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Trying to figure out how to cope with an elderly friend or relative whose behavior is a little strange. You don't want to miss even the exchange. Up next. Good evening I'm Kojo Nandi welcome to evening exchange. Caring for someone with Alzheimer's is a labor of love as well as a tremendous challenge. Caregivers often immerse themselves in the care of loved ones frequently at the expense of their own emotional and physical well-being. The D.C. Office on Aging recognizes the challenges that caregivers of all time as victims face and soul has a stablished something cold standing in the gap a group of organizations that provide services to victims of oldtimers and to their caregivers here. Tonight to tell us more about that are Julie and Lou Dobbs who is the executive director of the D.C. Office on Aging. Good to have you here. Thank you very much. Dr. Paul Rhoads is a
geriatric specialist and chairman of the mayor's also homeless Study Commission good at having Leo Gibbs has been here before he is the head of the Washington office of the all time was Association of Greater Washington. Good to have you back live with you and that Turner has also been here before many of you know him but in a slightly different capacity tonight you will meet the Nat Turner who is caregiver to his mother who has also I must welcome that Julie and I am excited about standing in the gap but most of our viewers don't know exactly what that is as yet so could you please tell us. We're very excited about the program at the office on aging as well we're one of 11 pilot projects selected out of a 40 that the federal government funded and we received two hundred fifty eight thousand dollars and we are funding various organizations here in Washington to fill in the gaps kind of where we will bring services together to
make the services available for the citizens here in Washington. A name that is really it from Leo. Yes when we were writing the proposal we called the groups interested parties together and Leo was very instrumental in that and we were trying to find a title for it. He took the biblical thing of standing in the gap to fill in to make things better and so that's how he got the title and that's indeed what we're doing. And certainly the Alzheimer's Association particularly minority outreach program is playing a very important part of that. They have a large part of the money to develop an education outreach arm for the particular project. We'll talk a little bit about what kinds of needs that standing in the gap is intended to fill but let me admit right upfront that I am biased in favor of all of this I happen to be a member of the board of the Alzheimer's Association of Greater Washington. And my own mother who had also I was passed in late 1990. But the biggest problem that a lot of people have Paul is knowing what all this time was is there used to be
so many different types of very sophisticated names for so many different types of dementia and now it seems that that also timeless covers it all what is Paul's Highness disease. Firstly our condolences on the passing of your late mother. Thank you. Alzheimer's disease is probably the most common cause of late of late life intellectual decline. There are many different diseases that result in serious decline of mental functioning serious so that the person is no longer able to take care of themselves. I'm not speaking about normal forgetfulness misplacing a key misplacing a wallet Forgetting someone's name at a social function. I'm speaking of a severe disability whereby one perhaps would not even recognize one's own spouse and might get lost walking in one's own house. Alzheimer's disease is that is a name given to a disease whereby certain microscopic changes are apparent in the brain and this we think is is most responsible for dementia occurring in later life.
How do we know it's all Simas how do we know it is not simply a reaction to some kind of medication. How do we know it's not simply the result of a particular nutritional problem how does the doctor or the medical profession determine that it is all signs that someone. I'm so glad you asked that question. Because as the knowledge of gerontology aging caring for seniors has grown Alzheimers has become something very very common and I fear that with the sophistication I can also come the hazard of just labeling things Alzheimer's disease we are aware of Alzheimer's and we know that unfortunately it is the disease which is not curable but are very treatable. Doctors nurses others involved in the assessment of patients with Alzheimer's disease. Perform a history that is they speak to the patient and the family and that's still the most important step in good medicine. A physical and neurological exam is performed a few simple laboratory blood tests are performed. Sometimes if appropriate an imaging study such as a CAT scan is done. And by
doing this work up if you will. Doctors and nurses can identify treatable reversible causes of dementia such as drug effect such as depression such as certain chemical imbalances and so forth. If those are not found we presume but do not know that we're dealing with Alzheimer's disease. Leo what made you and I know you have been working at trying to come up with the kind of solution that standing in the gap represents for a very long time what made you first think of the title for this. Well I think we want to come up with the title that best describe what our goals were and how it was very important for us to to provide the diverse services that we're talking about tonight and when we thought about that we thought about the biblical reference standing in the gap which speaks to each individual's moral responsibility to be of service to others and that best describe what we wanted to accomplish with this program. And the gap that we're talking about here is the gap between what the primary caregiver usually a family member but often could be just a very
close friend between what that person is able to provide and what the system might be able to offer. You're going to fill that gap. Exactly. In addition to the gaps in services as it relates to accessibility of those programs and services. When we developed the proposal we went to caregivers and asked him about some of the services and programs that they most needed. And they began to tell us about respite care of course in-home respite care to begin to talk about legal services and adult day care those kinds of services. And that's what stand and get will be done. And that there are a lot of people watching us now who are hearing terms like Alzheimer's primary caregiver standing in the gap. And they're saying what does this have to do with my real life with my real relationship with my mother. You were someone who was well known in this town for your musical performances and by some for your acting performances certainly known for your radio work. But a lot of people don't know and hopefully you can explain to them what is it that you first
began to notice about your own mother. First of all my mother was a very very strong individual. Which stood by me all of my life. Had been my backbone for as long as I could resist I am here. And all of a sudden there were some very subtle changes that I didn't pay too much attention to at first. And then one Saturday came up a sudden storm and it was in a summer time the thunderstorm came up. And I received a phone call from her. And she was at 11th and Kay North East and she lives in the 400 block of K Street Northwest and she couldn't remember how to get home she was she was driving at the time. President she'd had two or three accidents and we had talked about maybe you oughta stop driving or I'm going to take the keys to your car and their retort was I'm your mother you are my father I mean you know that kind of thing and that was the first inkling that I got of
that something was wrong. And I started to go to her to the apartment to the building where she was that I had been living. And I discovered that she had been even in her apartment she do lose her keys she would go out of the apartment and leave the door open. People was going in and out of the apartment kind of thing. So at times she would be have to be preparing food and forget that she had food on the stove. The fire department had been there two or three times and. So I just decided something had to be done and I just when I started to investigate to try to find out. What kinds of things could I do before you started to investigate that. What did you think was happening to your mother. And I so asked that because of my own experience when I reflected on what was happening with my own mother I realized that there were signs of it long before I really began to pick it up. When she first began to accuse people of stealing things from him. Yes yes that's what all those kinds of things had been happening
but I was over a very dependent kind of person you know and. I had over the last few years decided it was time for me to break the vapor those apron strings that get away from that right because I knew she was getting older I knew time was going to come when she would probably not be here and I was trying to prepare myself for that because this person had been everything to me. I mean everything you know and so it was very difficult for me even when I knew something was wrong. It was very very difficult for me to realize that all of a sudden I had to make decisions for her. You know I mean I was very difficult. That's all how common is that Poppy. Because in your practice I'm sure that you have had people say well it's just a little problem that there's something that can be done about it. What can you do about it Doctor.
We hope to do more. I wish I could do more. How common is memory difficulty at Universal. I would say starting in the age 40s and 50s short term memory is not as sharp as it was in our. As it was when we were in our 20s. Wisdom increases. We all work toward that. How common is the conditions on the condition of dementia that we're discussing. Different statistics in you know the statistics can lie but my sense is that most researchers report that about 10 percent of the population over 65 has one sort of dementia or another. In among 65 year olds dementia is rare among 75 and 85 year olds it's much higher. Let me get back to the issue that nap was raising and that is. Our reluctance to want to identify this thing in our parents mind you have to like his was somebody who was the
bedrock of our family. Yes. Always in control of most social in events and and trying to usually successfully to control the lives of everybody around her. The point at which you begin to realize that this control is slipping is. Difficult to accept how many people do you see who are who are relatives or friends who are reluctant to accept the notion that this happened. They have to virtually all. Especially in the beginning there is the wish that this is just normal old age memory decline. There is the love and the dependence that we've been hearing about. We don't want to lose our parents Knapp's reaction is less perhaps than those who have have lost say a father. I don't I don't really know about your dad but I've seen people who have perhaps they just have a mom and
they hold on with all their life to the image of mom as strong because once they recognize that mom has a disease like Alzheimer's disease in essence they're acknowledging that they're that they're off and. And now we come back to the office on aging because we know the statistics tell us. That in the last decade or so the elderly population has grown by 20 percent. And now we see the D.C. office of aging quartering dating a variety of programs. That is a response to what. That's a response to a need as you mentioned. The population here in Washington is about 18 percent elderly and up in this region Washington D.C. has the oldest population. And so as we start to look at services and how we can best deliver services in Washington compared to any of the other kinds of characters the ground support Suburban to your stations has the oldest population. So we start to look at our resources which aren't they aren't getting any larger. It's shrinking we
have problems with our budget we have to look for more resources within the community. And one of the things that we want to do is to keep people in the community as long as possible. So that's where it comes in with these programs of helping people do that. To provide the respite care and family caregivers need the support that needs to be in the community to help people stay in the community and keep in there as moms and leave will soon be telling you very specifically what that is but we wanted to give you an understanding of the general problem for us Leo one of the reasons that the Alzheimer's Association decided when it did to open a community community outreach office in Washington D.C. What you have now been heading for the last couple of years and doing very well in expanding it is because. There was another. Another cultural factor here that we're talking about right. We're talking about a predominantly black district. And as Julian pointed out we have the highest population of elderly and that's good. It means that we have the highest level
of wisdom still exists in our community. However as a culture black people do not particularly like to put our elderly ones in nursing homes and to send them away for carers. And I have had doctors tell me in the past yes sometimes we have our elderly at home longer then we can effectively take care of them. To what extent is this community not sufficiently informed about what is occurring in many of its homes that indeed many of our elderly relatives do have all Alzheimer's. That is not merely a little problem of forgetfulness that it's a behavior change that is occurring here that is permanent What difficulties do you have in getting that message across. I think one of the ozone Association decided to start an office open office soon edition of Columbia. The goal was to address all of those called cultural issues and to break those barriers down and began to to raise a level of awareness and make the services and programs as we
mentioned more accessible. I think when you look at those cultural issues you have to do it within the context of of our existence as an African people. Our legacy as African people and how certain cultural motifs and mores. Impact on our decisions in 1993 for example. There was a study in 88 that asked a group of African-American respondents to describe the strategy that they employed to provide care for their demented loved ones. In an overwhelming 65 percent responded quote prayer and religion. So when we understand that that's a very big part of our existence and of our culture it's important too to keep that in mind where it becomes important is when for example social workers can go into a home and make an assessment and determine that long term care nursing home is appropriate. However if we don't begin to understand how those very strong and in
many cases centuries old beliefs are tugging at the family as they try to make what we might presume to be a logical and reasonable decision then we can always be as effective in terms of reaching that family and helping them to make those decisions. The other side of that coin Paul is the frustrations that caregivers have to go through whether they are family members like Knapp and I or whether. They are professional caregivers and just yesterday were reading in the newspapers about elderly abuse and it's reported that some of that abuse is the result of stress. Do you see a connection there. I do. And unfortunately elderly people with mental impairments are prone to such abuse. They are perceived as as weak they can fall prey and they they lack the ability to defend themselves or to report what's happening to them
outside of the kind of meanness and cruelty and greed that obviously motivates some people to abuse the elderly. To what extent when we're talking about the elderly that suffering with Alzheimer's to what extent are we talking about people whether relatives or professionals who are just not familiar enough with what they're seeing seeing going on which in fact leads them to the frustration that ends up in the need in the abuse of neglect for instance when just you just can't handle this person so you leave them alone. You know. Part of the problem is semantics or definition. For a caregiver to be neglecting someone or to be abusing someone I think to most people that would imply some conscious. Choice some form of exploitation. I think that if a caregiver is floundering he is failing. But they want help and never see for help that will have a different flavor than abuse and
neglect and the reporting is different the types of impure interventions are different. I should point out though that the most common type of neglect is self neglect. And that turns my theory on its head because in self neglect the person doesn't say I'm going to do this to be mean to me I'm going to make a conscious decision and self-neglect the person perhaps to defend themselves to avoid the horror of their recognizing what's wrong. They pretend that everything is fine and they may therefore live in squalor. Because because what we're talking about here often is a form or manifests itself as a form of confusion on the part of the all time most patient. You know what we're talking about. A super group of illnesses that present as aberrations or abnormalities in behavior then not psychiatric
diseases their or their physical states. But there are behavioral symptoms and these symptoms can be frightening and that's why a show like this I think is so important. And despite the fact that it is not a psychiatric illness the phenomenon that you experience to seeing a loved one turn into someone else before your very eyes and how to cope with that is what we'll be talking about right after this short break. Ier. Oh.
Welcome back tonight we're talking about the support services available to the caregivers for family members and friends with Alzheimer's disease with us. Jolene Williams executive director of the D.C. Office on Aging. Dr. Paul Ruth's a geriatric specialist and chairman of the Mirror's alltime a study commission. Leo Gibbs is director of the D.C. all timers Association and Nat Turner is a caregiver to his mother who has also Imus and that you were talking in the break about the kinds of experiences we have had with our appearance and whether or not we can handle these things virus so it's not our immediate instinct is to say this was the person who gave me life. This is the person who raised me. Therefore I have this obligation to take care of this person. And then you begin to realize that you can't quite handle it by yourself because this has been the experience of it. Yes.
First of all I had to move my mother out of her apartment and I was very difficult because I had to go in there and go through all of her things you know and all of that kind of thing and I just I cry every Taliban man I mean that was that was very traumatic to have to do that. You know it was almost as if Geez is this almost like my mother's day it is something and she's not dead. And I moved in with me and I kept her about two years through the office on aging and Urban League and some other places I was able to get into a day care program and they would come and pick her up five days a week and take her to daycare and I would bring a home and even I had to leave work a little bit early to be to meet the bus to pick her up in the in the evenings. And then she belong to a church my mother's been a life long Church core and she had this church family. And on Sundays every Sunday they would take her to church and things like that. But still having her at home. All
right. My wife and I got a daughter. It was it was just a very very very very difficult. My mother would get Came Tigris at times I mean you could imagine you were talking about the one person in the world who despite what condition she is in and is able to pull out of you the most extreme emotions. No question without. But that unfortunately lifting a finger is no question best no drives you crazy. You know and but you know that sense of humor was always that I can remember when I first started to tell her about it. I might have to send her to a nursing home. It was almost as if she realized how much pain it was. And her answer to me was that her comment to me was I sure am glad. That there was such a nice boy and I can believe all of these decisions and things in your hands because I know you were going to do the right
thing. Isn't that self you know and I mean there's this was in the height of my confusion sometimes when I look back I think that. And still the terms I was suffering more than she was. We want to talk about that. You know I was often the primary caregiver suffers more than the Alzheimer patients themselves. But let's talk a little bit first about what there is a variable for people who have parents who need these services what the standing in the gap offer Jolene a little fire away at will. Well we have a number of respite programs in city and as Ned mentioned with the Office on Aging funds and community based organizations to provide services for seniors in the community. So we do fund the Urban League to provide programs in a number of other community based organizations. So there are daycare programs located in the community there are respite programs in the community. OK let's talk about those one at a time. Do you provide adult day care.
Yes. During what hours of the day come. Because it depends on the program and what the person needs to do is to call the office on aging and to find out the lead agency in their particular ward. OK. Their lead agency will oftentimes arrange for a caseworker to come in to evaluate the whole situation and to put pieced together those resources that that particular person needs in the community. To meet that need. So it might very well be that. There would be a daycare program right in the ward I would have to get bus transportation to move them someplace else depending on the needs of that particular family. The one I know that most caregivers will be particularly interested in is respite care because a lot of cared givers partially out of guilt partially out of of out of the lack of access to resources drive themselves into a state of illness sometimes and into a state of poor mental health.
What this respite care mean and how can somebody get well the the rest we care that we're offering them standing to get a program will take on two different looks. The first is the in-home respite care where a homemaker a respite will come into the home and assist the family in caring for the loved one or the other that we will be providing. Allow me to explain and I'm sure not going to how important that can be. Because that person who comes in will not necessarily be as emotionally tied to the Alzheimer's sufferer as the primary caregiver is that person is not watching the time a sufferer turn from somebody who they know as being alert and controlling to somebody who is becoming more and more dependent. They do not bring that emotional baggage that you were the primary caregiver a relative has in dealing with that person and you will be surprised to find out that they can often deal with your relatives sometimes better than they can.
That's true. It really works. And it gives you the kind of respite that you need to be able to get out of the house now and then maybe for a week or so. And I guess I should also preface it by saying that respite care when you look at all the various services that the all's arms Association for example have been providing over the last 14 years I would think that respite care is at the top of the list. One of the most popular resource books that we have available is called The 36 Hour Day. I'm sure you're familiar. Yes. And it it accurately describes what the caregiver experience can become and rest with care. It's very important for the caregiver to be able to take some time for self and and take care of some needs that they have to take care of which sometimes unfortunately include medical needs that might've come about as a result of that tremendous hawl you can tell us about that. To what extent is it possible for a caregiver to himself or herself become physically ill as a result of immersing oneself
in the care of somebody with Alzheimer's. I think it's probably more clear that caregivers are likely to become depressed as a result of the caregiving burden. There's the grief there's the sense of loss that we've touched on. We've also touched on the observation that often family members emotionally are suffering more than the patient not to in any way minimize the impact of this disease on the victim but the family is also victimized as you know it's hard to always prove cause and effect between stress and physical disease and there are many people who have no stress who have heart attacks and people who are under enormous stress who thrive on it and do well I hope I'm in the second category. But I think a real health risk is that many caregivers stop caring for themselves they are so immersed in the care and we see this in wives caring for their husbands so
sacrificial that they ignore themselves and and that's dangerous. And because we are talking in part I think to a viewing audience that like us is reluctant to admit. What is going on. I need for you to reiterate about the very first ability of this problem because a lot of people could be making themselves sick by sitting around thinking this too shall pass. She or he is going to get better after a while it's just a phase. Well this too shall pass. Perhaps in 10 to 15 percent of cases of dementia. So I'm not going to just take the stand that we must accept as it's good that there is that initial fight and it makes for the sense of. Curiosity and struggle that often leads to the identification of reversible dementias. And although they're not in the majority it's an important minority reversible dementias such as drug effects such as depression masquerading. As as Alzheimer's disease such as thought and B-12
abnormalities masquerading as Alzheimer's disease are really important to find so once a modest work up is done and it doesn't have to be a major work up again a history physical lab tests. And once we are dealing with and with a degenerative dementia whether it's Alzheimer's disease or something like it we must in our hearts and in our brain say that this is an irreversible state and it's one that will progress over five 10 15 years and family members will benefit from it from the acceptance and turning to the Department of Aging and other helpful groups it's important to understand that we're not saying that because you have identified a new and irreversible phenomenon you throw your hands up in the air and right you are saying that there is help available there is cure available. And that's what we're here to discuss allow me to take a telephone call it's your turn you on the other caller Go ahead please. Hope I can't hear the caller Very well let's pay attention. Let's try to fix that phone call come back to it and talk about what a lot of people may
not be willing. To recognize as a form of Alzheimer's and that is the inability of their loved ones to handle any kinds of legal problems. It starts out with the inability to pay bills and that brings on legal problems and it gets more complicated. And the caregiver says How do I get help with this. Well that's very very important that's one of the things we were looking at in standing in the gap is to make sure that the families can get their legal support that they need. We've had instances here just recently this past week at the office on each. We had an elderly person who had been paying her rent. And her family really had not been watching to realize there was a problem. She was going somewhere to pay her rent. But she was not paying it at the rental office. Subsequently she received an eviction notice and really got confused and didn't know how to handle it and when a family got involved it was almost too late.
We had to find alternative housing for her and then they realized at that point they needed to do something about being able to pay her bills and to handle some of the legal matters and at the office on aging we fund the legal counsel for the elderly as well as George Washington University provide legal services for seniors. And so we put them in touch with the appropriate people at the legal council and they're now working with the family to get her legal matters in order and I think this is very very important. That's one of the things that we're addressing in the standing in the gap. One technical aspect of that poll and that is I know I was involved with having my mother sign a living will Could you explain to our viewers what that is and why it's important. A living will also called a natural death right establishes that a person when faced with a terminal disease will not receive heroic measures will not receive a
cardiopulmonary resuscitation a living will is often limited in that it is restricted to someone with terminal disease and Alzheimer's disease can last for many many years so it's not a terminal and a living will often lacks this. The specific directives to perhaps a more useful form and I know the district is a leader and as is the establishment of a durable power of attorney for health. And one can be very specific. And assign such decisions to to a loved one. People with Alzheimer's disease often have the capacity to sign a durable power of attorney and that they do have any problems I know it's because my mother was living with me when this started coming on all of the bills came to my house anyway so I could keep track of them. Did you have to deal with settling your mother's financial affairs. And was that a legal problem. Yes but you know three or four years before I was even aware of the problem. Maybe even longer than that they wouldn't maybe as many as five years
before. She had insisted that. Should she have a joint bank account with me. She would completely own a bank account like UPS and I want to be on your bank account. I want to have anything to do with your money your health because I figure here is another question. If you don't control me and write my thoughts and no I don't want to I don't want to be you. I don't want to be involved with your money anything but not your money I got money I don't you know I and so but after this this thing developed you realize I realized and you know it made me blasted out one day and I still wonder about that. If she was aware even before I was it something was wrong. Probably because she did a little things like that she did little things that was good. If I had had if I had meant so involved with her maybe I would have it been able to do it but to have to realize that something has gone wrong with this person. Well
my mother raised me from the time I was 9 years old. By herself. My father died when I was nine. And she was everything to me man. You know I mean everything. But I suspect that when she first noticed that the bank account with a balance and properly like it used to she probably realized at that point that she needed some help just right you even realizing that there was anything that's right. Let's get back to the telephone again I hope you were there this time you are now on the air Caller go ahead please. Anything to make you think what you have could you hear me. Yes very well. I'm even going to pay you. And I'm very pleased to say that my son in any question I'm going to tell you the family left it and education for a family
I don't know. I'm ready. Service had been serving on my mind and I think that I'm going back. Well I think I met best doctor and I haven't researched back. I estimate that is actually related to the time and place any time. And you Veronica herself they form a distinguished head of the office on aging here in the District of Columbia. Alzheimer's disease in most cases is a sporadic disorder it's a disease of unknown cause we don't know why the brain cells undergo degeneration over the past several years there have been a number of
families identified that seem to inherit Alzheimer's disease. In what is called an autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance that is 50 percent of the crop of the children generation after generation develop this disease. In some of those families certain markers are found on genes particularly gene on chromosome 21 that is thought to account for perhaps one in a thousand cases of Alzheimer's disease where we can actually identify a chemical abnormality on a gene perhaps two or three percent of Alzheimer's disease is inherited in a 50 percent mode of inheritance but we haven't identified the gene. Will this result in a cure. Possibly because we know that the gene for amyloid is located on a particular chromosome 21 and in ways that are not clear.
Amyloid production in excess seems to be very damaging to neurons so perhaps an abnormality on a particular gene in the speculative results in the production of too much amyloid in the amyloid which is a type of poison kills off the brain cells. There is research to look at ways of cleaning up if you will the extra animal like this being deposited in the brain and that provides some hope that in the future there may be chemicals or medications to halt the progression of Alzheimer's disease. And we certainly join everyone who is involved in the research in the hope that it will be successful we have to take another short break but more about the programs that are available and your telephone calls when we return. Stay with us. I mean.
Welcome back how to care for family members with Alzheimer's and how to care for yourself if you are a caregiver of someone with Alzheimer's that is tonight's topic. We're talking with Julian Williams executive director of the D.C. Office on Aging Dr. Paul Rhoads a geriatric specialist also chairman of the D.C. also timers Association. He's chairman of the Mirror's commission survey commission. The chairman of the D.C. also known as Association as LEO gives knap Turner is a caregiver to his mother who has also highlights a place called and essentially reminded me that we're not going through these program scripts quickly as we said. She jumped ahead of us. Yes. We all care but that's really an important point. All of this to an end if you're $50000 all care is receiving the major portion of the funding and all care is an in-home care program as she mentioned sponsored by the business Nurses Association and homemakers health services of the national
capital area and the office on aging and so they have the bulk of the money to provide the services for the founder for the Alzheimer's among the services being provided information and referral. What are we talking about here. Information for informational referral is very key to to family caregivers services that either the association or the. A consortium of groups consortium of organizations involved with standing together program may not be able to provide. We can at least put families in touch with those programs and services through information and referral. How do people get information. Somebody has a as a as a family member who they think has all timers or who has been diagnosed as having all Simas and they're looking for health information. We have an information and referral number at the office on aging. You can get out now 7 2 4 2 6 2 6 7 2 4 2 6 2 6 3 show that's the right now yes I'm sure that's the
right ok 7 2 4 2 6 2 6 if you're looking for that kind of information and there's a conference at which people should be able to get some information also. Yes UDC institute a journal Aji is sponsoring their annual Citywalk caregivers conference April 27 28 and the focus is going to be on working caregivers of various sites around the city conferences and workshops will be going on over those today. So that is a problem. Twenty seven twenty seven point twenty eight at the University of that and also I want to mention about the Alzheimer's commission. That's one of the things that the commission was in and Dr. Rose is the chairman of that commission will be doing is to try to pull together all of the resources in the community. And to get that information out to people and we'll be holding a number of hearings all throughout the city in various wards to get information out and we'll be getting that information out very shortly. We're finalizing plans for that now we are getting information out to the public.
You're also providing educational training. What does that mean. That's the two prong approach that also has associations which office is involved with as part of the stand together program. Attempting to provide education training to cool groups the first being caregivers we provide workshops what we commonly call family and station programs. One example where a doctor provides medical review to a group of family members about Alzheimer's disease. We then talk about community resources that are available to those families to help them better manage their situation those kinds of programs. We're targeting the family caregivers with in addition to that we're offering educational training to care providers private physicians social workers nursing assistants and other professionals and professionals who come in contact with caregivers and also with patients who can sort of serve as as a vessel of information for the program the support groups were for
me those support groups to manage that had moved for some of the support groups that I was able to attend. And that's where I picked up on a 36 hour they've been a lot of other things a lot of information had it not been for that I believe I would allow mom and. I were only just I you know I think was I think you pick up the 36 hour day night at the support of a by living there. But Mills family support groups are extremely important because you run into people who are not only having the same problems some of their problems are some of the difficulties are even greater than your own people can get together and share what often turns out to be some very innovative methods. That's right how to deal with giving care. Can I also say to your listeners that you don't have to be a touchy feeling sharing person to go to a support group if you just would like to be there and and listen for a while. That makes a tremendous day if even all you do in support groups to swap stories and realize that people can make light of sometimes what is a very serious problem
and it tends to lift some of the weight off of your own shoulders you say. If this lady over here can get healed right abusive you know I'm not doing that. I'm not doing too well but you know this is going through is not denied by anybody's house and there are a lot of people and I know there's a great deal of we looked inside the disappeared but if you do you'll be surprised at how well it will work out if you let me get back to the telephone it's your turn call you on the air go ahead please. I want to know what for. What can I do for one recognizes the onslaught and find out how I'm going to. Nobody else recognizes that what I've been through it with. And one gets to the point where they have to play simple words commonly to be recognized that we're going to play out. You think any help that can be given that if somebody is beginning to recognize the onset within themselves and other people around them simply won't acknowledge it or refuse to believe it. I think that doctors. Will have a doctor answer that question the. Doctors are certainly not immune from human emotions and
doctors are often experts at denial themselves. There are different kinds of doctors practicing and in general one should bring an Alzheimer's patient to the family physician. If With careful discussion the family member of the patient senses that the doctor is not responding to a particular complaint to a problem he's ignoring it. She's ignoring it denying it whatever it may be time to move on but work with your family doctor and perhaps express to him as you have to us your frustration that the patient knows that something is wrong but somehow the medical establishment isn't responding. Well I don't mean to be facetious here but hypochondriacs get older too. So is it possible for someone to be thinking that they have Alzheimer's when in fact that may not indeed be the case at all.
It's a very good question. Usually not always usually the Alzheimer patient does not complain about their poor memory. It's the family member who brings them to a doctor or a nurse or a minister and proclaims the loss of memory. Often not always but often when an older person is complaining of memory problems the patient is depressed and not having Alzheimers disease and there is much that can be done for depression. Through discussion through support and often through medication you know that's how I am part of the way that I have got to get in touch with the geriatric care of Washington and with the Office on Aging. My mother was having a problem and she was telling me about the medications that her physician was giving her and so forth and so on so I started to go in with her to the doctor. And when I did get a chance to really talk with him he suggested that I should talk to someone with the
specialty you're talented. And that started help to start a process for me to realize that something was wrong that's how the whole process started started with my. Consulting with her her physician. Then that's interesting because I think that so often the referral that a physician can make is one that is not made because there is still so little that is known about Alzheimer's even among physicians that the referral becomes important. To what extent do you think can standing in the gap and all of its elements are put together raise people's general members of the public's understanding and consciousness about this thing that is that large in society so that people begin to look a little bit more closely at what's going on in the lives of the elderly friends and we think it to have a profound impact in the community and certainly programs like this. And the other programs that we're planning in the community education programs outreach programs going to community groups going to church
groups to talk to them to inform about what's available and to get the information out. And that certainly was the reason that the mayor established the Alzheimer's commission on a same way is to get information out and realized that we need to get more information out and that's really what we're going to be doing here we talk about family support and you mentioned Church support mentioned how important his mother's church always has been to her. And I'm just wondering because Leo brought up the issue of traditions and cultures in the black community how responsive are churches to the kinds of information that you are trying to disseminate. Well churches have been generally responsive. One of the things that we do know is that caregivers particularly African-American caregivers usually refer to their churches as a place that they would go first. Reformation however that need is not always met with the services when they do inquire about them and it's usually because perhaps the
churches have not thought about providing no services may not have the technical expertise to provide them the standing in the GET program has a special focus on the church community. We will be doing a clergy conference this citywide curfew conference to invite representatives and from various churches to talk about programs and services that can be developed church based programs and services. And we'll follow that up with technical assistance particularly with with respite care one of the things that family members have told us is that. They've had to discontinue their churchgoing activities. So what we'd like to do as one of the girls and stand in the gap is to develop a model here in the district with at least one church with which will work with us in developing a church based respite program where families can bring their loved ones to church we will train volunteers at the church to provide respite doing during service time. Well I'm very proud of the District of Columbia and of the Alzheimer's Association and of you Leo for your participation in pulling together the standing in the gap program because as the elderly
population increases this problem of Alzheimer's will increase and we need to be addressing it in a systematic way. We'll be right back stay with us.
Series
Evening Exchange
Episode
Alzeimer's
Producing Organization
WHUT
Contributing Organization
WHUT (Washington, District of Columbia)
AAPB ID
cpb-aacip/293-38w9gntx
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Description
Episode Description
The topic of Alzheimer's and its impacts on patient, caregiver, and the African American community specifically are discussed. Panelists include: executive director of the D.C. Office on Aging Jearline Williams, geriatric specialist Paul Rhodes, the head of the Washington Office of the Alzheimer's Association Leo Givs, and local radio personality and primary caregiver Nap Turner. They talk about how Alzheimer's is recognized, diagnosed, and treated in the African American community. Two main topics of focus are the behaviors and trepidation present in the culture between African Americans and healthcare in general and the emotional challenges that face a primary caregiver with a parent suffering from Alzheimer's.
Broadcast Date
1993-03-08
Asset type
Episode
Topics
Social Issues
Local Communities
Health
Rights
Copyright 1993 by Howard University Television
Media type
Moving Image
Duration
00:56:44
Embed Code
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Credits
Host: Nnamdi, Kojo
Producer: Jefferson, Joia
Producing Organization: WHUT
Publisher: WHUT-TV
AAPB Contributor Holdings
WHUT-TV (Howard University Television)
Identifier: (unknown)
Format: Betacam
Duration: 00:58:01
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Citations
Chicago: “Evening Exchange; Alzeimer's,” 1993-03-08, WHUT, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed March 28, 2024, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-293-38w9gntx.
MLA: “Evening Exchange; Alzeimer's.” 1993-03-08. WHUT, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. March 28, 2024. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-293-38w9gntx>.
APA: Evening Exchange; Alzeimer's. Boston, MA: WHUT, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-293-38w9gntx