If you have a friend who is living with memory loss or if you are a full time caregiver to your loved one with dementia, you are often at a loss as to how to help them.  There are so many resources available in bookstores and certainly online there are volumes of tips and techniques that deals with certain "behaviors" like wandering, rummaging, and resisting care.

With so much available to read how is an overwhelmed caregiver supposed to keep up with everything that could make their caregiving job easier while still keeping their loved one safe and happy?  There isn't time in a day to do everything let alone do research!

In today's paper there is an alert about a woman in her 70s with Alzheimer's disease who has gone missing in Beaverton.  How sad for the family of that woman who have to be frantic searching for her!  Hopefully she was enrolled in the Safe Return Program offered by the Alzheimer's association and will be located very soon. 

We've discovered a website written by Christy Turner with caregiving tips of the day with such helpful information dealing with just one thing at a time.  Today's tip is #24 and deals with encouraging and reassuring your loved one as they attempt grooming and/or dressing themselves.  It points out that if they don't want your help to make things perfect you need to just back off and let it go.  Tip #9 deals with wandering and states that 70% of people with dementia will wander away at some point during their disease.  Great information to know!

Just snippets of information is what a person needs sometimes and not volumes to try and decipher.  Follow Christy's blog postings each day by clicking on "blog" at http://ctcdementiacaremanagement.com  We signed up on her Facebook page to automatically get daily updates. 

Making life as easy as possible for the caregiver will not only help relieve their stress level but it will help them continue to give good care for as long as it's necessary. 

The topic for the July Alzheimer’s/Dementia caregiver support groups is: “When a person with Alzheimer’s or other dementia tells you something that is totally untrue, should you tell them it’s not true or should you just go along with it?”

How to manage symptoms of Alzheimer’s or a related dementia is not always black and white.  The decision about whether to “go along” with an untrue statement or set the record straight is a very personal one.  There are several factors that are important to consider.  Come to the meeting for a lively discussion about this topic.

Join us for one of the following meetings:

• Woodburn Health (Wellspring) on Monday, July 21st from 2pm-3:30pm 
• Silverton Hospital Cafeteria on Tuesday, July 15th from 2pm-3:30pm.  Note:  the meeting at the hospital is in room D upstairs for July—not the cafeteria.
  
• Miramont Point on Wednesday, July 16th from 6-8p
• Wilsonville Community Center on Friday, July 18th from 10am to noon
  
• SpringRidge at Charbonneau on Monday, August 4th from 6:30-8pm
• Woodburn Estates Golf & Country Club on Tuesday, August 5th from 6:30 pm to 8pm (FTD group).  This group will be facilitated by Lorrie Cox

Remember that the journey through dementia is a very tough one BUT by attending support groups you will get the encouragement, hope and information you need to continue.  Click here for a detailed flyer about our support groups. Please share this information with your friends and family.  Let us know if you have a question or concern that we can help you with!

Contact information for the three facilitators of the support groups:

• Mary Reitan at 503.502.4509 marycreitan@gmail.com
  
• Lorrie Cox at 503.989.1986 jlorrainecox@gmail.com
• Christy Turner from Dementia Care Management at 503.530.6181 or Christy@ctcdcm.com

There are properties in apples that no other fruit has and the many benefits to your overall health have been proven.  An apple a day MAY keep memory loss away!

At Willson House, our new chef, Chris Feskens, has revamped our menu adding lots of fresh fruits and vegetables for our residents and guests.  One of the goals at Willson House is to provide our residents with the best quality of life possible and to help them stay as healthy as we can both in body and mind.

In addition to apples being good for our brains here are 8 other reasons to eat them:

1-Apples contains Vitamin C. Vitamin C helps greatly your immune system.

2-Prevent Heart Diseases. The reason it can prevent both coronary heart disease and cardiovascular disease is because apples are high in antioxidants.

3-Low in calories. A regular size apple has between 70-100 calories.

4-Prevent Cancers. Notice the plural. We all know that cancer comes in several forms and in different places. Apples target multiple cancers such as colon cancer, prostate cancer and breast cancer in women.

5-Apples contain phenols, which have a double effect on cholesterol. It reduces bad cholesterol and increases good cholesterol. They prevent LDL cholesterol from turning into oxidized LDL, a very dangerous form of bad cholesterol which can be deadly.

6-Prevent tooth decay. Tooth decay is an infection that seriously damages the structure of your teeth, which is caused primarily because of bacteria. The juice of the apples has properties that can kill up to 80% of bacteria. So there you have it, an apple a day also keeps the dentist away!

7-Protects your brain from brain disease. This is something many people don’t know, and when you consider that your brain makes the person you are, it gives a whole new perspective. Apple has substances called phytonutrients, and these phytonutrients prevents neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinsonism.

8-Healthier Lungs. A research at the University of Nottingham Research shows that people who eat 5 apples or more per week has lower respiratory problems, including asthma.

9-They taste great! And not only that, they also come in many flavors and colors.

Read the full article here.

Chances are that when President Ronald Reagan designated November as National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month in 1983, he had no idea that in 10 more years he would be one of those living with the disease. When he made that proclamation there were fewer than 2 million Americans with Alzheimer’s; today the number of people with the disease has soared to nearly 5.4 million with nearly 80,000 million living in Oregon. 

As we enjoy the beautiful fall season with leaves changing into brilliant reds, yellows and oranges we also must remember those at-home caregivers who are struggling to care for their loved one with Alzheimer’s or other dementia.  It’s a difficult journey, to be sure, and one that most people are not prepared for.  They need our help!

The purpose of National Alzheimer’s Awareness Month is to let the general public know more about the disease and how to help their families and friends who are caring for someone with Alzheimer’s.  What can you do to help or support a family member or friend? You can suggest that they attend a support group.  Willson House facilitates 6 groups in Marion and Clackamas counties along with the help of Christy at Golden Life Solutions.  Get more information here on the caregiver support groups. 

You can also offer to help your friends or family members but you must first of all be very specific.  Instead of saying “call me if you need anything” you might say:

•    "I'm going to the grocery store. What can I pick up for you?"
•    "I've got a couple of hours free tomorrow afternoon. May I sit in for you while you run a few errands or take some time for yourself?"
•    "I doubled my meatloaf recipe so that I could share it with you. I brought enough to last you for several meals."
•    "Do you need some laundry done? I can pick it up today and bring it back clean tomorrow."
•    "Does your yard need to be mowed? I'd be happy to take care of it this weekend."

Sometimes sending a card or making a phone call to check in on a caregiver means a lot. Emails and text messages work, too — but often personal visits are even better. Contact with the outside world can help lift a caregiver's spirits. It might seem like a small gesture to offer a few hours of your time but to that overwhelmed caregiver it will mean the world to them.