Seniors at Charlottetown home enjoy their new dolls

A child's toy is making its way back into the lives of some residents at a senior's home in Charlottetown, and making a difference.

Staff at the Atlantic Baptist Home say baby dolls are becoming popular with some of the seniors living there.

Karlene Ryder-Ramsay lies in her bed, playing with her doll. Four years ago she suffered an aneurysm, stroke and heart attackall at once, leaving her bed-ridden and with virtually no short-term memory.

"She remembers every country song that there ever was, there's not a word you can stump her on," said her daughter, Colleen Ryder.

"However, she doesn't remember the short term, so when I spend two hours with her and I leave to get a drink and come back, she thinks I'm just getting there for the first time. So that's been hard, and she doesn't recognize some of our family members. But we can still see her in there, it's just, it is pretty hard."

Recently, Ryder saw baby doll Elizabeth in another patient's room, and decided to try the doll with her mother.

"I thought my mom would say, 'Oh cute doll.' Well it was unreal when she saw it, her eyes just lit up and she started laughing and smiling," said Ryder.

Her mother hasn't wanted to let her go since. She takes good care of the baby, often singing to it.

"I think it's bringing her back to her grandchildren actually, which were her pride and joy," said Ryder. "She basically lived everyday for her grandchildren and couldn't wait for them to come visit."

Staff feel dolls are working

Staff at the home encourage this type of therapy, because they feel it gives the residents a sense of purpose.

"They worry about them being cold, they worry about shutting the lights down before they go to bed at night," said Patricia Roberts, a licensed practical nurse at the home.

"It's a purposeful thing, it gives them a sense that they're still meaningful. I still have something that my life, I'm still doing something, I can control something, I'm losing so much of everything else but this I can hold and look after."

She saidthere are around 30 dolls in the home, with most bought as gifts, and some donated by staff.

"In rooms you see little cots, beds for them that are inside the rooms and blankets, little bonnets on them," said Roberts. "It definitely has impacted a lot of lives for a lot of patients, not just on our dementia unit but also off the units as well."

Relief for daughter

It's working well for some of the families too.

"It just brings me so much peace, that when I leave the home now and I know the doll's in the bed with her, I'm not so sad," said Ryder. "I know she feels like maybe she has a purpose again, that she's taking care of the baby so that she's not being left there alone."

Ryder is now searching for the perfect doll to give her mom as a gift.

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