The Gift of Human Touch

[massageblog]

Meet Cleo, Cleo is a rescue just like the other two “Fur-Children†we have in our home.* Cleo was dumped somewhere in our neighborhood and found our house nearly starved to death and wounded.** We took her to the vet, cared for her and healed her and the vet thought she was somewhere between 12-14 years old and that was 4 years ago.* She had been pretty healthy, even quite playful at times in the last 4 years.* However, this year, she developed a thyroid issue and what the vet is calling dementia.
Cleo will out of the blue start meowing very loudly.* Now the vet says it is just a part of getting older and we have to be kind and just watch her help her by stroking her back and talking to her gently.* There have been times when she will start crying loudly in the middle of the night and I get up and gently stroke her head and back, she will calm down and start purring and generally within a few minutes she goes back to sleep.* According to the vet, this is just part of the dementia; she thinks she isn’t even aware she is doing it.* She isn’t in pain she is just voicing her opinion and recommended I just sooth her with a touch to calm her down and ease her mind. That got me thinking about my golden years and how thankful there are organizations that have dedicated their lives to touch. They teach and train individuals in assisted living facilities and homes to share a touch with those suffering from dementia to ease them and give them comfort.* We have worked closely with two of the organizations:**** Daybreak Geriatric Massage Institute and Compassionate Touch® both work with individuals at various stages in life and I have seen wonderful testimonies from countless patients as well as practitioners regarding the results.* Even though I am hopefully nowhere near that stage in my own life, I am grateful that we have professionals who have trained thousands over the years to share their unique approaches to touch and caring for the elderly.
Although Daybreak concentrates on serving the robust seniors, the owner, Sharon Pusko’s *cared for her father during these final days when he developed Alzheimer’s.* She carries on that work with many who suffer or have become frail.
Compassionate Touch® primarily works with those in end of life stages and I was so touched when I read Ann Catlin’s blog Haunted by Frank and Why I do What I do – this is one of those blog posts that still haunts me!* I just want to go find Frank and hug him!* (read more)…