and also because of the show of appreciation for their work.
I often used the flowers to redirect Clara's negative moods, sitting her in front of them with some cookies and milk, telling her that her daughter had brought them for her and she would bring her more flowers tomorrow if she'd be nice. It worked more times than not. We have had fresh cut flowers in our home ever since.
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