Photo: Dominik Lange | Unsplash
When Jay Newton-Small moved her father Graham, who had Alzheimer’s, into an assisted living facility, she had to fill out a 20-page detailed questionnaire about his life. However, understanding that all the information would be difficult for Graham’s caregivers to remember, she used her experience as a Time magazine journalist to write a one page story instead. The care given to Graham transformed as the busy caregivers could quickly get a sense of who he was and connect with him, no longer treating him like something on a checklist. The experience was so transformative that, in 2017, Newton-Small founded MemoryWell, an organization that helps others to write short life stories with professional writers. The short life stories allow caregivers to quickly find a way to relate and engage with their patients, helping to give patients better care and quality of life, as well as establishing closer relationships with them and their family. The short stories also helped to increase the satisfaction of work for the caregivers, like helping them find ways to calm patients down when they are upset by referring to their life experiences. “When people are invested in the people they’re caring for, they go the extra mile for them,” says Newton-Small.
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