Creative Care with Dr. Anne Basting (Crossover Episode with Remo Health)
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This is The Nocturnist Conversations. I'm Emily Silverman. Today, we're sharing a very special conversation that was originally recorded for the Talking Dementia with Remo Health podcast. Remo Health is an innovative telehealth company providing whole person care to people living with dementia and their caregivers. And we're thrilled to be cross-posting this episode. Our guest is Dr. Anne Basting, a scholar, writer, MacArthur Fellow, and founder of TimeSlips, a storytelling method that invites people with memory loss to flex their imagination. For over 25 years, Anne has been using techniques like this to transform the way we think about dementia and use creativity and improvisation to foster joy, connection, and dignity.
In my conversation with Anne, we explore how she discovered the power of improvisation and storytelling in dementia care, the principles of the time slips methodology, including the beautiful question, yes and, and proof of listening, and practical ways that caregivers and families can weave creativity and curiosity into everyday moments of care. It's an inspiring conversation about reimagining what care can look like, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. But first, take a listen to Anne reading an excerpt from her book, Creative Care, through the Penn Memory Center. Here's Anne.
Chapter one, in which Ruth teaches me what joy looks like. It was opening day. Spirits were incredibly high. I had walked into Morgantown Care and Rehabilitation in Morgantown, Kentucky that Saturday morning to a chorus of exuberant greetings, not what you'd usually expect at a nursing home. Now it was just 2 p.m., showtime. After two weeks of rehearsal and a year of planning, the elders, local actors, volunteers, and staff were about to perform their version of Peter Pan, one in which Wendy is in hospice care in her final phase of growing up. And the audience, rather than clapping to prove their belief in fairies, would meet the extended hand of an elder to prove that they believed in one another. There would be song and dance.
There would be a giant crocodile, pirates, and of course flying. These residents, several of whom had not been out of their rooms for months, were about to welcome an audience to see them and their nursing home in a completely new light. They were inviting the audience to see beauty and meaning in a place where most people see only overwhelming loss. Ruth had been at every rehearsal. If I had to guess, I would say Ruth was in her late 80s with a bob of gray hair framing her face. Riding a wheelchair, she was one of the dozen elders dancing in the finale to Frank Sinatra singing, Fly Me to the Moon. As Shirley, a resident who had been the activity director in this very nursing home for 40 years, offered a blessing on the performance and the stage manager called out, places.
Ruth's care partner wheeled her out onto the home's front patio for the pre-show. The wind carried a chill but every elder in the dance chorus insisted on going outside to greet the audience and to listen to the live music. I looked around at the faces. Every one of them was wide-eyed and wonder-filled, except Ruth. She was crying. Her eyes were bright, but tears rolled down her cheeks. Her mouth was twisted into a half-smile, half-grimace. I went to her straight away, kneeling down in front of her and taking her hands. Ruth, I whispered, are you okay? She nodded eagerly. Are they happy tears? I asked. Oh yes, she said with a laugh. Happy, happy tears.
I'm Dr. Emily Silverman, and welcome to Talking Dementia with Remo Health. Join us as we explore the latest advances, insights, and strategies that help empower those living with dementia and the families that support them. Each episode, we sit down with leading experts from physicians and researchers to policymakers and clinicians to provide you with the resources needed to navigate this complex disease.
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