Dementia Resilience with Jill Lorentz

My guests today are my sisters, Sandy Born, Sue Fleming and Judy Fleming. They came from Decatur, Illinois for the weekend, to attend an Alzheimer’s Research Fundraiser that my husband & I held for the Alzheimer’s Research Center and Memories Disorders Clinic at the University of Colorado Hospital at the Anschutz Campus. We have a very open and honest conversation about Mama and her behaviors, our victories and painful mistakes and we share with #caregivernation how our journey flowed. We also discuss the early years and stages, panic attacks, taking the driver’s license away, the 1st nursing home disaster, the subsequent issues with moving her, Judy getting into counseling for her own guilt and depression issues. Part two is next week!

On my show today I talked about how to get family members engaged in care of a person with dementia, when they generally refuse to help. This was in response to a blog I wrote earlier in the week (see Blog on different tab) where I called out family on behalf of lonely, tired caregivers everywhere. Today’s show was an effort to give them 50 easy ways to participate, even if they never physically visit. These ideas include using social media, and many terrific ideas that anyone can utilize.

No matter where you are, what city you live in, there is a Walk to End Alzheimer's near you. I hope if you are affected by this disease, you take time out to join a Walk near you. Feel the support and the love from thousands of people who feel a lot like you do. The energy is infectious and there is no way you will leave unaffected. It is not a sad affair, it is inspiring and uplifting. It is a day to come together and work towards a cure, knowing we are not alone.

I recorded my radio show, Dementia Resilience with Jill Lorentz at the Walk. I admit it was challenging, with no script or fore thought, to interview the people who were emotional, and to stay somewhat grounded when I was over stimulated with joy when I interviewed the energized attendees. I spoke to a family with younger onset, who are attending walks all across the country. I spoke with Joe Ellis, the CEO & President of the Denver Broncos Football Club about the strong commitment the Broncos are giving to this cause. They have raised $115,000 from the team and fans and continue to put their time, weight, and money  behind this cause in honor of owner Pat Bowlen and his wife Annabel. I spoke to those who have lost loved ones and were honoring the memory of family and friends they miss with all their hearts. All of them deeply touched my heart and they will touch yours too! Please listen to the interviews, feel the passion and the strength and let it feed your soul!

See you next year and it is not too late to give at https://alz.org/ and pick the Walk near you!

Jill

September 2, 2018 I had Rebecca Engle and Kristen Beatty on my show to talk about the Denver Walk to End Alzheimer's and others, and why it is so fun to attend one in your area. We walk to share our journey with those who understand, but also to raise awareness and money for services and resources which families and friends desperately need. The Walk to End Alzheimer's can be an enjoyable and moving experience in every city where it is held. They provide kids play areas, music, resources from vendors who work with various dementias and more. It is a chance for families to speak one on one with these folks in safe and non intimidating surroundings.  Find a Walk near you by signing up at https://www.alz.org/

In Denver, Jill Lorentz will be at the Walk with Cruisin EZ 1430 am van and her company Summit Resilience Training.com https://summitresiliencetraining.com/ Stop by and say hello and tell her your story of why you walk , and who you are walking in honor or memory of.

My guest this week was Death and Tax Attorney, Klaralee Charlton. We talked about some of the top Tax Considerations for Aging Parents. Topics include whether a parent needs to file a tax return, how children can communicate with the IRS on a parent’s behalf, tax deductions for aging taxpayers, and how to deal with a parent’s home. Klaralee Charlton is a Shareholder with Katz, Look & Onorato, P.C. As part of her practice, Klaralee guides clients through the process of administering a loved one’s estate with a focus on minimizing estate and income tax liability. She also works with clients to ensure ongoing tax compliance and prepares estate and trust income tax returns annually. [email protected] 303-832-1900

My guests this week, were Steve Andrews & Becky Dieter from Senior Path. We had a great discussion on the need at times to have help with getting paperwork in order with an aging parent, spouse, friend. We sometimes need to uncover doctor’s names, addresses and phone numbers, medications, banking accounts and other financial information, and we have no idea where to look. Also, Senior Path helps families in the search for continuing care for Alzheimer’s regarding care communities, and senior housing and retirement living issues.

This week, my guest was my dear friend and former colleague Rosalyn Reese, Director of Diversity and Inclusion for the Alzheimer’s Association Colorado. We talked about the fact that African Americans have a 2% higher chance of getting Alzheimer’s disease and Latino communities 1.5% higher chance than Caucasian Americans. We also discussed why some cultures deal differently than others with this disease, keeping it quiet and never asking for help. We cannot forget our friends in the LGBT community if we want to show true inclusiveness. There is also a changing paradigm for caregiver stress. The Walk to End Alzheimer’s Is in many cities throughout the Summer & Fall and Telemundo is the media sponsor at many, in hopes of attracting more of the Mexican population.

The HELPLINE at the Alz Assoc is brought to you free of charge in 200 languages. 1-800-272-3900. One call, 1000’s of answers 200 languages.

This week I presented a show on strategies and techniques for working with difficult behaviors. This pertains to our loved ones with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Lewy Body and more. I discuss ways to redirect, stop unwanted reactions, and how to deal with hallucinations and delusions. I hope shows like this are extremely helpful to my listeners in #caregivernation!

August 5, 2018 - I feel like this is one of my most important podcasts, as I share quotes from people with memory loss and cognitive impairment regarding what it is like to live with issues and activities of daily living. Their candid thoughts provide enormous insight into what it is like when you have trouble remembering, make mistakes, lose items, have trouble dressing, setting the table, seeing items, repetitive questions and much more!

This has been a really busy week for Alzheimer’s news and the people living and working with different types of dementia’s! The International Conference on Alzheimer’s was held in Chicago Illinois, my home state, this past week. A lot of good information and many questions came out of it, so I thought I’d start the show today by talking about what the conference covers. I will address some of the big headlines that came out of it and what you need to know for clarification, so here we go! The conference is held once a year; 6000 researchers from about 33 different countries convene together with physicians who are neurologists and general practitioners, and anybody who’s interested in the subject of dementia diseases. They talk about what clinical trials are going on in their camps! Are they being successful, and what’s on the horizon? I think some real hopeful information came out of the conference this year!

I think I will just dive into a couple of the highlights, so off the top there is a drug called Biogen that’s currently in the clinical trial stages and researchers are working towards getting this drug through the trials and ready for the public. The Biogen trial is coming out of Boston – Harvard, with Dr. Reisa Spierling at the helm and we’re pretty excited about it and where they’re at with it right now. 900 people were targeted in this clinical trial and of course, we must always have a certain amount that are getting placebo for the study’s efficacy. Biogen did show some benefit removing the amyloid plaque that causes Alzheimer’s. Dr. Fargo, one of the main researchers in the Alzheimer’s Association, stated that the drug cleared some of the amyloid plaque in the folks who received it, and they did show some improved cognition as well. This is super exciting, although they are years away from this becoming a pharmaceutical drug, ensuring people will be able to buy it in pharmacies everywhere. This trial is in the very early steps, but we are thrilled it is showing some promise.

In Denver Dr. Huntington Potter is working on the Leukine trial, which was also celebrated at the International Conference. It is showing some promise as well. It’s a little farther behind the Biogen trial, but Dr. Potter is making some great steps forward in the fight to cure Alzheimer’s disease. With the recent information that $401 million is being put towards research from the NIH National Institutes of Health, Dr. Potter’s study is back up and rolling, on all cylinders, and we hopefully will have some good news out of his clinical trials shortly!

Another thing that people have asked me about: researchers at the conference were talking about MCI, mild cognitive impairment – which is pre-dementia. It’s also pre-Alzheimer’s pathology, focusing on people who are showing early, early, signs of loss of cognition, but is has not yet interfered with their activities of daily living. What they’re trying to work on regarding MCI, is having those folks have a healthier lifestyle, and seeing if researchers can somehow intervene and make some changes to their lives that would lower their risk of getting Alzheimer’s. We are not talking about prevention or reversal of the disease, but rather a lower risk of getting it and staving it off for little while with lifestyle changes and environmental changes.

A lot of the questions I received this week was the blood pressure (BP) issue. Yes, the researchers are targeting having more people with a blood pressure of 120, as the threshold used to be 140. Researchers are exploring the idea of people having a BP of 120 and taking good care of themselves, mind healthy, and body healthy, and if they do, it might lower their risk of getting Alzheimer’s or having it come on a little less strong, the younger that you are. So, we’re all about healthy body, healthy brain, but it doesn’t mean that we are reversing anything!

Last but not least,