Recently, a friend told me that her mother’s doctor had suggested she create a photo album for her mother, who has Alzheimers.
The care you take in creating this book and learning more about your parent or grandparent is a wonderful “love letter” to your loved one.
I started doing some research and found some information I wanted to share:
- Make sure the faces in your photographs are large enough to see details.
- Include all the people your loved one interacts with now.
- Also include significant people, events, places from the past.
- You might not want to include people who have passed away if that would upset or confuse the person with Alzheimers.
- Add some words. Clearly identify the people in the photographs and add some story. But don’t add too many words.
- You might want to include things like the persons favorite food or movies, hobbies, or fond stories from her past. Maybe try to find out what she is most proud of in her life.
- On the front of the book, you might want to have a smiling picture of your loved one.
- You can make your book scrapbook style or scan your photos and create a book from digital images. (Your local camera store can help with the scanning or restoring old photos. I recommend New York Camera and Video in Southampton, PA.) I found an interesting book online – it’s a spiral bound board book, so it would be very easy to look through. Here is the link.
- Most importantly, sit down with your loved one and go through the book often!