Because the ASIAN communities are, way too, superstitious, and too, stupid??? Feel free to take an offense on this if you wish! Off of the Front Page Sections, translated…
We hosted the premiere of the online movie, “Mom’s catching the evil spirits”; although this is at the height of MERS-CoV, but we’d still, taken, a ton of careful precautions to host this special showing, and, after the premiere, we’d, immediately, posted the film online. Why do we take so much time, of course, it has to do with, Alzheimer’s.
For a long time, the public aren’t understanding enough of the behaviors of those who are needing a diagnosis, they’d often misconstrue the elders’ behaviors as being possessed, because, partial of the patients would have hallucinations, and complained of how they’re, seeing things that aren’t, really there. But, is it, actually so? I think, bringing this up right before the Memorial Day holidays is fitting.
The protagonist, Grandma Gold, is someone worth, documenting; she’s, very intelligent, and even as she’d been diagnosed, every time she was taken to the hospitals for her checkups, she could, always confuse the doctors, on how far progressed she is in her dementia, in other words, she was, able to, hide the facts of her diagnosis, from others around her. Thankfully, her daughter is there, to look after her, to help us document what’s been going on in her mother’s life, so the members of the public can gain a better understanding of this illness.
Grandma Gold cared a lot about face, when there are others outside of the family around, she never, showed anything abnormal, so she’d, hoped, that no one from outside comes to her house, because then, she’d have to, be guarded all the time. As grandma goes out, she would, always, appear well-groomed, and, pretended that everything was, okay with her. She is in her eighties, knew Japanese and English, she’s, an elder, with a ton of, abilities; as she first got taken to the clinics, the basic cognitive skills test was, no problem for her at all, and, after the doctor had a session with her, she’d even, told her families, that the doctor wasn’t, professional enough!
Several times, as she’d returned for her checkups, I’d, asked her if there are, spirits in her house, she’d pretended that everything was okay, stated loudly, “nothing, there’s, nothing here!”, it’s truly difficult, caring, for a demented elderly person, with this much ability, and a strong personality too.
Some of the patients are gentle and mild after they’re diagnosed, while others, can get easily, agitated, and become too hard to care for, and unfortunately, the elderly woman, belonged, to the latter, after she was diagnosed, shed’ started, seeing ghosts around her. Sometimes, the ghosts would appear, at the fitting times, such as during the tsunami that happened in Indonesia, she would see Indonesian spirits around her Indonesian nurse, and in the nights, she would see the messengers from hell coming to claim her life.
Grandma was fearful of getting dragged away by the spirits, and so, she’d, always insisted, on fighting them at all times, giving the whole family a hard time. What troubled the families the most was, the ghosts would, shift their properties in the elderly woman’s visions, for instance, as MERS-CoV broke out, she’d talked to the head of state, Chen on T.V., telling him, “Don’t cry now, I’ll protect you!”, and, every day when the news gets on, is the time of heart-to-heart for the elderly woman and the head of state, she’d always, shown a ton of cares and concerns for him on T.V., then, turned her head to her family members, said, the ambulances are bringing in a surge of cases who are diagnosed with MERS-CoV, downstairs, let’s go and save their lives.
In the process of providing care, the families faced even more challenges; thankfully, they’re, willing to, use the footages, to help the world understand, what exactly was happening, when the demented elderly complained that they were, seeing, ghosts. In making this film, I’d actually, wanted to, remind everybody, using the elderly woman’s behaviors: if you’re there with your elders every single day, then, it would be easy for you, to not realize the existences of these, minor, abnormalities; from the case of the elderly woman, she’d cared too much about face, just wanted everybody to see her as normal as possible, and at the same time, because she’d, hidden herself so well, it’d, made the families missed the treatment process earlier.
One final reminder, as you find your elders start behaving weird, like going into hiding suddenly, not saying a word, or, refusing to go to bed, or to sleep, we should, observe well, and, have the patience, ask them what was going on, because, more often than not, they’re, seeing things, that’s, making them scared, but, is it, really, “Seeing ghosts”? Through the documentary, we hope, to bring about awareness, of how Alzheimer’s can cause the elderly to start hallucinating, so, the families should take their elders to the hospitals, not the temples for an exorcism.
And so, because this, is a supernatural society, because people here, believe in spirits, more than, the medicines, because before medicines came along, that was, what people had, relied on, and in this case, it’d, delayed the treatment process of the elderly who are, actually, demented, because, instead of, giving them the medical help they are in need of, the families are more than likely, to seek out the exorcisms in the temples, and that’ll, only, delay, the treatment of dementia, and make the elderly person progress faster.