Providing the public with the knowledge on how to care for elderly who are demented, drawn from her own life’s experiences, from the Front Page Sections, translated…
As Taiwan became an aging country, the trend of “elderly taking care of elderly” is becoming more and more prevalent. The sixty-three-year-old Hippocampus Theatric troupe leader, Chiu-Jing Huang, is one of these people, for over a decade, she’d, stayed at home, looked after her elderly parents who had both became demented, and her husband who had a stroke, she’d felt so much pressures that she’d attempted suicide before, but gladly, she was able to find the resources of the society to help her out, she’d found her chance to take a break, reentered into the society, and through the plays she’d directed, was able to help education more families with demented elderly parents.
In Chiu-Jing Huang’s family, she had parents in their eighties and nineties, and her seventy-three year-old husband who’d become immobilized because of a stroke. She said, “My biggest wish is to look after my three beloved elderly, until they all passed away, so my two children won’t have to shoulder, and weather through the pains and trials I’d had to endure through myself.”
Chiu-Jing Huang is ten years younger than her husband, but because she’d had her children in her forties, fourteen years ago when her husband fell because of a stroke, her two children were only in their middle school years. She’d originally worked in an advertising agency, then, she’s, faced with her mother becoming demented, her father had a stroke, and became demented too, in the end, she’d, quitted her job, and started becoming their full-time caretaker.
But she’d not imagined, that the pressures and stresses was even greater than she’d ever imagined, she’d felt so heavy, so stressed, taking care of three elderly on her own, she’d had bad thoughts once too, but, she’d thought of how young her children still were, she’d, bitten down hard, and, forced herself through the trials.
Later, she’d learned to ask for help from the society, hired the nurse’s aide, and took a little time each and every week, to get connected against with the world around her. Other than going to class, to learn about the caretaking methods of those who are demented, she’d gotten involved in the Hippocampus Theatric Troupe, and became the leader of the drama troupe, and, she’d enacted out the scenes that the elderly experienced, like deteriorations in cognition, not remembering correctly, “eating the soaps as a snack”, “waking up in the middle of the nights, to go out for a walk”, along with other symptoms she’d experienced with her own loved ones on to the stage, to make the public more aware.
So, this woman was able to, turn her own experiences in caretaking of her loved ones becoming demented, onto the stage, hoping, that it can, help other families with elderly who are demented, and this woman is, making something of her life, helping to educate the public of the progressions of dementia, and giving members of the public something that they can take with them as they stepped outside of the theatre, so they can also, apply the techniques she’d shown of caretaking to taking care of their own loved ones who are also, demented.