Vintage objects can soothe those with memory troubles

One muggy, hot summer day in San Antonio, my Dad wore a khaki jacket with a stitched Six Flags emblem on the breast. He would not remove that jacket, no matter that his face was red and sweat beads covered his forehead.

We were at Fiesta Texas, in typical blazing heat, and we couldn't reason with him to peel down to the T-shirt he wore beneath. So we conspired to stand near a ride that splashed. If he got drenched--along with the rest of us, of course--surely Dad/Grandpa would remove the jacket. It worked.

We've joked about his attachment to that jacket ever since.

Recently, I've come across an explanation for why--maybe--Dad is so attached to his Six Flags jacket.

The health group Bupa Australia says it has evidence that providing famliar objects from the past can help settle dementia patients. The objects they're talking about are clothes lines, laminated kitchen tables, vegetable gardens and other items that people of a certain generation may appreciate.

Don't you bet certain music,
television shows and recipes
could have similar effects?

Maryann Curry, Bupa's group director of nursing, said there was anecdotal evidence that providing familiar objects from the past did help to settle patients and the company was examining just how significant a benefit it could be, particularly for patients who tended to aggression and hostility.

Maryann Curry, the group's director of nursing, told The Sydney Morning Herald that the pleasant experience might only last a minute or two, but the benefits in patient wellbeing lingered for some time until it was overridden by another sensory experience. "Their facial expression actually changes. We often see in their faces the joy of that moment. They are comfortable in that moment," she told the publication.

For many American Baby Boomers, vintage objects may be the laminated kitchen tables and the clotheslines. For my Dad, that vintage object is his Six Flags jacket.