BY DAN HILDEBRAN
The September meeting of Senior’s Social at Lake Butler’s Mary C. Brown Library featured a presenter who educated the group about Alzheimer’s.
Donna Lee, the program manager for the Central and North Florida Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, said she had intended to drive the organization’s brain bus to the September 3 meeting, but the vehicle’s air conditioning was broken.
Instead, the Gilchrist County resident led the group in Alzheimer’s Bingo, in which she called out squares and asked participants to answer questions printed on the placements.
Helpline lessens diagnosis fears
Lee pointed out that every card had a free space on which the Alzheimer’s helpline—1-800-HELPLINE—was printed.
“I want to make sure that we all understand what that is,” she said of the toll-free number. “Last time we were here, we saved that number on our phones, so I hope it’s still on everybody’s phones. That is the entry point to all things Alzheimer’s or dementia care, inquiries, and caregiving. You reach a live human being; you don’t reach a lengthy automated system at that line.”
Lee said a master’s level clinician answers the number, and she encouraged group members to call it if they see cognitive decline in a family member or are worried about their own brain health.
“There’s a lot of misinformation and fear about— I don’t want to talk to my primary care physician because then it’s going to be on record, and you are going to get some sort of terrible diagnosis, and there’s all this negative ripple effect around it—” she said. “So, this is an alternative way to get information, and these folks are trained in information dissemination, all the way through advocacy and resource connection.”
She added that advocates answering the helpline could direct callers to screening, providers, caregiving support, and other resources.
“It’s for a caregiver at three in the morning who is just starting to pull his or her hair out literally because they’re frustrated and exhausted and don’t know what to do,” she said. “There are also people who are trained in the de-escalation of crises over the phone. So, you can reach anyone about basic, simple questions all the way through full-on crisis mitigation and de-escalation by calling that number.”
Other topics discussed while playing the game included,
essentiALZ training and certification.
Lee said essentiALZ is the Alzheimer’s Association’s training and certification program.
“The online program educates professional care workers,” she said. “This is the continuing education units that your memory care residential facility staff would take.”
Lee added that workers in hospitals, home healthcare, and long-term care facilities could become certified in Alzheimer’s care through essentiALZ, adding that the curriculum is not free.
Mild cognitive impairment
Often called MCI, mild cognitive impairment is an early stage of memory or other cognitive ability loss.
“Mild cognitive impairment will cause cognitive changes that are serious enough to be noticed by not only the person experiencing that, but also family, friends, loved ones, people around you,” Lee said. “It’s kind of that entry point where memory and cognitive issues may disrupt daily life.”
Lee said MCI is not the cause of a person walking into a room and forgetting why they walked to the room.
“What we are talking about are things like you’ve been walking in your front door and putting down your car keys in the same place for 10, 15 years, and suddenly you can’t remember where that is,” she said. “I’m not saying you don’t know where your keys are. What I’m saying is you can’t remember where you normally put them even though it’s something you’ve been doing for a long time, and suddenly, you’re missing that piece of information.”
Lee said another indicator of MCI is the inability to trace one’s steps.
“Don’t go Google your symptoms,” Lee warned. “Don’t go asking your friends. Talk to your primary care physician if you’re worried about stuff like that.”
Throughout the presentation, Lee repeated the importance of talking to a primary care provider about memory loss concerns.
The program manager said another sign of MCI is when someone willingly withdraws from social situations.
“For instance,” she said, “you come to Bingo, you come to the senior center, you come here routinely, you go to church routinely, you gather with your family routinely, and all of a sudden, you’re like, I just don’t want to be around people today. When you start withdrawing from those social interactions you love, that’s a good indicator that you start talking to your primary care physician.”
Lee added that social interaction is the best exercise for the brain.
Get moving
Lee said regular exercise is essential to brain health because it increases blood flow to the brain.
She also said dehydration can inhibit blood and oxygen flow to the brain, adding that she can tell if a particular family member is hydrated or dehydrated based on his cognitive performance.
“When he stays good and hydrated, his brain works better,” Lee said, “which means everything else works better. Your brain is a network of tissues and pathways through which blood flows. The blood can’t flow easily when that tissue is dry.”
Lee also said that headaches associated with hangovers are caused by dehydration because alcohol is a diuretic, which means it increases urine production and causes the body to lose fluids and electrolytes faster than other liquids.
Listen to music
“Music has power,” Lee said. “Music can absolutely trigger memories and bring people back from a state of where dementia has taken hold, and they may have a lucid moment.”
“Music can bring somebody back to current-day reality,” she continued. “It can lift our spirits, transport us to a specific time or moment, and for families facing any kind of dementia, these moments are precious.”
11 million unpaid caregivers
Lee said spouses, adult children, siblings, neighbors, and friends are providing unpaid care for millions of American Alzheimer’s or dementia patients.
“In Florida,” she said, “we know of over 840,000 unpaid caregivers.”
“It has absolutely outpaced the capacity that we have in the state,” she added. “We’re getting better, but it’s things like these kinds of conversations where we’re trying to equip and empower people to be better in their own homes, keep people at home longer, and have thought-provoking conversations about what we can do every single day to make the journey better for our caregivers or even for ourselves.”
Lee added that in the 2024 legislative session, the legislature passed, and the governor signed a bill requiring the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to develop Alzheimer’s and dementia training for law enforcement officers. The training would qualify for continuing education credits.
Lee said the training would give officers more tools to deal with Alzheimer’s and dementia patients.
