Metro Roundup: Fidget mats help those with Alzheimer’s, dementia and other cognitive issues

For the past two years, volunteers with Vestavia Hills United Methodist Church’s Sacred Connections group have been busy making fidget mats, an activity mat that safely stimulates and soothes people with cognitive issues such as Alzheimer’s and dementia.

The mats can include things to turn, twist, fold, button and more, said Peggy Patton, a member of the group. They often include a pocket in which people can put photos. Many of the mats made by the group have hearts that say, “We love you,” on them.

“It provides tactile stimulation,” Patton said.

Sacred Connections offers worship services and support for people with cognitive issues and their caregivers, and the idea to make mats began in 2018, Patton said.

At that time, Tyson Hall, where the group met, was undergoing renovations and they couldn’t access it, so Patton asked people in the group what they could do. She saw a sample fidget apron and then talked to Alzheimer’s of Central Alabama, which advised her to make mats instead.

What started as an attempt to make 30 mats for people in Sacred Connections turned into a large operation that has seen about 1,500 mats made, Patton said.

“It’s a social opportunity,” Patton said. “It’s a worthy cause.”

The mats also help reinforce memory, Patton said. If a mat includes a Ford keychain, caregivers can begin talking to their patient about whether they ever drove a Ford or what kind of car they drove.

Patton praised the roughly 80 volunteers who help make the mats, including Barbara Porter, whom she said has made more than 600 mats.

“When we started the project, the church didn’t say, ‘We just want to make them for our people,’” Pattonsaid. “It’s always been, ‘How can we help?’”

The mats have been distributed allover the city and region, and people really love them, she said.

Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, efforts to make the mats have not stopped. They’ve made about 100 mats since the pandemic started, and volunteers shifted production of the mats to their homes instead of meeting at the church. Patton said it wasn’t possible to get into area retirement homes or hospice services, but thankfully, those are beginning to open up again.

Bill Brunson, pastor of Vestavia Hills United Methodist Church, said his mom, who is at Fairhaven Retirement Home, at one time would go through her purse, pulling things out and putting them back in. With the mat, she’s able to have something else with which to fidget and keep her hands and mind busy, he said.

“It’s been fun to see it take off,” Brunson said.

Patton said those who make the mats put a great deal of thought and effort into their work. “They’re thinking of someone when they make them,” she said.

Even though COVID-19 has changed where the mats are made, Patton said making them is still meaningful to the volunteers.

“It’s just been a joy,” she said. “It’s a really neat thing.”