Alzheimer’s Update with David Geldmacher, MD, November 3, Vestavia Library in the Woods, 1221 Montgomery Highway, 6 – 7:30 pm. A UAB Professor of Neurology, widely respected in the field of memory disorders and Alzheimer’s disease, Dr. Geldmacher is the Warren Family Endowed Chair in Neurology and Director of the Division of Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology in the Department of Neurology at the UAB Heersink School of Medicine. He leads UAB’s Brain Aging and Memory Clinic program, which focuses on the interdisciplinary care of people with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia. Free and open to the public.
Renee Harmon’s new book, Life Hikes, is set to be published on November 4. Join her November 6 at Little Professor Bookstore in Homewood, 6:00 pm. Renee is a retired physician and author. She will serve as ACA’s President in 2026. Life Hikes is a powerful and hopeful essay collection exploring grief, courage, and the healing power of nature. Renee lost her husband, Harvey, to younger-onset Alzheimer’s disease when he was only fifty-eight years old. For more information and to register:https://littleprofessorbookshop.com/products/renee-harmon-book-launch
Here is the link to the book on Amazon: Amazon.com: Life Hikes: Walking Through Loss to What Comes After eBook : Harmon MD, Renée Brown : Books
Veteran’s Day Musical Tribute & Sing Along, November 6, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 1:15 pm, presented by Founders Place Respite, 3736 Montrose Road, Birmingham.
APT will broadcast Respite for All’s documentary November 6, 8 pm. The documentary, A Place of Belonging, shows the power of the respite movement and friendship revolution on people living with dementia.
Celebrating Happy Days, November 8! Join us for ACA’s annual Walking to Remember event, 300 Office Park Drive. Registration begins at 9 am and the Walk gets underway at 10 am. Bring families and friends to help raise money for ACA’s service programs. Walkers donating a minimum of $50 receive a short sleeved t-shirt. Walkers raising a minimum of $75 receive a long sleeved shirt. Walkers donating a minimum of $100 receive a shirt of their choice and a special gift (while supplies last). The National Anthem will be sung by Kristie Tingle Higginbotham. Music, food, fun and a vintage car show. https://alzca.org/walking/
Alzheimer’s Day of Prayer and Remembrance, November 9. Visit www.alzca.org for a copy of the prayer.
Caregiver College, November 13, 10 – 2 pm, Synergic Center, 3560 5th Street, Northport. Presented by the Area Agency on Aging of West Alabama. Free educational workshops, resources, lunch and door prizes. RSVP by November 7 to Karlene Renna: 205-333-2990, ext 265.
The Challenges and Gifts of Caregiving for a Loved One Living with Dementia, November 20, 1 – 3 pm. Presented by Renée Brown Harmon, MD, author of Surfing the Waves of Alzheimer’s, and Beverly E. Thorn, PhD, author of Before I Lose My Own Mind. Together, they’ll share insights and practical guidance drawn from their personal and professional caregiving journeys.
Support Group Meetings:
- ACA’s support group with Miller & Vance, Tuesday, November 4, 11:00 – noon CT. There Call (205) 871-7970 or mpiggott@alzca.org. Join us on zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85247427423
- CJFS CARES, Mondays at 3 pm, contact Pam Leonard, pam@cjfsbham.org.
- St Lukes Episcopal Church on Tuesdays at 10:15. Contact Betsy Smith (smith35213@gmail.com) or Janis Cole (janiscarole3@aol.com).
- West Alabama Area Agency on Aging, Caregiver Support Group, Tuesdays, contact Robin Montgomery, robin.montgomery@westal.org.
- M4A’s Caregiver Support Group, 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month, 10 – 11:30 am, Montevallo. Contact Robyn James, rjames@m4a.org.
- The Oaks on Parkwood, 4th Tuesday’s, 10:00 am, Contact: Karen Glover, karenrglover@gmail.com.
- CJFS CARES, Tuesdays, 7:00 pm, contact Pam Leonard, pam@cjfsbham.org.
- United Way Area Agency on Aging of Jefferson County, 3rd Tuesday of each month 11:30-12:30, contact Valarie Lawson, vlawson@uwaaa.org
- Eastaboga, 2nd Tuesday, 6:00 pm. Contact Julie Slagle jslagle@lakesidehospice.org
- Trussville, 3rd Tuesday, 6:00 pm. Contact Julie Slagle jslagle@lakesidehospice.org
- Covenant Presbyterian Church, first Wednesday of the month, 10 am, church parlor, Contact Kristian Hatley at Khatley@covpress.com.
- M4A virtual support group, 3rd Wednesdays 2:00 – 3:00 pm. Contact Chalane Mims, cmims@m4a.org.
- Asbury United Methodist Church 1st and 3rd Thursdays at 1:00, contact Maggie Dunaway at mdunaway@asburyonline.org.
- AFTD support group, second Tuesday of the month. Amber Guy: 251-281-5344.
- Holy Apostles Church, Hoover, 2nd and 4th Thursdays 10:30-noon, contact Michele Elrod: Michelerelrod@att.net.
- St. Mark’s UMC, Vestavia Hills, Fridays at 1 pm. Contact Donna Baird: (205)717-9880.
Alzheimer’s News:
Happy Halloween!! (and don’t forget to set your clocks back one hour when you go to bed Saturday evening) The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America provides tips to keep individuals with dementia safe and comfortable on Halloween:
- Avoid interactive or disturbing decorations. Decorations that speak, scream, or have spooky sound effects as someone passes by can be distressing for those living with dementia. Utilize more neutral seasonal decorations, such as pumpkins, apples or fall leaves.
- Help the person relax. Halloween is full of distractions and stimuli; costumed strangers and loud noises can all be frightening to someone living with dementia. Try playing soothing music, doing a quiet activity such as reading a book together, and calming reassurance.
- Adapt the celebration. Replace candy with fruit or another healthy snack, as too much sugar intake could increase agitation. Reminisce by looking at old family pictures of Halloween events, decorating pumpkins together, or watching a non-threatening program about Halloween. Focus on what the person can and likes to do now, rather than what they used to enjoy and do.
- Don’t leave your loved one alone to pass out candy. Having costumed strangers continually knocking on the door might be frightening and confusing to someone living with a dementia-related illness. It can also be a safety risk.
- Keep the lights on. A dark home gives the impression that no one is inside, thus making it more inviting for burglars or vandals. Have interior and exterior lights lit. If it feels safer, keep candy outside your door for trick-or-treaters with a sign that says, “Please Take One.”
https://alzfdn.org/halloween-dementia-what-family-caregivers-need-to-know/
A study from researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health offers a hopeful message: even small amounts of exercise may help prevent dementia, including in older adults who are frail. For this observational analysis, the team reviewed data from nearly 90,000 adults in the U.K. who wore activity trackers as part of the UK Biobank project. Over an average of four years of follow-up, those who engaged in at least 35 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity per week—(roughly five minutes a day—had an astonishing 41% lower risk of developing dementia compared to those who did none. What’s remarkable is that these effects held true even for people considered “frail” or “pre-frail”—those often least able to meet traditional exercise goals. Here’s the full breakdown of the exercise benefits to dementia risk:
- 35–70 minutes/week → 60% lower risk
- 70–140 minutes/week → 63% lower risk
- 140+ minutes/week → 69% lower risk
These data are significant, because 150 minutes of exercise a week is recommended by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. While that’s a great target, it can feel out of reach for many aging adults. The takeaway here is simple: something is infinitely better than nothing. How Much Exercise to Lower Your Dementia Risk
Teepa Snow, an occupational therapist with more than 40 years of clinical and academic experience, joins Being Patient to offer practical solutions and answer caregiving questions. In this 40 minute conversation, Snow discusses safer techniques for assisting someone off the floor without lifting, how to build a care plan, disease progression, and communication strategies that rely on rhythm and action — among other practical topics caregivers face every day: https://beingpatient.com/ask-teepa-anything-dementia-caregiver-solutions/
Social isolation damages your brain. Cleveland Clinic neuroscientist Dylan Wint, MD, reveals why conversations are powerful brain exercise—and how connection protects against cognitive decline at any age. Watch the informative 2 minute video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXEKjyp99ls
Researchers in Montreal found that older adults who played the brain-training games for 30 minutes a day over 10 weeks had increased brain levels of acetylcholine, a chemical messenger that facilitates learning and memory. Acetylcholine is an essential part of the so-called cholinergic system that regulates cognition and other body systems. While cholinergic health tends to decline with age — about 2.5 percent per decade — the decline is accelerated greatly in people with Alzheimer’s disease. The training restored cholinergic health to levels typically seen in someone 10 years younger. Volunteers were randomly assigned to engage in online brain-training games using a program called BrainHQ, which offers cognitively stimulating exercises that become progressively more challenging the better you do and require increasing levels of speed and attention. The study does not prove that a brain-training program like BrainHQ can ward off Alzheimer’s disease. But the findings are consistent with other research showing that cognitive stimulation is good for the brain. The BrainHQ program is available online through a subscription and offers some free daily exercises. That program and others, such as Lumosity, Elevate, Peak and CogniFit, are also available. https://www.alzinfo.org/articles/prevention/how-brain-training-games-may-boost-brainpower/
Medicare covers short-term skilled care, not long-term custodial care, and only after a qualifying hospital stay has occurred. DailyCaring has come out with a new guide to understanding Medicare and what it covers: How Long Does Medicare Pay for Nursing Home Care?
National Institute on Aging (NIA) has just-awarded $27.2 million for a 10-institution initiative to establish a collaborative network and data ecosystem to accelerate discovery and improve prevention, detection, and treatment strategies for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. The overall initiative is led by UTHealth Houston and includes the research team from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The five-year NIA “Using Real-World Data to Derive Common Data Elements for Alzheimer’s Disease and AD-Related Dementias Research Through Ontological Innovation” (ReCARDO) project focuses on coherently harnessing and standardizing real-world Alzheimer’s data from across the country. Currently, research data on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias is scattered across many different studies, hospitals, and databases, each using its own formats and standards. This makes it extremely difficult for scientists to combine and compare information, slowing progress toward better prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. The ReCARDO project aims to create a unified national research network that connects and standardizes Alzheimer’s-related data. This collaborative infrastructure will make research faster, more transparent, and more reproducible. Ultimately, this will speed up the development of life-changing strategies for detecting, managing, and treating Alzheimer’s and related dementias. $27.2 Million National Effort Launches to Unify Alzheimer’s Research Data – Penn LDI