Fairfield Cares

08/19/2025

Aug 21st at 12 PM

08/17/2025

: Up to 50% of patients with COPD are malnourished. Learn more and help spread awareness during . nutritioncare.org/MAW-25

08/17/2025

🎬 Did you know? Before there was the Oscar-winning movie, there was the powerful novel Still Alice by Lisa Genova!

This moving story offers an intimate, heartrending portrayal of early-onset Alzheimer’s through the eyes of Alice Howland—a brilliant Harvard cognitive psychology professor who confronts memory loss and identity shifts with grace, courage, and heart.

The novel masterfully blends emotional depth with scientific insight, illuminating the challenges of dementia with clarity and compassion—and reminding us that even as memories fade, the person remains.

If the film touched you, the book dives even deeper into Alice’s inner world. A must-read for anyone interested in narratives that are both human and scientifically grounded.

Has anyone here read the book after watching the movie? Drop your thoughts below!

08/15/2025

08/14/2025

National Financial Awareness Day, celebrated on August 14th, provides an excellent opportunity to reflect on our financial well-being and sharpen our financial literacy skills.

08/13/2025

🧡 A big THANK YOU to everyone who donated to our school supply drive! 🧡

Because of your generosity, we were able to deliver a large collection of supplies to SEIDA, where they will be distributed to students in need to help them start the school year prepared and ready to succeed. 📚✏️

We’re grateful for the support of our community and wish all students, teachers, and families a wonderful school year ahead! 🍎✨

08/13/2025

I've been a nurse in end-of-life care for nine years, here are five things you should know

08/13/2025

I once knew a woman
With lines on her face
Who’d lived most her life
In a much different place

A place where those lines
Were respected, revered
Where it was known
They held the wealth of her years

And here, in a place
That was scared to grow old
She made us all realise
The beauty age holds

For one day she stood
And attracted a crowd
She started to speak
As we all gathered round

And we hung on each word,
We were all mesmerised
For her voice was so powerful,
Knowing and wise

She smoothed down the crown
Of her hair on her head
Then she lifted her chin
And her voice as she said

“These lines are not something
To hide or to fear
But something that says
‘I have lived, I was here’

They’re not to be counted
Like bars of a cage
But like rings of a tree
That grows stronger with age

Grounded and grand
Persevering and proud
I’ve earned every stripe
So I’ll wear them out loud

And though you might think
I’d look better with none
Just wait til you learn
How I earned every one

Because I’m much more
Than the way that I look
And these lines on my face
Are like lines from a book

That holds all the tales
Of the things gone before me
So come, take a seat
And I’ll tell you my story”

*****

Becky Hemsley 2024
Beautiful artwork by Andrew Lloyd Greensmith

These Lines is the opening poem in my collection Words to Remember: https://amzn.eu/d/2qH1jD6

08/13/2025

🎶 Written by Brian Asselin & Eric Disero, “I Will Remind You” is a moving tribute to the love, patience, and presence at the heart of dementia care.

“When the photos start to fade… I will remind you.”

For caregivers and clinicians, it’s a powerful reminder that even when memories slip away, connection and compassion can still shine through. Whether played in a quiet moment with a loved one, shared in a support group, or simply listened to alone, it speaks to the courage and tenderness of walking this journey together. 💜

🔗www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrHQULwVAnc

08/13/2025

🧠 New AI Tool May Detect Alzheimer’s Through Speech

Researchers are exploring a promising way to spot Alzheimer’s earlier—by analyzing how we speak. Using voice recordings from the Framingham Heart Study, an AI model was able to predict with about 78–79% accuracy which people with mild cognitive impairment would go on to develop Alzheimer’s within six years.

Instead of relying only on lengthy evaluations or expensive imaging, this approach looks at subtle changes in language—like pauses, sentence complexity, and word choice—that can appear before memory loss becomes obvious. It’s non-invasive, scalable, and could one day help clinicians and families get a vital head start in planning care and interventions.

While still in research stages, AI speech analysis may become a valuable complement to traditional screening, especially for those with limited access to specialists.

🔗 Read the research: https://alz-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/alz.13886

08/13/2025

If one day something shifted
And the world around us changed
So that we saw the weights
That people carry every day

Perhaps we'd notice burdens
Round the shoulders of a friend
Or watch a stranger pull a train of grief
That never ends

Perhaps we'd see that someone
On the bus can barely stand
Because of all the heaviness
They hold within their hands

Perhaps we'd see a colleague
Carrying a box around
And watch them - as the day goes by -
Stoop closer to the ground

We'd recognise the load of things
We're never normally shown
We'd see that people carry
So much heaviness alone

And maybe if we saw it all
We'd stop a little while
We'd load our words with kindness
And we'd speak them with a smile

For maybe all our judgement
Would be softened into grace
And all our empathy would make
The world a better place

Yes, perhaps we’d move more gently,
Speak compassion to the air
If just for once, our eyes could see
The weights that others bear

*****

Every Sunday I share a new poem on my Patreon page for all tiers. This one is the poem from a couple of weeks ago.

Becky Hemsley 2025
Artwork by Maira Kalman, from her book 'Women Holding Things'