My name is Bruce Venter. I’ve discovered the way to “Flip Forgetfulness wiF Fenter”. My family name is pronounced as if it were spelt with an “F”, not a “V”, as it is of Afrikaans/Dutch/German origin, hence the name for my App. I use my technique of “Flip Forgetfulness wiF Fenter” in my App to improve the memory of our loved ones, like my mother, who have suffered from forgetfulness and memory, loss for a little while, as a result of aging. She is 94.
My mother, Rosemary Venter, went to pick some plums in the garden. It could’ve been in the afternoon. She fell over on her back and was unable to get up on her own. She’d forgotten to wear her St John’s ambulance emergency pendant alarm.
So she spent the night in the garden. Only the next day was the distress call raised, and eventually she was found by the people in her community. It was summer when this incident happened. Luckily there had been no rain, but she ended up in hospital for a number of days over Christmas.
I decided: Rather than having to confine mom, end her Freedom, and the pleasure she derives from living in her own home with, the lovely garden that is her pride and joy, as well as take away her Independence, (she still drives her car to do shopping in town). I didn’t want to be responsible for sending her to a Retirement Village. Instead I would find a way to help her recover her forgetfulness, and improving her short-term memory.
My idea was to start by reading her one of Grimms fairytales. “The Six Soldiers of Fortune”. It has six characters. The characters go through some adventures to gain their rightful reward for having serve their country during the war.
Mom began to memorise the soldiers who appear in The Six Soldiers of Fortune, in reverse order from their appearance in the fairytale.
Why you might ask, in the reverse order? Well, the adventures of the soldiers told by the Brothers Grimm, occurs in reverse order to their appearance as they join their leader.
I used to spend up to 3 hours each morning, that is her evening, to make sure that mom had her evening meals. However, my sister has very kindly arranged for carers to come during the week days to be sure that mom has help in preparing her evening meals. This takes the burden off me. It also saves me part of the 3 hour period that it took to be certain that she was well cared for. I still call her twice a day, morning and evenings, when we have good conversations and enjoy each other’s company.
This exercise of reading the fairytale, has helped to bring us closer together and gives us more to share and talk about than before. In the past there’d often be long silences in our conversations. Mom wasn’t able to remember what she’d done since I last spoke to her. I’d share my day, and then there’d be nothing left, except a silence. This exercise has built our relationship to a level only seen two or three years previously.
On the 24th of January 2023, Mom’s best time of recalling the Six Soldiers of Fortune in reverse order, was 49 seconds 71 hundredths of a second.
Previously, on the day before she did even better, scoring, 44 seconds, and 33 hundredths of a second. That was amazing! When I’ve tried to record her on video, it appears that she’s nervous and doesn’t do as well.
Now if that is something that you would like your loved ones to achieve, join my App. We could have similar results. So go ahead, and click the App, hopefully one day you’ll have your relatives better being able to remember things, as I continue to work with mom so that she will soon be able to tell me the fairytale of The Six Soldiers of Fortune from beginning to end.
I hope that as her memory improves, the runoff will be that she’ll be able to remember how to look after herself better than she has recently been able to.
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