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Happy Father's Day to all the Dads here in Sun Lakes! I wish all of you a wonderful day. I will be thinking of my Dad and all the life lessons he taught me. The fishing trips with him are memories I will cherish forever. Our next meeting and support group will be on Thursday the 16th at 10 am in the Main Clubhouse Multipurpose Room. Our guest speaker this month will be Attorney Kathleen B. Albrektson. She is the senior partner of Albrektson & Shumate LLP. Her firm consistently receives the Sun-Redlands Daily Facts Readers' Choice Award as San Bernardino County's Best Law Firm. Her topic will be "Solutions for the Legal Challenges of Dementia Patients, Spouses, and Caregivers." She will talk about "Everything A Caregiver Should Know About Estate Planning (but may have been afraid to ask!) and will cover the high points regarding Wills and Trusts, Powers of Attorney, Advance Health Care Directives, Retirement Accounts, Taxes and Real Estate and how details differ when a party involved has dementia. If you have ever thought of attending one of our meetings, this is the one! All this information is free to you. Don't worry about leaving your loved one at home or getting someone to sit with them. We have another free program that will care for your loved one while you enjoy the meeting. We are right next door in the Arts & Crafts Room. We offer entertainment, games, and fun. No one is forced to participate. We will do whatever needs to be done to entertain your loved one so you can relax and enjoy the meeting. If you have any questions, would like to learn more about Memory Loss or would like reading material that we can loan you, call Diane, (951) 769-0130, Doug, (360) 840-5559, or Anne, (951) 845-8700. Remember we are here to help. Here is the second stage of communication for Alzheimer's Disease. COMMUNICATION IN THE EARLY STAGE In the early stage of Alzheimer's disease, sometimes referred to as mild Alzheimer's in a medical context, an individual is still able to participate in meaningful conversation and engage in social activities. However, he or she may repeat stories, feel overwhelmed by excessive stimulation or have difficulty finding the right word. Tips for successful communication: Don't make assumptions about a person's ability to communicate because of an Alzheimer's diagnosis. The disease affects each person differently. Don't exclude the person from conversation with others. Speak directly to the person if you want to know how he or she is doing. Take time to listen to how the person is feeling, what he or she is thinking or may need. Give the person time to respond. Don't interrupt or finish sentences unless he or she asks for help finding a word or finishing a sentence. Talk with the person about what he or she is still comfortable doing and what they may need help with. Explore which method of communication is most comfortable for the person. This could include face to face conversations, email or phone calls. It's okay to laugh. Sometimes humor lightens the mood and makes communication easier. Be honest and frank about your feelings. Don't pull away; your friendship and support are important to the person. | SUN LAKES LIFESTYLES | JUNE 2022 | 41 Caregiver Support Group June is bustin' out all over… Are you able to correctly sing the next words in this song? If you can do that, you have retained in your memory something written by someone several years ago. It is that kind of writing that is currently being generated by members of the Sun Lakes Creative Writers. We are just small enough to share our writing with each other in a close and intimate environment, and just large enough to generate a variety of genre. At each monthly meeting we can expect to hear someone's poetry, an essay on some interesting topic, some fictional and/or non-fictional prose, an installment of someone's larger work underway, and any number of pieces of work infusing a bit of humor or satire. Oh, yes, we laugh at the humor, and appreciate how some writers are able to do that so well. There are always lessons to be learned, new knowledge to be gained, and all in the interest of improving our writing. Some of us can easily recall, many years ago, believing we could write our own story, for instance, after reading one of the Bobbsey Twins books or Mickey Sees the USA. Or, later in life, we may recall reading something to our children or grandchildren — perhaps Green Eggs and Ham or The Poky Little Puppy. There are many examples of something we read that has brought about a lasting memory in our lives and led us to believe we could do something similar. The Creative Writers provides the opportunity to pursue such a dream. Any Sun Lakes resident is invited to join our ranks and share their ideas that can be, or have been, put into words. The Creative Writers always welcomes having you become a part of our group. We meet this month on Monday, June 6, from 1 to 3 pm in the Main Clubhouse Multipurpose Room. Questions or inquiries about the Creative Writers should be directed to Roger Smith at rlswriter@verizon.net or (951) 769-2808.