USA: 'Senior Smart Puzzles' Solves The Riddle For Elderly Seeking A Challenge

EUGENE, Oregon (The Register-Guard), February 6, 2008: When massage therapist Lindy McClean spent time with her elderly clients, some told her they wanted to do brain-stimulating puzzles but were no longer capable of doing sudokus or difficult crosswords. “They can’t see as well. They don’t have the dexterity to write numbers in a box,” she said. “They can’t come up with the name of a river in Germany any more. So McClean, of Brookings, became one of the entrepreneurs trying to tap into the senior market, designing a puzzle book that would stimulate their brains and evoke nostalgic memories. She developed and self-published “Senior Smart Puzzles,” with illustrations by Eugene illustrator James Cloutier and graphic design by Niki Harris of Eugene. “There’s really a void for this kind of thing,” McClean said. “For this group of seniors there’s not many resources.” McClean published the book through BookSurge Publishing, Amazon.com’s print-on-demand company. It sells for $10.99. When someone orders the book, Amazon prints a copy and ships it out. “For me the advantage is I don’t have to buy as many books myself and get them to a distributor or warehouse them at my own house to sell,” she said. The drawings depict images and scenes from the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s: Slugger Babe Ruth; a row of smiling flappers; a Model T; service­men playing cards in a USO club; kids playing marbles. The simple puzzles are derived from the kind of puzzles seen in children’s books and the comics pages: Find six differences between two different pictures. Find eight sundae glasses in the soda shop. Find the path through the maze. Even simple puzzles help stimulate the mind, McClean said. “Use it or lose it,” she said. “It doesn’t matter what age you are. You still need to exercise your brain to keep it functional.” Buyers include professional caregivers and senior centers as well as baby boomers looking for books that would appeal to their parents. McClean is doing her own marketing, getting the book listed in catalogs and other publications that cater to caregivers and the senior market. The book is selling well, but McClean said she has not yet turned a profit. “But I will,” she said. McClean designed the puzzles for the book and had done some rough sketches, but when it came time to hire a professional illustrator, she turned to Cloutier, the Eugene artist best known for his “Hugh Wetshoe” character and his illustrated maps of Eugene. “He understood the idea and loved the project right from the beginning,” she said. “He took my rudimentary sketches and gave the book its personality.” Cloutier said his approach was to make clean, realistically detailed drawings with as few lines as possible. “When you’re working with older people, it’s really important to keep it simple,” Cloutier said. Cloutier said he spent a lot of time on the Internet, searching for images in the public domain that he could draw from. That enabled him to get the little details right, such as the shape of a pick guard on a hollow-bodied jazz guitar or the cut of a man’s suit from the 1940s. Veronica Spalding, activities director of the Curry Good Samaritan Center, a skilled- nursing facility in Brookings, bought several copies of the book for her residents. “It’s a wonderful tool for triggering memories,” she said. “I’ve used it strictly as a reminisce book.” It’s particularly helpful with residents suffering from memory loss, including dementia and Alzheimer’s, she said. “I’ll sit down and we’ll look at pictures and I’ll ask them questions,” she said. “It’s incredible the stories we’ll get.” One resident told a story about being in the Navy during World War II, being torpedoed and floating in the water for days before getting rescued. The growing population of elderly is attracting the attention of large businesses, such as companies that provide housing for seniors, and small ones such as McClean’s tiny startup. About 76 million in the United States, including close to 1 million in Oregon and nearly 100,000 in Lane County — are approaching the Golden Years. Consumers 50 and older have more spending power than any other age group in history, according to the U.S. Consumer Expenditure Survey, spending more than $1.7 trillion a year on goods and services. While the target market for “Senior Smart Puzzles” may be nearing the end of their life span, McClean said she’s got more ideas for similar books as baby boomers join the ranks of senior citizens, featuring images from the 1950s and 60s. “That’s one of the reasons baby boomers like the book,” she said. “They want something like this to be available for them. They don’t want to be forgotten.” By Tim Christie The Register-Guard Copyright © 2008 — The Register-Guard