People With Alzheimer's Make Memories With Art

Ellie Halperin peeled the tag with her husband's name on it from the adhesive sheet.

"Here, do you want one of these?" she said jokingly as she pressed it on his shirt. Jeff Halperin didn't respond but didn't protest either. He was busy swirling his paint brush in a cup of water, getting ready to add a new color to his painting.

The two sat side by side at a table during the weekly Alzheimer's Association's Memories in the Making program, which introduces individuals with dementia and Alzheimer's disease to painting as an avenue for creative expression.

The one-hour painting session usually proves to be much more, bringing families together while helping patients remember scenes from the past, calm down or engage in an activity and feel productive.

"This gives him something to concentrate on," said Ellie Halperin, whose 73-year-old husband has been recovering from two strokes that have affected his memory.

Art, whether it's painting, dancing or music, has been shown to be beneficial to health.

"There are trends toward a more multidisciplinary approach to care, and I hope we get to a point where [art] is more commonplace and universally available and people have access to various programs to find what they enjoy and what's meaningful to them," said Ruth Drew, director of family and information services at Alzheimer's Association.

States like California and Colorado are far ahead in the number of Memories in the Making programs they offer. Here, Alzheimer's Association of North and Central Florida is trying to expand the number of such programs, especially given the growing aging population of the area.

"Many of them come in and say they can't paint or draw," said Pam Levin, the program's art facilitator. "I tell them, 'this is not an art class.' This is not art therapy. This is art that's therapeutic, because this takes them to a place where they can relax."

There is a Memories in the Making program in Altamonte and another in Maitland. The program is open to people who are in early to middle stages of memory loss.

"It's a way of expressing yourself without words," said Karen Publicover, who had accompanied her dad, Gerald, to the hour-long program in Maitland Public Library. "He paints pictures that are positive and bright and detailed, and I don't know if a lot of his life is detailed. It gives him control," she said of her 80 year-old father who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease two years ago.

Like Ellie Halperin, Publicover painted along with her father.

"It's something we both enjoy doing," she said. "I had just not done any drawing for a long time until now. And even thought we don't talk a lot here, this is a time we're together."