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Awareness is key to fighting Alzheimer's
The jaw-dropping statistic: more women die of Alzheimer's disease than breast cancer.Teams from Home Instead Senior Care and the Alzheimer's Association are spreading that message around the county as they launch a concerted effort to bring Alzheimer's awareness to Prince William.
“We're really doing a full-court press now,” said Cindy Schelhorn, a spokesperson for the Alzheimer's Association. “The numbers are growing by leaps and bounds. For so long, this disease has literally been in the closet.”
Not anymore. In 2000, almost 50,000 Americans died of Alzheimer's disease. By 2006, the number had grown to almost 73,000. Breast cancer, by contrast, killed fewer than 41,000 people in 2006 -- fewer than in 2000.
“Everywhere you turn, you say the word 'Alzheimer's' and someone says, 'I have a family member, I have a friend,'” Schelhorn said.
Alzheimer's, the seventh leading cause of death in the United States, is a fatal form of dementia that also causes victims to lose the ability to walk or swallow. The disease generally strikes people age 65 and older but early-onset Alzheimer's can hit in the 40s or 50s.
One of the reasons that Alzheimer's is on the rise is because the Baby Boomers are getting older. For their children in their 30s and 40s, the pressure is on. More and more professionals now cope with the additional stress of taking care of a parent who is losing their ability to reason at a comparatively young age.
That takes a toll in the workplace and job performance tends to suffer.
“There's no way they can focus on their job when their mind is back at home,” said Barbara McCurry, family services manager for the Alzheimer's Association.
Inattentiveness and decreased productivity are common for caregivers and that's something bosses notice, Schelhorn added.
“They're passing up promotional opportunities in the office, they're passing up training opportunities, they're constantly being interrupted at work,” she said.
In an effort to help, the organization offers support groups for family members and caregivers. (See page 2 for a listing of area support groups or visit www.alz.org/nca.)
The Alzheimer's Association plans a workshop on March 25 that will focus on caregiver stress and productivity in the workplace. It's one of many workshops the group offers to help working caregivers deal with stress and to help bosses to understand the pressure their employees face at home.
A bigger event will take place May 29, when the Alzheimer's Association will sponsor the county's first Memory Walk to raise money for Alzheimer's research and programs.
Kendra Kielbasa and Jennifer Bolles of Home Instead Senior Care have been working closely with the Alzheimer's Association to get the word out about Alzheimer's disease and the Memory Walk.
“Seventy to 90 percent of our clients are affected in one way or the other” by Alzheimer's, Kielbasa said, explaining that her company has special programs for Alzheimer's patients.
Working with Alzheimer's patients isn't like working with any other group of seniors and requires special training for professionals, Kielbasa said. For one thing, “the way you talk with an Alzheimer's patient or a dementia patient is very different.”
It can also be difficult at best, as family members well know.
“It does take a special person to work with those clients,” said Bolles.
She knows all too well; her grandmother, Ella Bryant, died of Alzheimer's in 2001.
To honor her grandmother, Bolles has started her own Memory Walk team, Ella's Elite, and aims to raise $2,000 before May 29. Her 40th birthday is three days before the walk, so she's asking friends and relatives to make a donation to her team instead of giving her presents.
Home Instead also has its own team and staffers are trying to get the word out about the inaugural event, which will be held in Old Town Manassas.
“Going into Prince William County, the reception we've gotten has just been amazing,” McCurry said, adding that Manassas officials have been “very much behind it.”
“Everybody is of the same mind: (Alzheimer's) has just got to stop now.”
Their goal is to raise $47,000 and get 300 participants at the walk, but Schelhorn thinks they'll do better.
“I think we'll go well beyond that,” she said.
The aim of the walk is to raise not just money, but also awareness, especially among women.
“We see what happens when women get behind causes,” Schelhorn said, noting that breast cancer awareness has skyrocketed in recent years and pink breast-cancer ribbons can be seen everywhere.
Yet Alzheimer's kills more women each year than breast cancer.
“We need women to get behind this as well,” she said.
To sign up for the Memory Walk, visit www.alz.org/memorywalk.
“You can just come and walk,” Bolles said, explaining that while the groups are trying to raise money, they're also grateful just for the moral support so financial contributions aren't required.
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