maid! bring me my elegant pills

a large number of our patients have dementia. it’s often more painful for the family, who are no longer recognised, than it is for the person whose short term memory has faded away. but there’s a certain delight to be had when you enter the world of someone who still thinks she’s a ravishing 20 year old beauty in the 1940s and insists on addressing you as the chambermaid.

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the diversional therapist and nursemyra have been working on a “reminiscing program”, similar to some of archie’s posts about Perth’s past.  today we were talking about old medicines and Mrs. B mentioned Dr. Morse’s Indian Root Pills which apparently were very popular here in australia at the turn of the century.

we also talked about old fashioned diet pills and this is what I stumbled upon while doing research for reminiscing

I don’t think Dr Gordon or Kurnow were as successful here since no one mentioned these treatments at our therapy session today. perhaps appealing to elegance and the shunning of violent exercise was a marketing mistake. but Dr. Morse had the right idea. aussies never say no to a root*

* Root (verb and noun) : synonym for f*ck in nearly all senses: “I feel rooted”; “this washing machine is rooted”; “(s)he’s a good root”. A useful word in polite company.