Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: members with dementia

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On Jun 4, 2005, at 1:29 AM, Helen Lauritzen wrote:

> Have any of you dealt with a member suffering from dementia who makes 
> consensus difficult for the group?  We are an aging group and have one 
> person who is usually rational and intelligent but gets confused in 
> meetings and is unable to move from thought to thought.  He therefore 
> gets stuck in a position, which usually results in his blocking 
> consensus.  Do you think a form of consensus minus one would work, 
> whereby the person blocking has a set period of time in which to 
> persuade another member of their blocking concerns?  We'd like to hear 
> your suggestions, experiences, thoughts.

I suggest a friend who meets with this person before meetings to 
discuss the issues and sits with them during meetings to help sort 
things out when necessary. Then even if the person gets confused, their 
helper can assure them that all is well and in agreement with what they 
think/want/need.

There are people here who occasionally call me and say "I don't 
understand what is going on. Should I be concerned?" and I can say, 
"It's okay, don't worry about it" or I can explain. I'm sure others do 
the same thing.

Even clear thinking people do not have what it takes all the time to 
keep up with the back and forth.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org