Connecticut Museums Offer Programs For Visitors With Memory Loss, Special Needs

Like all memory-loss patients, Jim Dey has good days and bad days. One of his good days happened recently at a guided tour of the permanent collection galleries at the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury. He was one of about 20 people participating in a monthly group of patients and caregivers called Memories @ the Matt. The tour group stopped at an 1895 Thomas Hill oil-on-canvas titled “Yosemite Falls.”

“To get to the top … we’ve done that a number of times,” Dey explained to the others in the group. “We made sure we had the right amount of food and water. That was the important thing. There were times we got pretty close to the top and there are seashells up there, and I would wonder, what’s that?”

Dey, of New Milford, is a former Boy Scout climbing teacher and avid climber. He once summited Mount Kilimanjaro. His wife Lois calls his impromptu art talk “a natural progression of his enthusiasm. … It’s so him. It’s just who he is.”

The organizers look with pride on moments like Dey’s talk. Those moments are the reason Memories @ the Matt was organized. The program, set up in collaboration with the Alzheimer’s Association Connecticut Chapter, is an outlet for memory-loss patients to get out of their homes and into the community, interact with people, have a social life and possibly breathe new life into their weakening memories.

The free tours, held the third Thursday of each month, is an offshoot of GAP (Giving Alzheimer’s Purpose), an social-activity program of Alzheimer’s Association. It is one of several special programs offered by Connecticut museums for visitors with special needs.

Participants in Memories @ the Matt span the range of early- to mid-stage Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. Strolling through the museum, some patients quietly take in the tour, sticking close to their caregivers, who are usually spouses, and sometimes nurses. Others chime in with a comment, a question, a quip.

While looking at an array of 19th-century portraits, docent Judy Kollias asked why a person would want his or her portrait made. A memory-loss patient named Martin retorted “for their driver’s license.” Pausing in front of an abstract painting, another patient said “this is not a work of art.” A third patient, glancing at a surrealist work by Kay Sage, is asked “What do we see here?” and responds “That’s a good question.” Even the patients who don’t talk laugh when another participant makes a joke.

Kollias, of Cheshire, leads the Memories @ the Matt free tours. She says that memory-loss patients require a different approach than standard tours.

“A lot of times when you’re leading a tour, you’ll say ‘well, you remember the last time we were here …’,” she said. “You shouldn’t be saying that, because they may not remember.

“You talk slowly. You make eye contact. You need to be aware that sometimes you may need to repeat things,” she said. “You need to let them know that with art, there is no right or wrong interpretation.” Valerie Rodgers, the lead museum educator and tour coordinator, said memory-loss patients prefer artworks with lots of vibrant colors and paintings with people in them.

The tours are done at a leisurely pace, starting with a coffee-and-pastries reception and ending with pizza-and-soda lunch. Jim Johanson of Simsbury regularly brings his wife, Jennifer, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at age 54 and is now 62. She laughs, participates and comments during the walk-through, but Johanson said she can no longer write her name.

“We get social interaction, a lot of laughter. It’s important to keep her stimulated and interested and exposed to new things, not just at home watching TV,” he said.

A Fairfield County caregiver — who did not want her name used because few people know her husband has memory loss — agreed with Johanson.

“You can’t just sit at home and look at the four walls,” she said. “You’ve got to be busy.”

Lois Dey loves how easy the program is. “It creates a safe space,” she said. “It’s the one time I don’t have to plan anything.”

Johanson also enjoys the chance he gets during “Memories @ the Matt to share stories with other caregivers. “If you haven’t lived it, it’s hard to really comprehend,” he said.

For details about Memories @ the Matt, email scoakley@mattatuckmuseum.org.

Other Programs

Below is a list of just a few other programs offered by Connecticut museums for visitors with special needs, according to museum spokespersons. Calling or emailing museums in advance is required for all programs.

The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford offers verbal-imaging tours for those with impaired vision; QR coding on some artwork labels that lead to videos in American Sign Language; and listening devices for gallery tours and theater programs. Details: Johanna.Plummer@wadsworthatheneum.org.

The Bruce Museum in Greenwich has a memory-loss program, too, “A Lifetime of Looking.” The program is designed for people with early- to mid-level Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. Staff members bring reproductions of objects and images from the museum’s collection to senior residential hubs. Details: info@brucemuseum.org.

New Britain Museum of American Art offers guided, tactile docent-led tours for the blind, at which visitors wearing white gloves can touch the artwork being explained by the docent. NBMAA also offers listening devices for anything occurring in the Stanley Works Center. Details: 860-229-0257, ext. 224.

Benton Museum of Art on the campus of University of Connecticut in Storrs prints its wall labels in the form of a booklet, in a 20-point font, for people with low vision. Details: nancy.stula@uconn.edu.

Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, which is closed for renovation until the end of the year, has a program, “Exploring Artism: A Program for Families with a Child on the Autism Spectrum,” once a month. It is geared toward families with children ages 5 to 12. This month, the session will be at Chapel Haven, 1040 Whalley Ave., on June 20 from 10:30 a.m. to noon. “Out to Art” is an outreach program with Chapel Haven. To sign up for events, email ycba.education@yale.edu.

Editor’s note: This story has been changed to correct wrong address for Chapel Haven in earlier versions.