Fairchild hosts hands-on tour for Alzheimer's patients

BY Jenna Farmer / The Miami Herald

Catering to the needs of early- and mid-stage Alzheimer's patients is a full-time job for both the caregiver and the patients.

So to offer a bit of help, the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden launched its "Plants and People: An Interactive Garden, Unearthing a World of Experiences for People Living with Alzheimer's.''

"One of our trustees, Lin Lougheed, saw a program at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and he came back to us and said that we really needed to do something for the Alzheimer's patients, and we took it from there,'' said Julie Dow, visitor's service manager at Fairchild.

The program featured a lunch for the patients and their caregivers, followed by a tram tour with guide Bob Petzinger.

"To be here in nature, which is so beautiful, and with other people that understand what you're going through -- there's nothing else like it,''said Laura Jones, an Alzheimer's advocate whose husband was diagnosed when he was just 50 years old.

Since Alzheimer's patients struggle with their sense of time, the tramtour was shortened and modified to stimulate them in a general way without going into too much detail.

The tour lasted slightly over an hour and involved some hands-on materials for the patients to touch and smell as they experienced the different types of plants in the garden.

"It's a valuable way for [the patients] to connect with the earth, as well as maybe the past, because there's a lot of historyhere and that's a place where people with Alzheimer's feel comfortable, in the past,'' Jones said.

Jones' husband Jay Jones agreed.

"I was interested in the different areas of the garden that had plants from around the world that were brought back to here, it's unbelievable,'' he said.

The allspice leaf was one of the highlights of the tour for Elia Ortega, 81, who came in support of her husband of 66 years, Ernestino Ortega, 84.

She bent the leaf in half and let her husband smell it first before she did, reminiscing about the plants the couple had in their backyard in Texas, before moving to Hollywood in 2008 to be with their children.

"The tour was really nice, all the plants were so beautiful,'' she said as she helped her husband off of the tram.

The Southeast Florida chapter of the Alzheimer's Association briefed the Fairchild staff and a dozen volunteers in a two-day training program, mainly on how to communicate with Alzheimer's patients.

"The Alzheimer's Association was instrumental in training our staff and volunteers to understand some of the things that happen with Alzheimer's,'' Dow said.

Overall, the staff, volunteers and patients agree that the tour was a big success.

"This was one of the most boisterous groups we've had, they were really excited about everything,'' said Julie Merrill, one of the program's volunteers.

"This is something that's new and different, and we're excited to be on the leading edge here for this,'' Dow said.