Conversations with dementia patients can be confusing for many, but to UK author John Killick they are pure poetry.
In town later this month to present writing workshops at the University of Wollongong, Killick hopes to help family members and carers better communicate with people with dementia.
He’s spent the past two decades doing just that – talking and more importantly listening to those with the condition and writing poetry and prose based on those conversations.
He’s published six books of these poems, and his latest book, Dementia Positive, has just been released.
‘‘Twenty years ago I entered my first old age facility and realised that there was a crying need – sometimes literally – for communication,’’ he said.
‘‘As a writer I thought I might be able to offer something. I began to write down people’s words and share them back with them.
‘‘I realised that some people spoke poetry so I began arranging them on the page in poetic form.’’
Killick said people with dementia were often ‘‘written off’’ as they had begun to communicate in a different way.
‘‘Their existing communication skills are devalued,’’ he said. ‘‘We have to realise that they are struggling to reach us and by refusing the challenge we are letting them down.
‘‘The message of my work is that they are still there and hungering for contact.’’
All sorts of themes come up in Killick’s interactions with dementia patients – from unhappiness and discomfort to creativity and pleasure. It was not all about dwelling on the past, he said.
‘‘There is some reminiscence but much of it represents people’s present concerns. People with dementia live largely in the present,’’ he said.
‘‘Some reflect on their condition – what it means and where it is leading. As did the lady who asked, ‘Is there a moment between birth and death when one means more than the other?’’’
Killick said the patients he had worked with were often delighted with the poetry they helped create.
‘‘Many relatives and staff are amazed that the person they love can still think, feel and express themselves.’’
Killick’s Wollongong workshop will be held on November 28 at the SMART Infrastructure Building at UOW. To register: Link
He will also be giving a free guest lecture and readings from his new book at the university’s Graduate School of Medicine on November 27.
For more information: Link
To view article in Illawarra Mercury: Link
