Pam Wener is a certified Laughter Leader with Radiant Laughter. Laughter leaders are trained to share the many benefits of laughter with others, helping them tap into the power of laughter to improve circulation, strengthen the immune system and elevate the spirit. The JNJ team was thrilled to talk with Pam about her work and sharing laughter with patients with Alzheimer’s and dementia.
JNJ: Laughter has so many benefits for our patients. But there are benefits for the caregiver – nurses and family members – as well.
Pam: Absolutely. Especially when you’re talking about Alzheimer’s caregivers. It’s essential you take care of yourself because it’s just so demanding, even if you’re young and in good health. You have to be realistic about what the disease is and what caregiving does to you. But with the laughter groups, I’ve found, is that you can head in there, maybe in not such a great mood, and then you go through the session, and walk out totally energized and feeling great.
JNJ: Are patients who have Alzheimer’s or dementia able to participate in groups? Do they benefit from the laughter?
Pam: Absolutely! You don’t lose your sense of humor or fun. As caregivers, we have to be able to go forward without expectations. You want to be prepared. Have lots of little things you can do to make someone laugh or even just smile. The more options you have, the more flexible you can be. If something isn’t working, you can move onto something else.
Laughter unites both sides of our brain, which has obvious benefits for the Alzheimer’s patient. We hold onto our emotional memory and our long term memory longest. A technique that works to the patient’s strengths is to ask for funny stories from when they were children.
JNJ: That’s the type of information that sticks, that they retain.
Pam: Absolutely. Other things we hold onto are smells. Movement helps evoke emotion: I love to close groups with “If you’re happy and you know it!”
Remember too to exercise patience. These are adults, and they have adult feelings. You have to be aware of your own emotions and what you’re projecting. People can read your frustration — or your acceptance. Don’t judge, and try to not ask questions that require short term memory to answer. This increases your patient’s stress level.
This can be hard. It’s easy to say, “Oh, we’ve done this before!” But if they don’t remember they’ve done it before, they may feel inadequate or shamed.
JNJ: Do you have advice for nurses who want to share the power of laughter with their patients?
Pam: Use props. I use magic wands: they always get oohs and ahs. We use them to take away inhibitions and allow us to do silly things. Keep it short. They’re not necessarily interested in all the background and history I might do with other groups, so I stick to the basics: make eye contact with each other. Respect our bodies: laughter should cause no new pain. There is no right or wrong way to laugh. Just laugh, and let your body benefit!
