"I believe every pastor should know about Alzheimer's disease."
This is how Marina Gopadze, pastor of Buchanan Presbyterian
Church, explained her recent study of all kinds of dementia,
Alzheimer's being the best known. As she came to learn how many
people are affected by dementia, either as patients or caregivers,
she also came to believe community folks would welcome more
information.
To that end, she brought Annette Clark, from the central and
western Virginia office of the Alzheimer's Association, to speak in
Buchanan recently. Some of those attending were James and Patricia
Kidd, Bea McCraw, Barbara Stull, Jim Deaton, and Robert McRae,
pastor of the Eagle Rock Presbyterian Church.
Stull cared for her mother-in-law, who suffered from dementia
before her death a few years ago. She related smilingly, then
sometimes tearfully, to a few of Clark's examples of personality and
language change. She even brought her toddler granddaughter with her
to the presentation.
McRae is acquainted with some folks in his community struggling
with this disease. "I came today to understand more," he said. It
turns out the disease touches an entire family, especially when
family members end up as caregivers. And caring for an Alzheimer's
patient can be frustrating, leading to stress for the entire
family.
Clark handed out a list of ten warning signs of Alzheimer's.
Among them are memory loss and inability to deal with the normal
tasks of life. Every person who has forgotten a name or word knows
the fear that Alzheimer's may be over the horizon. But Clark
reassured us all. "When you remember later, you just have a normal
memory loss."
Alzheimer's sufferers have almost no short-term memory. "They
don't remember that they just had lunch," Clark explained.
One of the saddest parts of this is loss of memory of recent
events. "What if a patient wants to see her mother," Clark said,
but you know her mother died. "We used to tell the person, 'Your
mother's dead, you can't see her.' And because the patient had no
memory of the death, she'd start to cry and get sad, experiencing
the loss all over again."
So, instead, caregivers are encouraged to deal with questions
like this with comments such as "You really loved your mother. Tell
me about her." Since the Alzheimer's patient often has kept long-
term memory, she can talk about her childhood easily.
There now are tests that can accurately diagnose Alzheimer's and
separate it from other kinds of dementia and memory loss that may be
curable. There are also medicines that can slow the progression of
the disease.
We healthy ones can take heart: Prevention is our best bet.
"Exercise, good nutrition, and good social interaction are very
important," Clark explained.
Everyone wonders if their family members, or they themselves,
will ever start to forget loved ones, or start to put their house
keys in the salad. With knowledge, good prevention and medicines,
some of the fear can go away. Spread the word!
Some contacts
n Marina Gopadze can help those dealing with the disease set up a
support group; call 254-1390.
n Annette Clark will come to any organization to talk about
dementia; call 345-7600.
n For information about the disease and caregiving facilities:
www.alz.org or (800) 272-3900.
(C) 2008 Roanoke Times & World News. via ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved