The human side of “Multi-component Intervention for the Patient”
The case of Ana O. and her family
Ana O. was born 78 years ago and is both a registered nurse and a school teacher. Before her Alzheimer’s she was a cheerful and very capable person. Her happy marriage lasts now for 50 years. Besides her professional occupations, she raised 4 children, ran her household as well as the weekend house in the countryside. She loved her job and used to sing on many family occasions. Ana enjoyed writing and frequently published in Burgos’ local newspapers, town she lived in before moving to Madrid (Spain).
The situation started changing when her family started noticing forgetfulness and some repetitive questions. 2008 Alzheimer’s is diagnosed.
As the illness progresses, Ana slowly starts withdrawing from the world, becoming increasingly apathetic and lethargic.
Her husband, Antonio S. cares for her lovingly with the help of their children. The family looked out for treatment possibilities and decided to invite Ana to go twice weekly to a Maria Wolff day care center.
In this centre, Ana enjoys what experts call a “Multi-component Intervention for the Patient”. Therapists designed the following intervention for Ana:
· Two weekly hours of cognitive stimulation through printed material, workshops, group dynamic as well as computer based cognitive stimulation programs.
· One hour a week activities of daily living are trained
· One hour a week of Yoga
· One hour a week of psycho-motor therapy
· One hour a week of music therapy
Should Ana dislike any of the above, then Wii is used to help her enjoying herself while training motor and cognitive functions.
Antonio S., her husband: ”In only 3 months of participating in the program, her improvement is spectacular. Before, she was apathetic and sleepy, but now she likes to engage in conversations with visitors and family. She is back to showing interest in most things and asks us to take her out for walks and have a more active life.”
Nati S., her daughter adds: “Besides, she shows much better mobility, she walks much better. Before her steps were so short she barely moved forward, her legs and arms were like stuck together. Now she is much better. She had like Parkinson’s in her hands, and at home she could hardly hold a glass of water, usually spilling it. But now her hands stopped trembling, she is back to eating by herself, and even serving food out for others.
We are stupefied. Our cautious expectations were slightly relenting the disease’s progression, but we never thought an improvement possible. Before she was like absent all the time, but now she speaks much more, she even bothers me as before, asking me if I have already a boyfriend, and those things she was usually interested in and hasn’t been doing for long. We are astounded, but most pleased, of course”
Ana’s family attributes her improvement to the ”Multi-component Intervention”, but if we ask her what she uses to do in the day care centre, Ana barely remembers anything. Alzheimer’s peculiarities…
The outcomes of a Multi-component intervention for the patient done with a methodology like this underwent a randomized control trial published in: Olazarán J, Muñiz R, Reisberg R, Peña-Casanova J, del Ser T, Cruz-Jentoft AJ, Serrano P, Navarro E, García de la Rocha ML, Frank A, Galiano M, Fernández-Bullido Y, Serra JA, González-Salvador MT, Sevilla C. Benefits of cognitive-motor intervention in MCI and mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease. Neurology 2004; 63: 2348-2353.
Contact details of the family for further interviewing:
Luis Santiago (husband): +34 917 330 891
Noel Santiago (daughter):+34 622 000 662