Weekly Dementia Community Calendar February 14, 2020

Make a New Year’s resolution to join a support group:

• February 25, 11 – 12:30, 300 Office Park Drive, Suite 225
• February 25, 6:30 – 8, Trussville First Baptist Church.

ACES:  Active Caregiver Empowerment Tools. Tuesday’s February 18 – March 10, 10 – 11:30, Brookdale University Park.  See attached flyer.  For more information contact Leanne Messer at kmesser@brookdale.com or 209-613-0688.

M4A is hosting A Break to Educate, Thursday, February 20, 10 – 1, Mountain Chapel Church, Oneonta.  Contact Rebecca Walden at rwalden@M4A.org.

As part of their grant, Providing Alzheimer’s ‘n Dementia Assistance, M4A has grant funding to assist with the start-up of 2 respite programs in Shelby County.  There will be a public interest meeting Friday, February 21 at the Pelham Recreation Center.  See the attached flyer.  For more info:  Jennifer Fuller (205) 670-5770 ext. 121 or (866) 570-2998, jfuller@m4a.org.

McCoy Adult Day Care Center’s annual Rock-A-Thon fundraiser, Saturday, February 22, 10 – noon, St. Mark’s UMC, 2901 Columbiana Road.  This is a rocking event where people gather together to rock in rocking chairs for donations to benefit the clients of McCoy Adult Day Care. ACA partners with McCoy by providing scholarships for 30 of their clients.  For more information 205-251-2178. http://mccoyadultdaycare.com/

Queso & Questions, Thursday, February 27, Avondale Brewery upstairs event room.  This is the ACA Jr. Board’s annual education event.  Dr. David Standaert, Chairman of the UAB Department of Neurology, will be our guest speaker. The event is free with a Taco Mama taco bar and beer tickets.  Reservations are requested www.alzca.org.

Stress Busting Program for Family Caregivers, 9:30 – 11 am, for 9 weeks starting March 2, at Caring Days in Tuscaloosa.  Contact Nikki Poe at nikki.poe@westal.org.

Rojo is hosting a % of sales event to raise money for ACA’s Jr. Board and research, Tuesday, March 10, 5 – midnight.  Rojo is a vibrant gathering place serving Latin & American dishes.  2921 Highland Ave, Birmingham.

Ales for Alzheimer’s Saturday, March 21, at Avondale Brewery.  The Jr. Board’s major spring fundraiser is a family friendly event featuring beer, food, music, a raffle and auction.  All proceeds benefit ACA’s Pre Doctoral Scholars Program in Alzheimer’s Research at UAB.

The UAB School of Nursing is offering a conference, “Strategies for Preventing & Managing Difficult Dementia Behaviors”, with Rita Jablonski, PhD, CRNP, FGSA, FAAN, Friday, March 27, 8:30 – 3:30.  See attached flyer.

ACA Lunch & Learn, March 31, with Christy Baynes, President and Lead Geriatric Care Manager of LifeCare for Seniors.  Her presentation, “Help, I’ve Fallen & I Can’t Get Up”, will offer solutions for difficult caregiving situations.  Longleaf Liberty Park, 11:30 – 1.  Lunch is free but reservations are required, mpiggott@alzca.org or 205-871-7970.

News to know:

Happy Valentine’s Day to the greatest examples of love:

Care Partners for Persons with Dementia, by Rita Jablonski 

• Love really tries to be patient. Especially when I try to figure out why a certain behavior is happening.
• Love is kind; I play to his or her strengths instead of dwelling on the not-so-great parts.
• Love gently provides the same answer to the same question asked 6 times in the last 5 minutes.
• Love sweetly listens to the same stories over and over again.
• Love is entering the person with dementia’s reality to understand the behaviors.
• Love is creative as I find meaningful activities that respect his or her preferences.
• Love is laughing at oneself and seeing the humor in the situation.
• Love is understanding that the person with dementia is not doing things to be disagreeable; the person with dementia is trying to make sense out of a sometimes scary and nonsensical world with mixed-up memories.
• Love is becoming the memory.
• Love is helping to dress and bathe.
• Love is feeling thrilled that he put the left shoe on the left foot today.
• Love is feeling joy that she knows who I am today.
• Love is feeling triumphant because I figured out how to get him into the shower without a fight today.
• Love can be boastful: “Yay!! Look what WE did!!”
• Love never fails, although I feel like I do at times. But where there are yucky days, they will pass. Where there are challenges, they will fade. For we know in part how to handle situations because we are learning, and every day brings more ideas and abilities than the one prior.

Before I became a care partner, I talked, thought, and reasoned differently. When I became a care partner, I began to see the world through my loved one’s eyes.

Faith, hope, and love remain. My faith gives me the strength to do some pretty difficult things. My hope helps me to persevere, because I am optimistic that this journey will continue to yield positive and surprising lessons. But it is my love for my care partner, the greatest of the three, that make it all complete..

Rita Jablonski, PhD, CRNP, FAAN, FGSA is a nurse practitioner, researcher, tenured professor, and former family caregiver. Her research and practice involve all aspects of dementia management; she is best known for non-drug strategies to address dementia-related behaviors. Read more from Rita on her blog, Make Dementia Your B. https://makedementiayourbitch.com/author/makedementiayourbitch/

The Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement shares love in action.  Click to meet 2 caregivers and learn about their poignant and powerful stories of love.  https://thewomensalzheimersmovement.org/living-loving-with-alzheimers/

A February 10, 2020 UsAgainstAlzheimer’s statement acknowledged today’s announcement of negative results from a DIAN-TU (Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network-Trials Unit) Phase II/III study of solanezumab (Lilly) and gantenerumab (Roche/Genetech). Both drugs failed to slow memory loss and cognitive decline. “We are grateful to the patients who took part in the DIAN-TU clinical trials and share their disappointment. Like them, we know that the first person cured of Alzheimer’s will be enrolled in a clinical trial… For the tens of millions American families touched by this disease, the fight must continue in order to reach the national goal of achieving an effective treatment for Alzheimer’s by 2025.”

A February 6, 2020 World Economic Forum article labeled Alzheimer’s disease as the ‘most expensive chronic condition of the world’s growing aging population.’ According to the article, “There is a global demand-capacity mismatch for age-related non-communicable diseases.”

A February 10, 2020 McKnight’s Long-Term Care News article looked to a new study out of Japan which found that people who lived through three or more adverse childhood experiences have an increased risk for developing dementia later in life.

Can Deep Sleep Clear the Brain of Alzheimer’s Toxins?  Being Patient interviewed sleep researcher Laura Lewis on a recent study examining the brain-cleansing effects of deep sleep.  Discover more here

Essay contest for teens:  Hilarity for Charity is sponsoring Humans of Dementia: An Intergenerational Storytelling Contest with support from AARP, Generations United, Memory Well, and Associated Collegiate Press and National Scholastic Press Association. To be eligible, the writer must be currently enrolled in high school or college in the U.S. or Canada and the story must feature someone currently living with or who has passed away from Alzheimer’s disease or another dementia. Learn more on the Humans of Dementia submission webpage. The deadline is March 13. Humans of Dementia: An Intergenerational Storytelling Contest with support from AARP, Generations United, Memory Well, and Associated Collegiate Press and National Scholastic Press Association

Did you know? Planet Fundraiser is an app that lets you give back to non-profits, schools, and groups simply by taking a picture of receipts from merchants you already shop at.  You shop and participating merchants donate to the charity of your choice.