Local ‘Home Instead’ senior health care center discusses World Alzheimer’s Day
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) - Sept. 21 is World Alzheimer’s Day. Alzheimer’s is a type of dementia that affects a person’s memory, thinking, and behavior.
It is a leading cause of death and can affect more than 55 million people around the world.
Home Instead General Manager, Vicki Decker said the warning signs that a person might have the disease can be subtle, but one of the major ones is memory loss.
“They might forget where they’re going, they might forget that a bill is due they might forget their friend’s name, those types of things,” Decker said.
Some other signs include challenges in planning or solving problems, difficulty completing a familiar task, confusion with time or place, and new problems with words while speaking or writing.
While there is no cure for the disease, there is tons of research going on. Additionally, Decker said one of the things a person can do to reduce the risk is to live a healthy lifestyle.
“You don’t smoke, don’t drink a lot, those types of things, exercising, talk to your health care provider,” she said. “Those are all things that you can do.”
Decker also said if you have recently had a family member diagnosed, the best thing you can do for them is to be patient and understanding.
“They didn’t ask to get the disease, they don’t want the disease,” she said. “They don’t know that they’ve asked the same question 10 times in the last three minutes...all I can say is be very patient with them and just keep loving them.”
In addition, Decker added that if the family of a person diagnosed, needs help caring for them, Home Instead has caregivers who are trained to visit the home and help.
“Maybe give some relief to that caregiver, and help with bathing, dressing those types of things that Alzheimer’s patients will forget to do,” Decker said.
For more information about Alzheimer’s visit alz.org.
For more information on the local Home Instead care center, click here.
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