#memory cafe

MOSAIC is here for the community

Mosaic is community resource centre with a reputation as a leading practitioner of home care services, focusing on community and humanity within society. One of their many achievements includes presenting “Overcoming Loneliness and Social Isolation: Celebrating Best Community Practices” at the Ontario Society of Senior Citizen’s Organizations Symposium in 2016.

Their resource centre is…

A genius loci that started out as a memory palace and has modernized to be a “memory cafe”. As in, you go to this cafe and order a memory such as a warm summer day at the beach, and then you drink it and enjoy the sensation. You can also order snacks on the side. The genius loci is thousands of years old, so it has pretty much any conceivable memory you could ask for*.

The cafe is still technically a palace, it’s just folded up in space-time to resemble a small, quaint cafe with a nice little patio garden in back. It has a ton of side-rooms hidden away, most of which can only be accessed with permission from the genius. Some of the rooms are quite old, so there’s all kinds of different architecture styles. At full size, the palace is larger than the city it is located in (the palace was there looooong before the city, which was built up around it).

The memories for sale are pretty fluffy for the most part-- stuff like a walk on the beach, a quiet forest path in the springtime, cuddles with a loved one in bed, sitting at the window when it’s raining, etc. For holidays it offers themed memories. Halloween has a spooky walk in a graveyard, a misty marsh at midnight, and so forth. Winter offers snowball fights, warm cocoa in front of the fire, snowfall in the evening, and the like.

I was thinking that the genius is a heavyweight in the supernatural world, but it is super chill and prefers just hanging out with its friends. It’s known pretty good portion of its clientele for literal generations. I think that the genius passively feeds on the emotions of its clients, so it works out well for everyone.

In addition to the memories, you can buy pastries and coffee. Maybe around holidays it offers themed knick-knacks. The only thing it doesn’t offer is wi-fi, because putting wiring into a building where 98% of it is folded away Elsewhere is... difficult.

I need to think of a name for both the cafe and the genius loci. Some sort of pun on memory, maybe.

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Amy’s Place certainly fulfills that mission. The charming home is open free of charge to people with dementia and their caregivers. It is designed as a place to visit and relax. Two adorable dachshunds bring wail-tagging joy to visitors, and caregivers can utilize a fully-stocked kitchen and shower while their loved ones receive attention and supervision from staff. Amy’s Place also offers caregiver support groups and fun social events, like painting classes.

I had a chance to meet co-founder Pam Van Ahn at the holiday party held at Amy’s Place last week. She and her sister Jean opened Amy’s Place earlier this year and are receiving rave reviews from the caregiving community. The memory cafe is part of their nonprofit, Caring Together in Hope.

The more I learn of programs like this, the more hope I have that we as regular citizens can make a difference in the lives of those with dementia and just as importantly, their caregivers. If you know of programs in your area that are designed to help caregivers, let me know in the comments section. I’m working on putting together a list of resources for my own Respite Care Share project.