21 opportunities to learn during October

21 opportunities to learn during October

If you are curious about memory loss, look at Know the 10 Signs. If you need specific knowledge or just something to make your life easier, try Learning to Connect, Healthy Habits for a Healthier You or learn about Legal and Financial Planning for Alzheimer’s Disease. No matter where you are in the journey we have a program that will help.

There are currently 49 education program events listed in our database. To view and register for our events, use the search tool below.

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Audio Conferences

Know the 10 Signs: Early Detection Matters

The Basics: Memory Loss, Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease

Legal and Financial Planning

Learning to Connect: Relating to the Person with Alzheimer’s

Living with Alzheimer’s: For Middle-Stage Caregivers

Caregiver Stress: Relief, Acceptance and Empowerment

Understanding Early Memory Loss

Dementia Conversations

Healthy Habits for a Healthier You

Alzheimer’s Research: Get Informed, Get Involved

Effective Communication Strategies

Understanding and Responding to Dementia Related Behavior

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Sign up for October’s audio conference

Sign up for October’s audio conference

Join us on October 13 from noon to 1 p.m. for an audio conference on, Specific Strategies You Can Use Today for Helping People with Memory Loss.
When a person with dementia refuses to do something we need them to do, it is easy to get frustrated. However, a few simple techniques can help them stop “digging in their heels.” Join us to learn ways we may be contributing to their stubbornness without even realizing it.

Description:
Are you too busy to attend an educational program? Audio Conference is designed for those who aren’t able to attend a program outside the home or office.

Once registered, you will receive through the e-mail, a toll free telephone number with instructions. On the day of the conference you will call-in and join many others who are seeking the latest information on memory loss.

Specific Strategies You Can Use Today for Helping People with Memory Loss
Melanie Adams, Director of Education and Outreach, Alzheimer’s Association, Greater Illinois Chapter
When a person with dementia refuses to do something we need them to do, it is easy to get frustrated. However, a few simple techniques can help them stop “digging in their heels.” Join us to learn ways we may be contributing to their stubbornness without even realizing it. We’ll focus on skills to gently guide them from a “no” to a “yes” as we try to support them and keep them safe while honoring their dignity.

Tune In to Music: It is a Powerful Tool
Kelly Willenborg, Founder, The Healing Jukebox
Since the time of King David, Plato and Aristotle, music has been appreciated as a way to calm and heal. Studies are now helping us to understand how we can use music as a powerful tool to fight the devastating effects of Alzheimer’s. Join us to learn some valuable strategies that every caregiver and family member should know.

Overwhelmed? Run, Don’t Walk to Get Help Now!
Susan Real, Executive Director, East Central Illinois Area Agency on Aging
By the time many caregivers realize that they cannot “do it all,” they are already overwhelmed by the demands Alzheimer’s makes on them. This month we will learn about various places to find caregiver resources, enabling caregivers to continue providing good care for their loved ones, and finding needed support for themselves.

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NFL offensive lineman hopes to block Alzheimer’s disease

NFL offensive lineman hopes to block Alzheimer’s disease

Seattle Seahawks guard J.R. Sweezy’s Papaw Gene, a successful businessman, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease nine years ago. After seeing his maternal grandfather’s decline, Sweezy and his wife Gissell created a Walk to End Alzheimer’s® team to raise funds and awareness to fight the disease.

Seattle Seahawks’ J.R. Sweezy is not the tough offensive guard most people know when he’s around his wife Gissell. “She’s everything I ever wanted. I became so much happier when she came into my life. She’s my support system,” he says, lowering his gaze shyly, petting their black Labrador Otis.

Gissell laughs, returning his smile. “There’s that soft side of him that people don’t see,” Gissell says. “I think everyone sees him as just a football player. Not me. That’s just what he does for a living.”

J.R. and Gissell met in sixth grade after she and her family moved to Mooresville, North Carolina. “We were in homeroom together,” said Gissell. “We would laugh and talk, and we became friends.”

Although Gissell wasn’t in the same popular crowd as J.R. in high school, they continued their friendship and attended senior prom together. “We dated and broke up three times from high school into college,” said Gissell. “I was done after the last one,” she said, as she shook her head laughing.

Gissell attended Peace College while J.R. attended NC State University to play football, following his paternal grandfather Roger’s footsteps. “It took time for me to grow up and realize how special she is,” said J.R.

They led separate lives for five years until running into each other at Duckworth’s Grill while visiting family. “We talked for a month after that and then were back together,” said Gissell. “I felt peace. When we’re together everything makes sense.”

J.R. nodded his head with assurance. “We make each other better.”

Soon after getting back together, J.R. was drafted and selected by the Seattle Seahawks.

“Football is something I’ve always loved, and I’m blessed enough to do it,” said J.R. “We’ve won a lot of games because of our fans, the 12s. It’s the only place like that in the entire NFL, and I’m lucky enough to call it home,” he said about Century Link Field.

“I love it. I get goose bumps just thinking about running out of that tunnel. The 12s are so loud; they’re great fans—they set the mood and keep us going.”

J.R. believes the 12s will also support him in raising awareness about Alzheimer’s disease. “They go above and beyond, and I think they’re doing that outside of football too.”

J.R.’s Papaw Gene, a successful businessman, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease nine years ago. After seeing his maternal grandfather’s drastic decline last April, J.R. and Gissell decided to create #the12s Walk to End Alzheimer’s team to raise awareness nationally for Alzheimer’s disease.

“If we are raising money and have the right people researching and understanding it, maybe we will find a cure one day,” said J.R. “I want to raise awareness from coast to coast. We’re helping now for the future. It’s too late for Papaw Gene, but not for our kids.”

J.R. only gets to visit his papaw two or three times per year, but even now in the late stages of Alzheimer’s disease, Papaw Gene will sometimes ask, “Is that the boy that plays football?” and reach for his Seahawks hat.

Both of J.R.’s grandfathers were prominent role models in his life. His Grandpa Roger not only played football, but exemplified hard work and taught J.R. “not to doubt myself, to do what is right and to be my own man. He told me that ‘til the day he died,” said J.R.

They were successful men who led by example. “I’ve learned never to take a day for granted. God’s the only one who knows the in-story.” said J.R. “Just like in football, we can’t take a day for granted, because it could all end in one moment.”

Although J.R. was at the Seahawks’ hotel in La Jolla, California preparing for their third exhibition game on the afternoon of August 29, Gissell was at Seattle University Park with her mother-in-law, grandmother-in-law and other Seahawks’ wives and girlfriends representing #the12s team and raising awareness about Alzheimer’s disease.

“We’re soul mates living the dream,” said Gissell. “Every day he works to be a better man—in football and in our personal lives. I’ll do anything for him because he’s the love of my life.”

To read more blogs from the Alzheimer’s Association, Western and Central Washington Chapter, please visit this link.

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Why I Walk… Leslie’s Story

Why I Walk… Leslie’s Story

“Journey”, it’s quite a word. It has as many twists and turns as a Rand McNally Map. To be honest, I’m not sure where I am on the journey. I am unsure as to where it began and I don’t know when I will reach the final destination. Regardless, I am confident of this, I am not alone.
Known as Sara to others, but to me she is Mom. As I look into her eyes there are times when I know that she is somewhere else. I wonder where she is in her mind’s journey.

“Journey”; it’s quite a word. It has as many twists and turns as a Rand McNally Map. To be honest, I’m not sure where I am on the journey. I am unsure as to where it began and I don’t know when I will reach the final destination. Regardless, I am confident of this, I am not alone.
Known as Sara to others, but to me she is Mom. As I look into her eyes there are times when I know that she is somewhere else. I wonder where she is in her mind’s journey. Is she revisiting her childhood? Is she afraid? Lost? Where is she? I don’t know.
So I’ll walk this year in the Decatur Walk for the one who taught me how to walk. I will place one foot in front of the other. On this journey I will shed more tears, I will laugh, I will sing and I will pray…..and I will be confident of this: that He who began a good work in my mom will be faithful to complete it… (Phil. 6:1)
-Leslie Kent
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B. Smith says she is “doing great” while living with Alzheimer’s

B. Smith says she is “doing great” while living with Alzheimer’s

Model, author, restaurateur and former TV host B. Smith, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s four years ago, says that while the disease has taken a toll, she is “doing great.” Smith is hoping that she and her husband, Dan Gasby, can shine a spotlight on the daily challenges faced by caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s.

Iconic model, author, restauranteur and former TV host, B. Smith, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease four years ago, is hoping that she and her husband, Dan Gasby, can shine a spotlight on the daily challenges faced by caregivers.

On World Alzheimer’s Day, the couple talked with Al Roker and Natalie Morales about how the disease has changed their lives and about the importance of education and recognition for the efforts of caregivers who devote untold hours caring for loved ones.

Though the disease has certainly taken its toll, Smith says she’s “doing great.”

Smith says she still likes to cook. “And I’m making sure that we’re eating well. We’re taking care of ourselves and things like that. So I’m very happy.”

What’s helped Smith the most is being surrounded by loved ones.

“For me it’s all about family,” she says. “I like to be a part of the family and to have us all together. That’s a good thing.”

Gasby attributes much to his wife’s outlook on life.

“She’s a very positive person and we’ve learned to adapt to things that are changing,” he says. “But that doesn’t dampen her spirts.”

As a couple on the frontlines dealing with Alzheimer’s, Smith and Gasby understand all too well how tough it can be. To bring attention to all the other families touched by the disease, they’ve partnered up with the Caregiver Action Network (caregiveraction.org to ask Americans to join in the Twitter#TakeOneMoment campaign, by sharing photos of loved one with Alzheimer’s for awareness day.

And, it turns out, there are some pretty big numbers.

“In fact,” Roker says, “there are 15 million Americans caring for someone with Alzheimer’s disease.”

Those caregivers provided an estimated 17.9 billion hours of unpaid care in 2014, valued at $217.7 billion to patients with Alzheimer’s and other dementias, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. And those numbers are expected only to rise as Baby Boomers age.

“Family is very important,” Gasby says. “And that’s one of the reasons we’re here today. We’re very happy to be partnering with the Caregiver Action Network to celebrate Take One Moment to recognize the people who are out there on the frontlines, the caregivers, and to bring awareness to Alzheimer’s disease and the caregivers in particular. We want them to know that they matter.”

To help with that, Gasby asked that people share a memory or picture of someone they know or knew with Alzheimer’s on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest using #Take1Moment.

More: Owen Wilson on his dad’s decline: That’s ‘the nature of Alzheimer’s’

“By doing so, we’re going to have the Caregiver Action Network give 1,000 thank you meals to people out there who have been on the front lines, the caregivers,” Gasby says.

By talking about their lives since the Alzheimer’s diagnosis, Gasby and Smith hope to educate Americans about living with the disease.

More: Seth Rogen shares his ‘family love story’ and the ravages of Alzheimer’s

“The thing we’ve learned is there’s a journey,” Gasby says. “And you have to be able to adapt.

“It’s the toughest thing I’ve ever had to do. It’s easy to be a boyfriend or a husband or a relative. But to be a caregiver and to watch a person go through and challenge and to help them and to learn the greatest language of all, patience, that’s the toughest thing.”

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