Who am I?

On a recent visit to Kochi, Professor Cathy Greenblat talks about her career about photographing dementia patients and end of life care in Kerala and elsewhere

Pics: Helper Didi with Ashwani. Photo by Cathy Greenblat; Cathy Greenblat. Photo by Arun Angela 

By Shevlin Sebastian 

When the US-based Professor Cathy Greenblat, noted photographer on ageing, dementia, and end-of-life care, presented her visiting card, there was a surprise. On the back was a photograph of an elderly sari-clad woman who was gripping the elbow of a young woman. Both were smiling widely, but with eyes closed. In front of them was a magazine. It seemed they saw something that was very funny. 

“Mother and daughter,” says a visitor, looking at the image. 

Cathy smiles and says, “Everybody says that. But no, it is a caregiver, Didi, with a patient, Ashwani who is an advanced stage of Alzheimer's Disease at a day-care centre in Bangalore.” 

Cathy says she liked the photo because there is an emotional connection between the two. “It was such a joyous moment,” she says. “Whenever I look at the photo I feel happy. I want to spread this happiness. That is why it is at the back of my card.” 

Cathy had come to Kochi as a guest speaker to present a photo exhibition called ‘Arts, Hearts and Minds’ during the three-day international conference on Alzheimer’s Disease, ‘Ubodh’, organised by the Centre for Neuroscience, under the department of biotechnology, CUSAT. 

Since 2001, Cathy has been documenting the story of people living with dementia in nine countries -- India, USA, Japan, France, Britain, Dominican Republic, Germany, Monaco and Australia. 

And she has met all kinds of interesting people. At the Silverado Senior Living Alzheimer’s community in Escondido, California, she met a woman Hilda who could not remember whether she had lunch or what day it was. “When Hilda, who looked lost all the time, sat down at a piano she could play 400 songs from her memory,” says Cathy. “Music is one of the things that stay the longest in the mind.”  

At Silverado, Cathy realised that having Alzheimer's was not a disease that signified it was all over for the patient. “I saw people who were reading newspapers, doing things with flowers, having conversations, sitting at a table and eating with china, glasses and silverware,” says Cathy. “It was so different from what I had experienced in my own life.”

When her grandfather was diagnosed with Alzheimer's he was put into a residential community for people with dementia. There his only activity was to watch TV. “He was a brilliant man who loved to read and talk,” says Cathy. “But they said he could not do anything anymore. This was flawed thinking. Later, my grandmother and mother suffered from the same disease. People have the idea that Alzheimer's takes a big bite out of your brain. But it is more like a mouse nibbling at a big piece of cheese. You lose your capabilities little by little. Our job is to look for what’s there. So I wanted to help change the mind-set, by photographing the best examples of dementia care.” 

In Kerala, Cathy spent three weeks taking photographs at the Neighbourhood Network of Palliative Care run by Suresh K Kumar at Kozhikode in 2008 for a project on end of life care. Then she met Dr Jacob Roy, who had founded the Alzheimer's and Related Disorders Society of India. “I went to Kunnamkulam where Jacob had put up first care home for Alzheimer’s patients in Kerala. There were about 10 or 12 residents and I took several pictures,” she says.  

Asked whether people react the same across countries, Cathy says, “Yes, they do. They need to feel that they are cared about, that they are not treated as stupid. They want to do things that are meaningful for them. They can go on excursions. In one home, some of the men would be taken to a local pool hall. They liked hitting the balls, drinking a beer and looking at pretty women.”   

Earlier, Cathy had a brilliant academic career. She is Professor Emerita of Sociology at Rutgers University, New Jersey, where she served for 35 years. The author of 15 books, she has lectured in the USA, Latin America, Europe, Russia, Africa, the Philippines, China, Australia, and Japan. “But since my retirement, I have been lucky to find another fulfilling career as a photographer,” says the 79-year-old. 

(The New Indian Express, Kochi)