Breathing 4 Life's Memory:
New diagnostic criteria and ...: "New diagnostic criteria and guidelines for Alzheimer’s disease published for first time in 27 years New criteria and guidelines for the dia..."
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Tuesday, April 19, 2011
New Department of Defense program to fund Alzheimer's research
New Department of Defense program to fund Alzheimer's research
As the leading voluntary health organization advocating for Alzheimer's care, support and research, the Alzheimer's Association is pleased that Congress has authorized a $15 million investment to be provided to the Department of Defense's Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC) to create an Alzheimer's Research Grant Program. The program will provide grants for research that will explore the causes, complications and potential treatments associated with Alzheimer's disease, particularly among those in the military.
The funding will be used to create a peer-reviewed research grant program portfolio which will include traumatic brain injury (TBI), post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other research areas. The Alzheimer's Association joined US Against Alzheimer's in support of the creation of this very important program which will make a significant contribution to greater understanding about Alzheimer's.
Today, an estimated 5.4 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease and that number is expected to climb to 16 million by mid-century without the discovery of disease modifying treatments that prevent, cure or slow disease progression. According to the Alzheimer's Association's 2011 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures report, moderate and severe head trauma, head injury and traumatic brain injury are associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease and dementia.
"We urgently need research that will provide us with a greater understanding of Alzheimer's as well as its impact on current and future military populations. This program is a great step toward achieving that understanding and the progress it will unlock," said Robert Egge, vice president of public policy for the Alzheimer's Association.
Currently the sixth-leading cause of death, Alzheimer's disease is the only cause of death among the top 10 causes without a way prevent, cure or even slow its progression. The need for a greater commitment to research efforts, with endeavors such as the Alzheimer's Research Grant Program within the Defense Department is a step in the right direction. It will help to foster the development of innovative research that will hopefully translate to greater understanding of Alzheimer's and its impact on the military community.
Breathing 4 Life's Memory: New diagnostic criteria and ...
Breathing 4 Life's Memory:
New diagnostic criteria and ...: "New diagnostic criteria and guidelines for Alzheimer’s disease published for first time in 27 years New criteria and guidelines for the dia..."
New diagnostic criteria and ...: "New diagnostic criteria and guidelines for Alzheimer’s disease published for first time in 27 years New criteria and guidelines for the dia..."
New diagnostic criteria and guidelines for Alzheimer’s disease published for first time in 27 years
New criteria and guidelines for the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease have been published— for the first time in 27 years — by three expert work-groups spearheaded by the Alzheimer’s Association and the National Institute on Aging (NIA) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The workgroups published four articles including ready-to-use clinical diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer’s disease dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) due to Alzheimer’s. A research agenda was proposed for preclinical Alzheimer’s. The use of biomarkers in Alzheimer’s dementia and MCI due to Alzheimer’s was also proposed as a research agenda only, and is not intended for application in clinical settings at this time.
The articles — collectively, the National Institute on Aging/Alzheimer’s Association Diagnostic Guidelines for Alzheimer’s Disease — expand the definition of Alzheimer’s to include two new phases of the disease: (1) presymptomatic and (2) mildly symptomatic but pre-dementia, along with (3) dementia caused by Alzheimer’s. This reflects current thinking that Alzheimer’s begins creating distinct and measurable changes in the brains of affected people years, perhaps decades, before memory and thinking symptoms are noticeable.
“It is our hope that incorporating scientific knowledge gained and technological advances made over the past quarter century will improve current diagnosis, bring the field closer to earlier detection and treatment and, ultimately, lead to effective disease-modifying therapies,” said William Thies, Ph.D., Alzheimer’s Association chief medical and scientific officer. “Development and publication of these articles is a major landmark in the field. That said, publication of these articles is not yet the end of the process of developing new diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer’s, but is another major step in the process.”
“The new guidelines reflect today’s understanding of how key changes in the brain lead to Alzheimer’s disease pathology and how they relate to the clinical signs of mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease dementia,” said Creighton Phelps, Ph.D., program director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Centers Program at the National Institutes of Health. “We are also beginning to be able to detect these changes at a preclinical stage, long before symptoms appear in many people. With further research on biomarkers, as set forth in the new guidelines, we may ultimately be able to predict who is at risk for development of mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s dementia, and who would benefit most as interventions are developed.”
The proposed new Alzheimer’s disease diagnostic guidelines were published online today by Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association. Hard copy publication is scheduled for the May 2011 issue.
To learn more, visit www.alz.org/research/diagnostic_criteria.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
by PhOtOnQuAnTiQuE Mobile phones may help reverse Alzheimer's disease When it comes to health, who dare to say he or she does not...
by PhOtOnQuAnTiQuEMobile phones may help reverse Alzheimer’s diseaseWhen it comes to health, who dare to say he or she does not care?Almost all of us have a moblie phone and we find it more and more difficulty to live without it.Today I would like to share all of you a good news:Mobile phones may help reverse Alzheimer’s disease.Despite the debate that radiation from mobile pho nes can cause brain cancer a new study has found a possible health benefit that the eletromagnetic waves may protect against and even reverse Alzheimer’s disease.The debate has raged for years on the dangers of mobile phones and whether the radiation emitted from the devices cause brain tumours.But researchers at the University of South Florida found mobile phones might be good for users after conducting a study that exposed 96 mice, most of whom had been genetically altered to develop the Alzheimer’s disease as they aged, to electromagnetic waves generated by mobile phones.The mice were zapped with 918MHz of frequency twice a day for one hour each time over a period of seven to nine months – the equivalent of several decades in humans.
In older mice with Alzheimer’s, long-term exposure to the electromagnetic fields caused deposits in the brain of beta-amyloid, a protein fragment that accumulates in the brain of Alzheimer’s sufferers to form the disease’s signature plaques, to be erased. Memory impairment in the older mice disappeared, too, the study showed. Young adult mice with no apparent signs of memory impairment were protected against Alzheimer’s disease after several months of exposure to the mobile phone waves, the study showed.
And the memory levels of normal mice with no genetic predisposition for Alzheimer’s disease were boosted after exposure to the electromagnetic waves.The study was the first to look at the long-term effects of mobile phone exposure in mice or humans and its findings took even the researchers by surprise.”Frankly, I started this work a few years ago with a hypothesis that the electromagnetic fields from a mobile phone would be deleterious to Alzheimer’s mice,” lead author Gary Arendash, a professor at the University of Southern Florida, said.Based on the findings in mice, the researchers hoped electromagnetic field exposure could be an effective, non-invasive and drug-free way to prevent and treat Alzheimer’s disease in humans.Believe it or not,you can just have a try!
If you want to be more healthy, take your best golf clubs or buy a golf iron set and join the hot golf sport.
Tags: Alzheimer's, Disease, HELP, Mobile, Phones, ReversePosted in Alzheimer's Disease
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Alzheimer's patient in custody !
Alzheimer's patient in custody
Man who hurt wife last fall questioned for senior's assaultBy: Carol SandersWinnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Joe McLeod, with his wife Rose, was questioned by police for an assault on a fellow resident of Parkview Place. (FAMILY HANDOUT / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ARCHIVES)
A Winnipeg man with Alzheimer's disease who was locked up for a month last fall is back in police custody and a fellow resident of his downtown care home is in critical condition after an alleged assault Thursday night.The family of 69-year-old Joe McLeod, who was questioned by police on Friday, is worried about the man hurt in the incident."If it was me and it was my father assaulted, I'd be mortified," Faye Jashyn, McLeod's daughter, told the Free Press on Friday. "The other family must be horrified that their parent is hurt."City police confirmed officers responded to a report of an assault on an elderly man at Parkview Place at about 10 p.m. Thursday. Another elderly man who lives at the care home at 440 Edmonton St. was in police custody and being questioned Friday evening.
"The major crimes unit is investigating," said police spokesman Const. Jason Michalyshen.No charges had been laid as of Friday and he wouldn't identify the man being questioned.
"Joe has no recollection of this," said Manitoba Liberal party spokesman David Shorr. "He was interviewed by police and he actually thought he worked at the home. His mental state has deteriorated quite a bit."
Last fall, the Liberals said the McLeod case pointed to the need for governments to put more resources into the special needs of seniors with Alzheimer's.
Jashyn said two of her brothers went to the Public Safety Building on Friday afternoon, but by mid-evening they hadn't been allowed to see their father. She waited anxiously for word from them, and for an update on the victim's condition."It is very scary," Jashyn said.McLeod was arrested Sept. 7 and spent a month in the Winnipeg Remand Centre's medical unit after he pushed his wife Roseat their Transcona home. She received a cut that required stitches.
Rose McLeod said at the time she didn't want her husband of 48 years to be charged or to go to jail. Instead, she wanted him placed in a care home. But he couldn't get bail when his family said it was unable to provide him with the 24-hour care he needed, and they didn't have a personal care home lined up for him.
The Manitoba Liberals shone a light on his situation, and the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority assessed his condition a few days later. The WRHA found him a temporary bed in Parkview Place downtown, although his family was hoping to have him moved to a home in Transcona once a bed opened up.
He demonstrated aggressive behaviour but there was no way he could've been guarded around the clock at the care home, said Jashyn, noting there is a lack of facilities for some Manitoba seniors who suffer from conditions that can lead to aggression."You've got special homes for children. Why can't there be one for adults?" Jashyn said.
As of late Friday night, there was a possibility McLeod would be sent back to the medical unit at the remand centre."We are going to do our best," Const. Michalyshen said, adding "... whether we're dealing with an elderly person or anyone, to ensure their placement is the most appropriate with regard to their health and well-being."
The province's persons-in-care watchdog is looking into what happened at Parkview Place. The care home is run by Revera, a North American provider of accommodation, care and services for seniors.
"The Protection for Persons in Care Office has been notified," said WRHA spokeswoman Heidi Graham. The office receives and investigates reports of suspected abuse.
Graham wouldn't confirm the ages or the genders of the people involved in the incident, citing the Personal Health Information Act.
It was tough for McLeod's family to get much information, said Jashyn.Members of the man's family and the Liberals are holding a news conference today.Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 26, 2011 B1Related articles
- Dealing With Hallucinations and Delusions in Alzheimer's
(everydayhealth.com)
- Strategies to Deal With an Alzheimer's Patient Who Wanders
(everydayhealth.com)
- Sources of Information and Support for Alzheimer's Disease
(everydayhealth.com)
- Home Safety in Alzheimer's Care
(everydayhealth.com)
- Video 62 - Living with Alzheimer's - Rick Phelp's
(alzheimersspeaks.wordpress.com)
- For those who can - Winnipeg Free Press
(ddmacc5022.wordpress.com)
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Sunday, March 20, 2011
Alzheimer's in U.S. claims $202 bln in unpaid care - latimes.com
Alzheimer's in U.S. claims $202 bln in unpaid care
Nearly 15 million Americans care for a dementia patient
* Disease takes devastating toll on families, friends
By Julie Steenhuysen
CHICAGO, March 15 (Reuters Life!) - Nearly 15 millionpeople in the United States take care of a loved one withAlzheimer's disease or another form of dementia, amounting to17 billion hours or more than $202 billion in unpaid care,Alzheimer's experts said Tuesday.
If these caregivers all lived in one U.S. state, it wouldbe the nation's fifth largest, according to the Alzheimer'sAssociation's 2011 annual report on the disease.
The report illustrates the growing burden of Alzheimer'sdisease, a fatal brain-wasting disease that erodes memory,thinking, behavior and the ability to handle daily activities.
Alzheimer's affects more than 26 million people globallyand can stretch on for years, slowly robbing patients of theirmind and memories. And there are currently no drugs that cankeep the disease from progressing.
"Alzheimer's disease doesn't just affect those with it. Itinvades families and the lives of everyone around them," HarryJohns, president and chief executive of the Alzheimer'sAssociation, said in a statement.
The new report shows a 37 percent increase in Alzheimer'sand dementia caregivers compared with a year ago, but much ofthat increase is because the year-ago figure had been based onnine-year-old estimates, Beth Kallmyer of the Alzheimer'sAssociation said in a telephone interview.
Even so, the number of unpaid caregivers is staggering,Bill Thies, the association's chief medical and scientificofficer said in a telephone interview.
'ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE'
"We are in the early stages of an epidemic and it is onlygoing to get worse over the next four years, and these costsare going to continue to grow," Thies said.
The group estimates that 5.4 million people in the UnitedStates are now living with Alzheimer's disease, up from 5.3million a year ago. That includes 5.2 million people over age65 or about one in eight senior citizens.
A 65-year-old person diagnosed with Alzheimer's typicallylives four to eight years after being diagnosed, but somepatients live as long as 20 years after diagnosis.
That takes an emotional toll, Kallmyer said.
"It's hard to take care of somebody that you love whodoesn't remember who you are."
Kallmyer said more than 60 percent of caregivers say theyare stressed, and more than a third say they are depressed.
Treating the disease is expensive.
The $202 billion in unpaid care is on top of the $183billion estimate for Alzheimer's care expected to be deliveredin 2011 by healthcare workers in homes, hospitals and long-termcare facilities, an increase of $11 billion over a year ago.
Medicare and Medicaid, the federal insurance programs forthe elderly and poor, cover about 70 percent of these costs.
Thies said Alzheimer's patients on Medicare cost threetimes more than other patients, largely because they spend moretime in hospitals and nursing homes. And Alzheimer's patientson Medicaid, which pays for the bulk of long-term care, costnine times more than other Medicaid patients.
"The federal government is really paying for Alzheimer'sresearch one way or another because the bulk of these peoplewill be on Medicare or Medicaid," Thies said.
By 2050, Medicare costs for people with Alzheimer'sand other dementias will increase nearly 600 percent andMedicaid costs will soar almost 400 percent.
The full report appears in the March 2011 issue ofAlzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer'sAssociation.(Editing by Eric Walsh)
Copyright © 2011, Reuters
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Lost in translation: As elderly Latino population booms, a rush to boost knowledge of Alzheimer's
DiscussionBy SUZETTE LABOY - Associated Press |
Posted: Wednesday, March 30, 2011 12:01 am |
Ida and William Gonzalez bring in the laundry at their home in Davie, Fla. When Ida was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, her husband knew little about the scourge that was gradually robbing his wife of a lifetime of memories. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
DAVIE, Fla. ---- William Gonzalez's world collapsed when his wife of more than 50 years was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease four years ago. The 78-year-old Cuban immigrant knew little about the scourge that was gradually robbing his wife of a lifetime of memories.
Today, the Air Force veteran struggles to run his home in Davie, Fla., while serving as sole caretaker for his 74-year-old wife, Ida.
In increasing numbers, Latinos are facing the wrenching prospect of helping a loved one battle the most common form of dementia. The population of elderly Latinos is projected to grow the fastest of all U.S. racial and ethnic groups in coming years, from just under 3 million in 2008 to 17.5 million in 2050, according to the Federal Interagency Forum on Aging-Related Statistics.
That has Alzheimer's groups pushing to raise awareness among Latinos who are living longer, into the decades when the risk of Alzheimer's rises dramatically.
The Alzheimer's Association "Know the 10 Signs" workshop in Spanish is being offered at the more than 70 chapters nationwide.
A support group started by The Latino Alzheimer's & Memory Disorders now meets twice monthly in different Chicago locations. In Milwaukee, the Latino Geriatric Center provides screenings for memory loss and support groups.
Complications from Alzheimer's is the sixth leading cause of death for non-Hispanics and 12th leading cause of death among Hispanics, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Yet the nation's largest, private nonprofit funder of Alzheimer's research ---- the Alzheimer's Association ---- warns that the number of older Latinos with Alzheimer's and related dementias could rise more than sixfold from fewer than 200,000 cases today to as many as 1.3 million by 2050, based on rates of population growth.
"We want to make sure we increase concern and awareness as much as we can and extend our services and support," said Janis Robinson, an association official.
Experts say some Latinos are reluctant to make medical appointments, which means long delays from when symptoms are first noticed until a neurologist is seen. When they do decide to see a doctor, it can be a challenge finding one fluent in Spanish.
Add to that the stigma often attached to mental illness ---- the Spanish word for dementia is "demencia," which roughly translates as "crazy" ---- and Latinos face daunting barriers to frank discussion about such diseases.
"I look at it as what cancer was 10 or 15 years ago. People never talked about it or the c-word," said Serge Morales, 72, a retiree of Mexican descent in Agoura Hills.
He and his wife, Susan, knew little about dementia until she was diagnosed at 58 with early-onset Alzheimer's. Susan Morales, who has a nursing degree, has made Los Angeles-area speaking appearances to raise awareness about a disease normally associated with the elderly.
"She's very young-looking, and we just want to make sure that people understand that it can happen to you at a young age," Sergio Morales said.
Dr. Elizabeth Crocco, an Alzheimer's expert at the University of Miami School of Medicine, recalls one patient who was living in Puerto Rico and whose siblings hid her disease from her grown children in Miami. When her son discovered his mother had problems driving and paying the bills, he moved her to Florida for treatment.
"They got angry at him for taking her away," Crocco said of the older siblings. "It was the professional younger son against the older generation."
Arturo Flores, 38, a technician, is the youngest of four children and lives with his parents in Culver City. His Mexican father, Ricardo, has Alzheimer's. Flores, who is single, said caring for his father has affected his life more than he expected, but he feels a duty to the father who raised him.
"I can't really talk to him about certain things in my life I wish I could," said Flores, who has cried many times since his father's diagnosis. "He can't get his ideas out anymore. I see him more as my son now."
In South Florida, Gonzalez's wife was diagnosed four years ago after someone noticed she was speaking English to a Spanish-speaking friend. Now he's struggling with the toll of coping with her disease, vexed when she barely noticed the Christmas ornaments he put up at their home for the holidays.
"That's kind of frustrating, but it's not her. It's the disease," said Gonzalez, who sought relief at weekly support meetings with others who care for Alzheimer's patients.
Fighting back tears, he recalled how he asked his three grown children for their support shouldering the load his wife's disease has placed on him: "You better keep me alive, or try to. Because if I'm OK and here, I can take care of her," he said.
___
Online:
Alzheimer's Association: http://www.alz.org/documents_custom/report_alzfactsfigures2010.pdf
http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_10_signs_of_alzheimers.asp
Copyright 2011 North County Times - The Californian. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Posted in Health-med-fit on Wednesday, March 30, 2011 12:01 am | Tags: Health, News,
Friday, January 21, 2011
Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, three million Americans on Medicare have received prescription drug cost relief, the Department for Health and Human Services announced today. Seniors who fell into the drug coverage gap known as the “donut hole” (which is the gap in prescription drug coverage in Medicare Part D) during 2010 have been mailed a one-time, tax-free $250 rebate check. The Affordable Care Act fundamentally reforms our health care system and seniors through out the country are already experiencing many of the benefits. From 2011 onwards health reform will deliver a 50% discount on brand name prescription drugs and by 2020 the “donut hole” will be completely closed. Last week Republicans in the House of Representatives voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, a vote to take away these benefits from the millions of seniors who are already enjoying them. Democrats in Congress are committed to fighting repeal and making sure that all Americans can continue to enjoy the benefits of health reform. For seniors in particular, health reform reduces unnecessary subsidies to Insurance Companies by putting Medicare Advantage plan payments more in line with the costs for the Medicare program. Reducing these unwarranted subsidies will save Medicare more than $150 billion over 10 years. Medicare’s guaranteed benefits are not affected by health reform, and indeed, the Affordable Care Act invests in fighting waste, fraud and abuse within Medicare. These measures will extend the financial health of Medicare by nine years and not a penny of Medicare taxes or trust funds will be used for health reform. The Affordable Care Act eliminates deductibles, co-payments and other cost sharing for preventative care in Medicare. Currently seniors must pay 20% of the cost of many preventive services and office visits. Health reform also provides free annual wellness check-ups starting this year. In addition, seniors, and people with disabilities, will be able to take advantage of a voluntary long-term care insurance program which will provide a cash benefit to help those who need to obtain services and support to help them remain in their homes and communities. Health reform is delivering for parents, grandparents, friends and neighbours across the country. You can find out how the Affordable Care Act is helping people where you live here. President Obama and Democrats in Congress are committed to protecting the benefits that health reform is delivering for seniors, and defending health reform. Sign up here to show your support for health reform.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Advocacy Day 2011 Registration Copy
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Saturday, January 15, 2011
Me and my Alzheimer's BY:NORMAN MC NAMERA
Image by University of Maryland Press Releases via Flickr
by Norman Mc Namara
I open my eyes and look round the room; it seems vaguely familiar but the memories of last night's nightmares come thundering back into focus. Why is it if I have Alzheimer's disease, I can always remember the nightmares? Just doesn't seem fair. I turn and look at my darling wife, her eyes still shut in silent peaceful sleep. I often wonder if she really knows how much I adore her, and if I have told her I love her recently. Such are the words Norrms writes in this inspirational account of how he is fighting Alzheimer's, he writes with a passion, yet tells the reality of this debilitating illness on a person and their family, I defy anyone not to have a tear in the eye after reading this, but I guarantee you will have a better understanding and awareness about Alzheimer's dementia.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Norman Mc Namara or 'Norrms' as I'm known to my friends, I was born in Bolton, and now reside in Devon 'United Kingdom' where I live with my 'Angel wife Elaine' We have three grown up children, Eight Grandchildren, and a great grandson. I am 52 years old at the time of writing this. I was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's two years ago which was a mighty blow on top of already having heart failure, but I'm a fighter and hope by writing this it will help loved ones and carer's alike understand a little bit more about how a person with dementia sometimes feels.
(2010, paperback, 142 pages)
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Son suggests Reagan had Alzheimer's as president
Son suggests Reagan had Alzheimer's as presidenton suggests Reagan had Alzheimer's as presidentJanuary 15, 2011 |Compare other versions »NEW YORK — Ronald Reagan's son suggests in a new book that his father suffered from the beginning stages of Alzheimer's disease while he was still in the White House.The memoir quotes excerpts from Ron Reagan's book "My Father at 100," published by Viking, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA).Reagan's son writes that he believes his father would have left office before his second term ended in 1989 had the disease been diagnosed then. U.S. News & World Report was the first to break the publishing embargo."I've seen no evidence that my father (or anyone else) was aware of his medical condition while he was in office," Reagan writes. "Had the diagnosis been made in, say 1987, would he have stepped down? I believe he would have."Ronald Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 1994, five years after leaving office. The popular Republican president died in 2004 at age 93 from complications of the disease.Ronald Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 1994, five years after leaving office. The popular Republican president died in 2004 at age 93 from complications of the disease.But Reagan says the issue of his father's health should not tarnish his legacy as the nation's 40th president."Does this delegitimize his presidency? Only to the extent that President Kennedy's Addison's disease or Lincoln's clinical depression undermine theirs," Reagan writes. "Better, it seems to me, to judge our presidents by what they actually accomplish than what hidden factors may be weighing on them."He continues: "That likely condition, though, serves as a reminder that when we elect presidents, we elect human beings with all their foibles and weaknesses, psychological and physiological."Breaking Entertainment News
Friday, January 14, 2011
Breathing 4 Life's Memory: South Korea is at the forefront of a worldwide eruption of dementia, from about 30 million estimated cases now to an estimated 100 million in 2050. And while South Korea’s approach is unusually extensive, even in the United States, the National Alzheimer’s Project Act was introduced this year to establish a separate Alzheimer’s office...
South Korea is at the forefront of a worldwide eruption of dementia, from about 30 million estimated cases now to an estimated 100 million in 2050. And while South Korea’s approach is unusually extensive, even in the United States, the National Alzheimer’s Project Act was introduced this year to establish a separate Alzheimer’s office...
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❝South Korea is at the forefront of a worldwide eruption of dementia, from about 30 million estimated cases now to an estimated 100 million in 2050. And while South Korea’s approach is unusually extensive, even in the United States, the National Alzheimer’s Project Act was introduced this year to establish a separate Alzheimer’s office to create ❞
“Oh, it hurts,” said Noh Hyun-ho, sinking to the ground.
“I thought I was going to die,” said Yook Seo-hyun.
There was surprisingly little giggling, considering that Hyun-ho, Seo-hyun and the others were actually perfectly healthy 11- to 13-year-old children. But they had strapped on splints, weighted harnesses and fogged-up glasses, and were given tasks like “Doorknob Experience” and “Bathroom Experience,” all to help them feel what it was like to be old, frail or demented.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/21/health/research/korea-alzheimers.html
“Even though they are smiling for us, every day, 24 hours, is difficult for them,” Jeong Jae-hee, 12, said she learned. “They lose their memory and go back to childhood.”
It is part of a remarkable South Korean campaign to cope with an exploding problem: Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. As one of the world’s fastest-aging countries, with nearly 9 percent of its population over 65 already afflicted, South Korea has opened a “War on Dementia,” spending money and shining floodlights on a disease that is, here as in many places, riddled with shame and fear.
South Korea is training thousands of people, including children, as “dementia supporters,” to recognize symptoms and care for patients. The 11- to 13-year-olds, for instance, were in the government’s “Aging-Friendly Comprehensive Experience Hall” outside Seoul. Besides the aging simulation exercise, they viewed a PowerPoint presentation defining dementia and were trained, in the hall’s Dementia Experience Center, to perform hand massage in nursing homes.
“ ‘What did I do with my phone? It’s in the refrigerator,’ ” said one instructor, explaining memory loss. “Have you seen someone like that? They may go missing and die on the street.”
In another striking move, South Korea is also pushing to make diagnoses early, despite there being scant treatment.
“This used to be hidden” and “there is still stigma and bias,” said Kim Hye-jin, director of senior policy for the Health and Welfare Ministry. But “we want to get them out of their shells, out of their homes and diagnosed” to help families adjust and give patients “a higher chance of being taken care of at home.”
Hundreds of neighborhood dementia diagnostic centers have been created. Nursing homes have nearly tripled since 2008. Other dementia programs, providing day care and home care, have increased fivefold since 2008, to nearly 20,000. Care is heavily subsidized.
And a government dementia database allows families to register relatives and receive iron-on identification numbers. Citizens encountering wanderers with dementia report their numbers to officials, who contact families.
To finance this, South Korea created a long-term-care insurance system, paid for with 6.6 percent increases in people’s national health insurance premiums. In 2009, about $1 billion of government and public insurance money was spent on dementia patients. Still, with the over-65 population jumping from 7 percent in 2000 to 14 percent in 2018 to 20 percent in 2026, dementia is straining the country, socially and economically.
“At least one family member has to give up work” to provide caregiving, said Kwak Young-soon, social welfare director for Mapo District, one of Seoul’s 25 geographic districts. Because South Korea encourages people to work well past retirement age, families may also lose dementia sufferers’ incomes.
Most families no longer have generations living together to help with caregiving, and some facilities have long waiting lists, but “we can’t keep building nursing homes,” Mr. Kwak said. “We call it a ghost. It’s basically eating up the whole house.”
Dementia Epidemic
South Korea is at the forefront of a worldwide eruption of dementia, from about 30 million estimated cases now to an estimated 100 million in 2050. And while South Korea’s approach is unusually extensive, even in the United States, the National Alzheimer’s Project Act was introduced this year to establish a separate Alzheimer’s office to create “an integrated national plan to overcome Alzheimer’s.” Supporters of the bill, currently in committee, include Sandra Day O’Connor, whose late husband had Alzheimer’s.
South Korea also worries that dementia, previously stigmatized as “ghost-seeing” or “one’s second childhood” could “dilute respect for elders,” Mr. Kwak said. “There’s a saying that even the most filial son or daughter will not be filial if they look after a parent for more than three years.”
So the authorities promote the notion that filial piety implies doing everything possible for elders with dementia, a condition now called chimae (pronounced chee-may): disease of knowledge and the brain which makes adults become babies. But South Korea’s low birth rate will make family caregiving tougher.
“I feel as if a tsunami’s coming,” said Lee Sung-hee, the South Korean Alzheimer’s Association president, who trains nursing home staff members, but also thousands who regularly interact with the elderly: bus drivers, tellers, hairstylists, postal workers. “Sometimes I think I want to run away,” she said. “But even the highest mountain, just worrying does not move anything, but if you choose one area and move stone by stone, you pave a way to move the whole mountain.”
South Korea is even trying to turn a crisis into a business opportunity. The Aging-Friendly hall, financed by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, encourages businesses to enter “silver industries,” producing items for feeble elderly people, from chopsticks that are easier to pick up to automated harnesses that hoist people from bed, sliding along a ceiling track, and deposit them onto toilets or living room couches.
College students visit the hall and don blue 3-D glasses for “Dementia Experience” video journeys following people disoriented on streets or seeking bathrooms.
Throughout South Korea, Mrs. Lee leads “dementia supporter” training, arguing against longtime practices of chastising or neglecting patients, and advocating for preserving their skills and self-esteem.
One tip: give demented relatives “a washing pan and washboard” and say, “ ‘The washing machine’s terrible — we need your help’ ” washing clothes, she told 200 senior citizens interested in nursing home jobs or family caregiving advice. If patients say, “ ‘I’m good at making soy soup,’ but forget ingredients,” guide them step by step, she advised. Otherwise, “They may make it into salt soup, and everyone will say, ‘Oh, this is terrible, you stop doing it.’ ”
Even the youngest are enlisted. Mr. Kwak, the local government official, arranges for nursery school classes to play games with nursing home patients, saying that it destigmatizes dementia and that patients who “regress to earlier days” may “find it easier to relate to young children.”
And Dr. Yang Dong-won, who directs one of many government-run diagnostic centers in Seoul, has visited kindergartens, bringing tofu. “This is very soft, like the brain,” he said, letting it crash down. Now, “the brain is destroyed.”
“Dementia is very bad for you, so protect your brain,” he said, with exercise, “not drinking too much sugar,” and saying, “ ‘Daddy, don’t drink so much because it’s not good for dementia.’ ”
At a Dementia March outside the World Cup Soccer Stadium, children carried signs promoting Dr. Yang’s Mapo district center: “Make the Brain Smile!” and “How is Your Memory? Free diagnosis center in Mapo.”
The Mapo Center for Dementia perches at a busy crossroads of old and new, near a university and a shop selling naturopathic goat extracts. It has exercise machines out front and a van with pictures of smiling elderly people.
Even people without symptoms come, Dr. Yang said. They are “eased by hearing, ‘You do not have dementia and can visit two years later.’ ”
Cha Kyong-ho’s family was wary of getting him tested. “Dementia was a subject to hide,” said his daughter, Cha Jeong-eun. “I worried his pride would be hurt going through this kindergarten experience.”
But when “my mother asked him to get ingredients for curry rice, he came back with mayonnaise,” she said. And one day, Mr. Cha, 74, a retired subway official, could not find his way home. “I was like, ‘Where the hell am I?’ ” he said.
Ultimately, he visited Mapo’s center, finding the testing challenging.
“Sometimes I don’t remember what I read, or I can see it with my eyes and my brain is processing it, but I cannot say it out loud,” he said about the questions. “How can my brilliant brain remember everything? Jeez, it’s so headachy.”
Checking his ability to categorize items, Dr. Yang asked, “What do you call dog and tiger?”
“I call them dog and tiger.”
“Pencil and brush?”
“Oh, there’s a word for that.”
“Airplane and train?”
“I feel embarrassed I don’t know.”
“You have a lot of loss of memory,” Dr. Yang said. “This is the very beginning stages of Alzheimer’s disease.”
He suggested that Mr. Cha get a government-subsidized brain M.R.I. to confirm the diagnosis, and said drugs might delay symptoms slightly. He recommended Mapo’s free programs “to stimulate what brain cells he has.” These include rooftop garden “floral therapy,” art classes making realistic representations of everyday objects, music therapy with bongos sounding “like a heartbeat.”
Mr. Cha sighed.
“I think,” he said, gesturing toward his brain, “that something’s wrong with this, just a little bit.”
Students as Helpers
Schools offer community service credit, encouraging work with dementia patients, whom students call grandmas and grandpas. Teenage girls do foot massage at the Cheongam nursing home, which is run by Mrs. Lee, the Alzheimer’s Association president, for women without sons to care for them. (In South Korea, sons’ families traditionally shoulder caregiving responsibilities.) During one massage session, 16-year-old Oh Yu-mi rubbed a patient’s toes, saying: “I’m doing the heart. The heel is the reproductive system. It will help them excrete better.”
Another girl doing foot massage, Park Min-jung, 17, was shaken to realize that dementia could explain why her grandfather recently grabbed a taxi and circled his old neighborhood seeking his no-longer-existent house. “He used to be very scary to me,” she said, but training made her feel that “I can do things for him.”
A patient wept as the girls left, upsetting 16-year-old Kim Min-joon, the massage group’s leader. She said social workers suggested being less effusive to patients, so the girls’ leaving would be less traumatic: “If there is love or affection of 100 grams, cut it up into 1 gram each” and distribute it over “100 visits, not all at once.” But “I’m not good at controlling that,” Min-joon said. Even at school, “The feeling of their touch remains with me.”
A boys’ high school selects top students to help at Seobu Nursing Center, doing art therapy and attempting physical therapy with dances and “balloon badminton” (the racket is pantyhose stretched on a frame). The boys write observations to help Seobu adjust programs.
At school, they wrote questions on the blackboard: “Problems and solutions of communicating with the elderly. Ways to improve and execute exercise routine. How to make sure we’re all on time.”
“They don’t comprehend my words,” said Kim Su-hwan, 16.
“Maybe we should get closer to their ears,” suggested Kim Jae-kyeum.
Maybe “some of us could massage them,” said Su-hwan. “You do that, Su-hwan,” snickered Jae-kyeum.
“Smile at them more,” another student said. “Some of us look like we don’t want to do this.”
For Kim Han-bit, 16, the program is intensely personal. Han-bit was 13 when his grandmother, who practically raised him, got Alzheimer’s, and “I would just feel it was annoying and walk out of the room,” he said. “She would ask to do an activity, and I would say, ‘What business do you have doing that?’ It was my responsibility to feed her, give her drinks, wash her face. But I even resisted and fought back,” he said. When she died, he added, “I couldn’t let out tears.”
The dementia caregiving program had made him “wonder why I wasn’t able to do that with my own grandma, and I think I should do better in the future to compensate for all my wrongdoing,” he said. “I could have taken care of my grandmother with a grateful feeling. If only I could have.”
Recently, he worked to engage Lee Jeong-hee, a patient half his height with missing teeth who laughed, but spoke incoherently.
“When I come next time,” he said tenderly, “please remember me.”
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: November 25, 2010
An earlier version of a photo caption with this article misidentified the location where a student was bowing in a hallway. The photo was at the Seobu Nursing Center, not the Mapo Center for Dementia in Seoul.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/21/health/research/korea-alzheimers.html
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