August 19, 2023 • 20 mins
Do you know anyone with Alzheimers?
Imelda Aguirre, DEI Director of the Alzheimer's Tretment Center, shares hope to cure Alzheimers through breakthroughs in research and treatment. Learn the early signs and how the Center is assisting patients and caregivers.
Imelda Aguirre, DEI Director of the Alzheimer's Tretment Center, shares hope to cure Alzheimers through breakthroughs in research and treatment. Learn the early signs and how the Center is assisting patients and caregivers.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:09):
Welcome to Advocacy in Motion. I'myour host, Tommy Finn, and we're
here each week to give a visionand a voice to nonprofit organizations and individuals
making an impact in our community.And before I induced our guest today,
I want to say thank you toour presenting sponsor, Niagara Conservation. Niagara
Conservation is the leading manufacture of costsaving, money saving plumbing products, and
(00:34):
they're especially proud of the work theydo with nonprofit affordable housing units such as
the Volunteers of America Oaks Project inthe Oak Cliff District of Dallas. But
now the good news is these costsaving plumbing products are available to everyone and
every homeowner in the area. Andhere's my partner, Trisha Glawaukee to tell
(00:54):
you all about these new money savingand plumbing products. Thanks Tommy, and
thanks Niagara for your continuing support ofnonprofit organizations. If you want to get
the ultimate experience and cleaning ess andcomfort without breaking the bank and transform your
bathrooms, Niagara from toilets to today'sNiagara has the perfect solution for any bathroom
(01:15):
project. Niagara's award winning products notonly outperformed competitors, but they also out
design them Thanks to innovations like stealthtechnology, Niagara's products can use half as
much water as the competitors, providingyou with the solution that will help the
environment and save you money. Shopnow on Amazon or home deepot dot com.
My guest today is Emelda Acquire.She is the Diversity, Equity and
(01:40):
Inclusion Manager of the North Dallas NorthEast Chapter of Alzheimer's Association. I get
that right, Very good? Yes, well, welcome and thank you so
much for joining us. Tell usfirst a little bit about your role and
how you got involved with the Alzheimer'sAssociation. Sure, and thank you so
much for having us or having metoday. So my role is diversity equity
(02:06):
inclusion work. So we really tryto make connections in the community, especially
with organizations that align with our visionand that would like to help us in
reaching more people with the message ofAlzheimer's and dementia and establishing those important relationships.
It's it's really important to us andas well as our organization. I
(02:28):
know you guys are great work inthe community. Let's start with the basics
a little bit. Tell us alittle bit about you know, what is
Alzheimer's, what is dementia? Howare they together? They're very their words
that are together all of the time, so it could be confusing for somebody
to understand. What is the differencebetween Alzheimer's and dementia. Alzheimer's is a
(02:51):
type of dementia. There are severaldifferent types of dementia. There's you may
have heard of frontal temporal dementia withBruce Willis, or there's vast scular dementia.
There's also mixed dementia. Someone canhave Alzheimer's and vascular dementia, for
example. So there's all different kindsof dementia and dementia itself. It's more
like a general term. It's likeas if I were to say I have
(03:14):
cancer, Well, what kind ofcancer do you have? Breast cancer?
Brain cancer. So dementia is ageneral term that describes just various symptoms of
memory loss and but it but youknow, all it affects memory, thinking
and you know, problems with beingable to just live your daily life.
(03:35):
It's it's memory loss. It interfereswith daily living. So yeah, so
Alzheimer's is the most common type ofdementia, and that's why they're talked about
very closely. About sixty to eightypercent of people that have dementia have Alzheimer's.
Okay, now you're the Alzheimer's Association. Tell us some about your mission
and how you guys work and thecommunity thing. Sure, our mission is
(03:59):
really to eliminate Alzheimer's disease and allother dementia's by research, care and support
and being able to provide you know, fundraising for families that really need our
support and individuals that are diagnosed.And I'm sorry, what was the second
part of your question. Yes,your general mission overall mission of the association.
(04:20):
Yeah, the general mission is reallyending Alzheimer's disease. We really that's
our goal is to see the firstsurvivor of Alzheimer's disease is what we would
like. That's just a terrific goalto have. What two people look for?
Were some of the early signs ofthe disease and what what do people
(04:44):
look for? Well, it's youknow, the very first sign of dementia
or Alzheimer's is memory loss. Andit's the memory loss that really interferes with
daily living. Like I mentioned,so we all forget things. I mean,
that's very common, whether as ayoung individual or as we're aging.
We all forget things, but thedifference is that we can usually remember later.
(05:08):
You know, if if we forget, we'll remember. But somebody that
is dealing with this disease cannot remember. I have a really hard time.
They get confused. They can alsoget confused or disoriented. So memory loss
again is one of the very firstsigns of but it's a it's more of
a profound type of loss. Iknow, you have a terrific website that
(05:29):
people can go to and we'll we'llgive them all the information for that.
That gives a lot more information ofthings look for in next steps and whatever.
So we want to encourage people todo that. Do we have any
idea what causes Alzheimer's? You know, there's there's not one single cause that
links to alzheimerged or dementia. It'sreally several factors. It could be lifestyle,
(05:51):
it could be genetics, family history. But we know for sure that
age is the number one risk factorof al zai mersi of dementia. So
anyone and no matter what race orwhat background they have, after the age
of sixty five are everyone is anincreased risk of dementia or Alzheimer's. But
(06:12):
you know, of course, otherfactors do play in genetics, family history,
lifestyle, social determinants also are included, so it's it's a mixture of
all of these things. So arethere ways to lower those risks? You
say it's kind of comes with age, because there are things we can do
to help absolutely no matter what ageyou are, even if you are sixty
(06:36):
five or older, there are thingsthat we could do every day to reduce
our risk of dementia Alzheimer's. Soone thing for sure is what we'd like
to say a lot is everything thatyou do that is good for your heart
is also good for your brain.So if you're exercising, eating well,
managing your stress, sleeping well,you know, all of those things things
(07:00):
do take into account as we're agingand reducing our risk of Alzheimer's and demential
So certainly taking a look at yourlifestyle, all of those things again that
you do that are good for yourheart are certainly good for your brain.
That's interesting because I've never heard thecomparison for the two for that. So
what advice would you give to peoplewho may think someone their family showing signs
(07:26):
And where I say, you know, is it? Is it something to
worry about. Or is it justthe fact that I'm getting older and forgot
where I put my carcames. Yeah, it's a misconception that as we age
that we should be losing our memory. It's that's not true. We should
be be able to live till ninetyand recognize all of our family and friends
and recognize objects just you know,just as well. Now you know,
(07:49):
as we age, of course youknow, things will be forgotten. We
will lose, you know, memory, but again we should be able to
remember later if if we do forgetsomething. So if you if you see
that a family member is struggling withremembering things, or they may leave a
lot of notes around, you know, to help them, or they may
need family or friends to help themremember things just general, you know,
(08:13):
things that they that anyone should beremembering. One thing to do is certainly
use our helpline to ask any questionsor any observances that you may see our
helpline and so twenty four hour helplineand we'll give the number in a moment.
But master clinicians answer that line andthey can guide you to add you
know, to just kind of askand probe some questions. Because one thing
(08:37):
we don't want to do is goup to somebody and say, hey,
I think you're losing your memory,because that could be really you know,
that could that could really make someonenot want to open up and get help.
It could make someone isolate themselves evenmore. So we have to be
careful about how we approach somebody withmemory loss. And we have tips on
what you can say, what youcan do to talk to family and friends.
(09:00):
But definitely go to our website alzdot org. Look for what are
some of the signs, some ofthe signs. You know, may if
you're seeing some of the signs,it doesn't mean that they have Alzheimer's or
dementia, but it means, youknow, get them help, get get
it checked out. Definitely with adoctor. So again, use our helpline,
(09:20):
use our website, and we canhelp guide to the next steps.
Now, there's been some great breakthroughsin research, and I know there's a
new drug on the market. Tellus about it and where that's going.
Yeah, So Leakembi is probably theone that you've heard about. It's the
second FDA approved treatment for Alzheimer's andwhat this is, what this will do
(09:43):
is allow someone that is diagnosed inthe early stage to get more time.
So it essentially it doesn't cure,you know, unfortunately, it's not a
cure. It doesn't necessarily reverse thedisease, but it gives somebody more time
to be able to have memories andplan for their future and be able to
you know, really, you know, it's really something that people with Alzheimer's
(10:07):
and dementia don't have, is time. You know, some some folks can
live up to twenty years, somefive years. It varies for each person.
Each person really experiences dementia Alzheimer's differently. But we know that because there
is currently no cure that we knowthat, you know, it's it's a
fatal disease, and what this drugis doing is allowing that person to have
(10:31):
more time. Okay, very good. Now, Now there's some things I
saw about diverse communities how they're affectedby Alzheimer's and now it's not a social
or economic disease. How does thatwork? How where you me meant that?
Yeah, and you know, it'ssuch an important question because you know,
(10:54):
diverse communities actually are impacted by thesocial and economic factors absolutely, and
that does impact their risk of gettingdementia. So as I you know,
the it's it's the two. Thetwo populations that we're seeing that are hit
the hardest are Latino Hispanics and BlackAfrican American communities. That's not to say
(11:16):
other communities are also impacted, butLatinos are one and a half times more
likely. Black African Americans are twotimes more likely to get this disease.
And again we don't know exactly why, but we do know that it is.
There are many social determinants that areaffecting these two. These two populations
(11:37):
we've seen also and other chronic diseasessuch as heart disease or diabetes, they're
also affected the highest. And youknow with Alzheimer's disease it's no different,
they're impacted the highest. Uh.You know because of those those issues.
Now your role as the director,how are you interacting with this this uh,
(12:00):
situations, It's so important to usto really connect with organizations that are
that are already serving these populations becauseyou know, not only because we want
to align with them and work togetherto eliminate this disease, to get the
word out and get help and resources, but because you know, we know
not only just in Dallas, buteverywhere across the nation that there are populations
(12:26):
that are suffering. The Latino BlackAfrican American populations are suffering even more so,
it's so important for us to connectwith other organizations that are, like
I said, already serving, butallowing us to be able to reach into
these communities to get help and getsupport quicker, because what we're seeing is
and these two populations, they're waitinguntil the very last stage of this disease
(12:48):
to get help, and it's usuallytoo late. The drug that I mentioned
la Kembi, that one only worksif you're diagnosed, and if you're diagnosed
in the early stage, it willnot work if you're if you're waiting till
the very last stage to get diagnosed. And many of these communities are waiting
because they don't know the signs andthey don't know where to get help.
(13:11):
Okay, we come back. Iwant to take a break here and talk
about one of our other sponsors alittle bit. Okay, we come back.
I want to talk about the caregivers. Yes, I know that this
disease affects everyone absolutely one way oranother, but right now I want to
thank Prana Haven pranah Haven Energy,Wellness and Gifts for the Soul in downtown
Richardson. We've mentioned the many giftsfor the soul and you'll find there,
(13:35):
but wellness is so important to everyone. You can take charge of your health
by committing to the practice of relaxationand rejuvenation that Prana Haven healing sessions provide.
Healing energy can improve stress and anxietylevels, reduce physical and emotional pain,
and improve the quality of sleep.Check out pranahn dot com for all
(13:56):
the gifts and the psychic readients you'llfind there each week in contact Terry t
r I at Pranihaven dot com tobook your healing sessions. That's Terry t
ri I at Pranihaven dot com.We mentioned the caregivers I currently there's I
believe there's something like over four hundredthousand Alzheimer's patients UH in Texas with over
(14:20):
a million caregivers. It affects family, friends and everyone. Tell us a
little about how your association helps withthe caregivers. So the Alzheimer's Association provides
uh, you know, support forthese caregivers that and these are caregivers that
are not paid, you know,these are family members that are caring for
someone else that is dealing with thisdisease. Usually they're caring for them at
(14:43):
home, or you know, maybethe their loved one is in a long
term care or wherever they may be. They're still caregivers and we provide support
by offering support groups. Support groupsis one example of how a caregiver can
really just come to a safe placeand be and just be able to vent
(15:03):
and talk about some of the challengesthat they have with other folks and other
folks know what they're going through inthat group, so that it really helps
to connect them over time. Ifsomebody, if a caregiver joins a support
group, over time, you knowthey're there. They can really they can
help with lowering their stress and justbeing able to get other tips from other
(15:24):
folks. So that's one example caregiversupport groups. We also offer early stage
groups, which these are groups wherethe caregiver and their loved one that is
in the early stage of Alzheimer's ordementia can go together to do an activity
and just create memories together. Sowe have several organizations like you know,
(15:45):
the Plano Memory Keepers is one,or also SMU. We partner with SMU
to do some of these activities.And then the key some of the key
resources for caregivers is really our helplineand our website. There's tools in there
for those folks that could that theycould use to help plan and to help
(16:06):
guide them in this journey, becausewe know that it's so overwhelming for them
to not only receive that diagnosis asa family member, but be able to
navigate what their what you know,what their life is going to look like
going forward. Okay, we hadtalked a little bit earlier about our friend
Jose Guzman who used to be formerTexas Rangers and he founded the UH Foundation
(16:27):
twenty three to support the families becausehe knew from first experience his mother had
it and what it takes to bea caregiver. So we really appreciate the
work Hoose has done in his Foundationtwenty three and recognizing that that need.
How can people get involved. Iknow you've got a great event coming up,
(16:48):
the Walk to End. Tell usabout that and how that's going.
Yes, thank you for asking that. It's we're really excited about the walk
and this is Walk to End Alzheimer's. You know, the only reason that
we can offer all of our caresupport and services for free is because of
the Walk to End Alzheimer's. Allacross the nation, folks are gearing up
(17:10):
to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer'sdisease and research. So in the North
Texas region we have seven walks.The one in Dallas is November the fourth,
and for anybody that's you know,in the Ellis or Waxahatchie area,
we also have one coming up overthere. But these walks, you know,
(17:30):
thousands of people join and you canwalk a mile or a half a
mile to again raise awareness, butalso to show support for those caregivers and
for all of the people that aredealing with this disease. We want you
to know that you're not alone.We're here to support you and to provide
you know, guidance on this journey, this very very difficult journey. Where
(17:52):
is the walkware the one downtown Dallas, It's at City Hall, okay,
and then you had one in nineyes, in Ellis County, So that's
going to be downtown Ennis. Okay. All right, now, how can
people donate? Get involved? Tellus how to do that? Well,
certainly check out our website which isalz dot org. It's very easy,
just three letters alz dot org andyou can find more information about the walks,
(18:18):
more information about how to donate andget involved. What we really what
we would really like is to havevolunteers to help us with you know,
spread the word about Alzheimer's and dementia. So if you are someone in the
community that would like to help,we would really appreciate that very much.
We're always looking for great volunteers.And if you're seeing or hearing this podcast,
(18:41):
please share it ye share it withyour friends and phaps so we can
get the word allamore. We're talkingabout quite a few things, but what
have I missed? What would youlike to tell our audience about the Association
about Alzheimer's that we just you know, you know, I just really appreciate
your time and having us here andbeing able to share what we do,
(19:02):
our resources and support for families.I think, you know, we did
cover everything, but for those thatagain, I think just going back to
volunteering and being able to help us. This disease cannot end unless we unless
we are able to get support fromthe community, from people that would like
(19:23):
to share the message about just thewarning signs it's basic information. So I
strongly encourage you if seriously, ifyou'd like to be a volunteer and be
able to provide information education to yourcommunity, especially in the underserved communities that
are really getting hit hard with thisdisease, please reach out to us.
(19:47):
You don't have to be an experton all zeimersion dementia. You can learn
the ten signs and then just shareyour knowledge with your friends and family,
So reach out to us ALZ dotorg and our helpline. It's one eight
hundred two seven two three nine zerozero, so feel free to reach out
to our helpline as well. Okay, well, I want thank you very
(20:08):
much for being here. I wantto thank our sponsors, Niagara and Prana
Haven for allowing us to have thistime to share your message. Thank you
so much, so appreciate it,and good luck, and we'll hope to
see you at the walk. Thankyou, Tommy. Yes, we'll hope
to see you too, all right, Thanks
Welcome to Advocacy in Motion. I'myour host, Tommy Finn, and we're
here each week to give a visionand a voice to nonprofit organizations and individuals
making an impact in our community.And before I induced our guest today,
I want to say thank you toour presenting sponsor, Niagara Conservation. Niagara
Conservation is the leading manufacture of costsaving, money saving plumbing products, and
(00:34):
they're especially proud of the work theydo with nonprofit affordable housing units such as
the Volunteers of America Oaks Project inthe Oak Cliff District of Dallas. But
now the good news is these costsaving plumbing products are available to everyone and
every homeowner in the area. Andhere's my partner, Trisha Glawaukee to tell
(00:54):
you all about these new money savingand plumbing products. Thanks Tommy, and
thanks Niagara for your continuing support ofnonprofit organizations. If you want to get
the ultimate experience and cleaning ess andcomfort without breaking the bank and transform your
bathrooms, Niagara from toilets to today'sNiagara has the perfect solution for any bathroom
(01:15):
project. Niagara's award winning products notonly outperformed competitors, but they also out
design them Thanks to innovations like stealthtechnology, Niagara's products can use half as
much water as the competitors, providingyou with the solution that will help the
environment and save you money. Shopnow on Amazon or home deepot dot com.
My guest today is Emelda Acquire.She is the Diversity, Equity and
(01:40):
Inclusion Manager of the North Dallas NorthEast Chapter of Alzheimer's Association. I get
that right, Very good? Yes, well, welcome and thank you so
much for joining us. Tell usfirst a little bit about your role and
how you got involved with the Alzheimer'sAssociation. Sure, and thank you so
much for having us or having metoday. So my role is diversity equity
(02:06):
inclusion work. So we really tryto make connections in the community, especially
with organizations that align with our visionand that would like to help us in
reaching more people with the message ofAlzheimer's and dementia and establishing those important relationships.
It's it's really important to us andas well as our organization. I
(02:28):
know you guys are great work inthe community. Let's start with the basics
a little bit. Tell us alittle bit about you know, what is
Alzheimer's, what is dementia? Howare they together? They're very their words
that are together all of the time, so it could be confusing for somebody
to understand. What is the differencebetween Alzheimer's and dementia. Alzheimer's is a
(02:51):
type of dementia. There are severaldifferent types of dementia. There's you may
have heard of frontal temporal dementia withBruce Willis, or there's vast scular dementia.
There's also mixed dementia. Someone canhave Alzheimer's and vascular dementia, for
example. So there's all different kindsof dementia and dementia itself. It's more
like a general term. It's likeas if I were to say I have
(03:14):
cancer, Well, what kind ofcancer do you have? Breast cancer?
Brain cancer. So dementia is ageneral term that describes just various symptoms of
memory loss and but it but youknow, all it affects memory, thinking
and you know, problems with beingable to just live your daily life.
(03:35):
It's it's memory loss. It interfereswith daily living. So yeah, so
Alzheimer's is the most common type ofdementia, and that's why they're talked about
very closely. About sixty to eightypercent of people that have dementia have Alzheimer's.
Okay, now you're the Alzheimer's Association. Tell us some about your mission
and how you guys work and thecommunity thing. Sure, our mission is
(03:59):
really to eliminate Alzheimer's disease and allother dementia's by research, care and support
and being able to provide you know, fundraising for families that really need our
support and individuals that are diagnosed.And I'm sorry, what was the second
part of your question. Yes,your general mission overall mission of the association.
(04:20):
Yeah, the general mission is reallyending Alzheimer's disease. We really that's
our goal is to see the firstsurvivor of Alzheimer's disease is what we would
like. That's just a terrific goalto have. What two people look for?
Were some of the early signs ofthe disease and what what do people
(04:44):
look for? Well, it's youknow, the very first sign of dementia
or Alzheimer's is memory loss. Andit's the memory loss that really interferes with
daily living. Like I mentioned,so we all forget things. I mean,
that's very common, whether as ayoung individual or as we're aging.
We all forget things, but thedifference is that we can usually remember later.
(05:08):
You know, if if we forget, we'll remember. But somebody that
is dealing with this disease cannot remember. I have a really hard time.
They get confused. They can alsoget confused or disoriented. So memory loss
again is one of the very firstsigns of but it's a it's more of
a profound type of loss. Iknow, you have a terrific website that
(05:29):
people can go to and we'll we'llgive them all the information for that.
That gives a lot more information ofthings look for in next steps and whatever.
So we want to encourage people todo that. Do we have any
idea what causes Alzheimer's? You know, there's there's not one single cause that
links to alzheimerged or dementia. It'sreally several factors. It could be lifestyle,
(05:51):
it could be genetics, family history. But we know for sure that
age is the number one risk factorof al zai mersi of dementia. So
anyone and no matter what race orwhat background they have, after the age
of sixty five are everyone is anincreased risk of dementia or Alzheimer's. But
(06:12):
you know, of course, otherfactors do play in genetics, family history,
lifestyle, social determinants also are included, so it's it's a mixture of
all of these things. So arethere ways to lower those risks? You
say it's kind of comes with age, because there are things we can do
to help absolutely no matter what ageyou are, even if you are sixty
(06:36):
five or older, there are thingsthat we could do every day to reduce
our risk of dementia Alzheimer's. Soone thing for sure is what we'd like
to say a lot is everything thatyou do that is good for your heart
is also good for your brain.So if you're exercising, eating well,
managing your stress, sleeping well,you know, all of those things things
(07:00):
do take into account as we're agingand reducing our risk of Alzheimer's and demential
So certainly taking a look at yourlifestyle, all of those things again that
you do that are good for yourheart are certainly good for your brain.
That's interesting because I've never heard thecomparison for the two for that. So
what advice would you give to peoplewho may think someone their family showing signs
(07:26):
And where I say, you know, is it? Is it something to
worry about. Or is it justthe fact that I'm getting older and forgot
where I put my carcames. Yeah, it's a misconception that as we age
that we should be losing our memory. It's that's not true. We should
be be able to live till ninetyand recognize all of our family and friends
and recognize objects just you know,just as well. Now you know,
(07:49):
as we age, of course youknow, things will be forgotten. We
will lose, you know, memory, but again we should be able to
remember later if if we do forgetsomething. So if you if you see
that a family member is struggling withremembering things, or they may leave a
lot of notes around, you know, to help them, or they may
need family or friends to help themremember things just general, you know,
(08:13):
things that they that anyone should beremembering. One thing to do is certainly
use our helpline to ask any questionsor any observances that you may see our
helpline and so twenty four hour helplineand we'll give the number in a moment.
But master clinicians answer that line andthey can guide you to add you
know, to just kind of askand probe some questions. Because one thing
(08:37):
we don't want to do is goup to somebody and say, hey,
I think you're losing your memory,because that could be really you know,
that could that could really make someonenot want to open up and get help.
It could make someone isolate themselves evenmore. So we have to be
careful about how we approach somebody withmemory loss. And we have tips on
what you can say, what youcan do to talk to family and friends.
(09:00):
But definitely go to our website alzdot org. Look for what are
some of the signs, some ofthe signs. You know, may if
you're seeing some of the signs,it doesn't mean that they have Alzheimer's or
dementia, but it means, youknow, get them help, get get
it checked out. Definitely with adoctor. So again, use our helpline,
(09:20):
use our website, and we canhelp guide to the next steps.
Now, there's been some great breakthroughsin research, and I know there's a
new drug on the market. Tellus about it and where that's going.
Yeah, So Leakembi is probably theone that you've heard about. It's the
second FDA approved treatment for Alzheimer's andwhat this is, what this will do
(09:43):
is allow someone that is diagnosed inthe early stage to get more time.
So it essentially it doesn't cure,you know, unfortunately, it's not a
cure. It doesn't necessarily reverse thedisease, but it gives somebody more time
to be able to have memories andplan for their future and be able to
you know, really, you know, it's really something that people with Alzheimer's
(10:07):
and dementia don't have, is time. You know, some some folks can
live up to twenty years, somefive years. It varies for each person.
Each person really experiences dementia Alzheimer's differently. But we know that because there
is currently no cure that we knowthat, you know, it's it's a
fatal disease, and what this drugis doing is allowing that person to have
(10:31):
more time. Okay, very good. Now, Now there's some things I
saw about diverse communities how they're affectedby Alzheimer's and now it's not a social
or economic disease. How does thatwork? How where you me meant that?
Yeah, and you know, it'ssuch an important question because you know,
(10:54):
diverse communities actually are impacted by thesocial and economic factors absolutely, and
that does impact their risk of gettingdementia. So as I you know,
the it's it's the two. Thetwo populations that we're seeing that are hit
the hardest are Latino Hispanics and BlackAfrican American communities. That's not to say
(11:16):
other communities are also impacted, butLatinos are one and a half times more
likely. Black African Americans are twotimes more likely to get this disease.
And again we don't know exactly why, but we do know that it is.
There are many social determinants that areaffecting these two. These two populations
(11:37):
we've seen also and other chronic diseasessuch as heart disease or diabetes, they're
also affected the highest. And youknow with Alzheimer's disease it's no different,
they're impacted the highest. Uh.You know because of those those issues.
Now your role as the director,how are you interacting with this this uh,
(12:00):
situations, It's so important to usto really connect with organizations that are
that are already serving these populations becauseyou know, not only because we want
to align with them and work togetherto eliminate this disease, to get the
word out and get help and resources, but because you know, we know
not only just in Dallas, buteverywhere across the nation that there are populations
(12:26):
that are suffering. The Latino BlackAfrican American populations are suffering even more so,
it's so important for us to connectwith other organizations that are, like
I said, already serving, butallowing us to be able to reach into
these communities to get help and getsupport quicker, because what we're seeing is
and these two populations, they're waitinguntil the very last stage of this disease
(12:48):
to get help, and it's usuallytoo late. The drug that I mentioned
la Kembi, that one only worksif you're diagnosed, and if you're diagnosed
in the early stage, it willnot work if you're if you're waiting till
the very last stage to get diagnosed. And many of these communities are waiting
because they don't know the signs andthey don't know where to get help.
(13:11):
Okay, we come back. Iwant to take a break here and talk
about one of our other sponsors alittle bit. Okay, we come back.
I want to talk about the caregivers. Yes, I know that this
disease affects everyone absolutely one way oranother, but right now I want to
thank Prana Haven pranah Haven Energy,Wellness and Gifts for the Soul in downtown
Richardson. We've mentioned the many giftsfor the soul and you'll find there,
(13:35):
but wellness is so important to everyone. You can take charge of your health
by committing to the practice of relaxationand rejuvenation that Prana Haven healing sessions provide.
Healing energy can improve stress and anxietylevels, reduce physical and emotional pain,
and improve the quality of sleep.Check out pranahn dot com for all
(13:56):
the gifts and the psychic readients you'llfind there each week in contact Terry t
r I at Pranihaven dot com tobook your healing sessions. That's Terry t
ri I at Pranihaven dot com.We mentioned the caregivers I currently there's I
believe there's something like over four hundredthousand Alzheimer's patients UH in Texas with over
(14:20):
a million caregivers. It affects family, friends and everyone. Tell us a
little about how your association helps withthe caregivers. So the Alzheimer's Association provides
uh, you know, support forthese caregivers that and these are caregivers that
are not paid, you know,these are family members that are caring for
someone else that is dealing with thisdisease. Usually they're caring for them at
(14:43):
home, or you know, maybethe their loved one is in a long
term care or wherever they may be. They're still caregivers and we provide support
by offering support groups. Support groupsis one example of how a caregiver can
really just come to a safe placeand be and just be able to vent
(15:03):
and talk about some of the challengesthat they have with other folks and other
folks know what they're going through inthat group, so that it really helps
to connect them over time. Ifsomebody, if a caregiver joins a support
group, over time, you knowthey're there. They can really they can
help with lowering their stress and justbeing able to get other tips from other
(15:24):
folks. So that's one example caregiversupport groups. We also offer early stage
groups, which these are groups wherethe caregiver and their loved one that is
in the early stage of Alzheimer's ordementia can go together to do an activity
and just create memories together. Sowe have several organizations like you know,
(15:45):
the Plano Memory Keepers is one,or also SMU. We partner with SMU
to do some of these activities.And then the key some of the key
resources for caregivers is really our helplineand our website. There's tools in there
for those folks that could that theycould use to help plan and to help
(16:06):
guide them in this journey, becausewe know that it's so overwhelming for them
to not only receive that diagnosis asa family member, but be able to
navigate what their what you know,what their life is going to look like
going forward. Okay, we hadtalked a little bit earlier about our friend
Jose Guzman who used to be formerTexas Rangers and he founded the UH Foundation
(16:27):
twenty three to support the families becausehe knew from first experience his mother had
it and what it takes to bea caregiver. So we really appreciate the
work Hoose has done in his Foundationtwenty three and recognizing that that need.
How can people get involved. Iknow you've got a great event coming up,
(16:48):
the Walk to End. Tell usabout that and how that's going.
Yes, thank you for asking that. It's we're really excited about the walk
and this is Walk to End Alzheimer's. You know, the only reason that
we can offer all of our caresupport and services for free is because of
the Walk to End Alzheimer's. Allacross the nation, folks are gearing up
(17:10):
to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer'sdisease and research. So in the North
Texas region we have seven walks.The one in Dallas is November the fourth,
and for anybody that's you know,in the Ellis or Waxahatchie area,
we also have one coming up overthere. But these walks, you know,
(17:30):
thousands of people join and you canwalk a mile or a half a
mile to again raise awareness, butalso to show support for those caregivers and
for all of the people that aredealing with this disease. We want you
to know that you're not alone.We're here to support you and to provide
you know, guidance on this journey, this very very difficult journey. Where
(17:52):
is the walkware the one downtown Dallas, It's at City Hall, okay,
and then you had one in nineyes, in Ellis County, So that's
going to be downtown Ennis. Okay. All right, now, how can
people donate? Get involved? Tellus how to do that? Well,
certainly check out our website which isalz dot org. It's very easy,
just three letters alz dot org andyou can find more information about the walks,
(18:18):
more information about how to donate andget involved. What we really what
we would really like is to havevolunteers to help us with you know,
spread the word about Alzheimer's and dementia. So if you are someone in the
community that would like to help,we would really appreciate that very much.
We're always looking for great volunteers.And if you're seeing or hearing this podcast,
(18:41):
please share it ye share it withyour friends and phaps so we can
get the word allamore. We're talkingabout quite a few things, but what
have I missed? What would youlike to tell our audience about the Association
about Alzheimer's that we just you know, you know, I just really appreciate
your time and having us here andbeing able to share what we do,
(19:02):
our resources and support for families.I think, you know, we did
cover everything, but for those thatagain, I think just going back to
volunteering and being able to help us. This disease cannot end unless we unless
we are able to get support fromthe community, from people that would like
(19:23):
to share the message about just thewarning signs it's basic information. So I
strongly encourage you if seriously, ifyou'd like to be a volunteer and be
able to provide information education to yourcommunity, especially in the underserved communities that
are really getting hit hard with thisdisease, please reach out to us.
(19:47):
You don't have to be an experton all zeimersion dementia. You can learn
the ten signs and then just shareyour knowledge with your friends and family,
So reach out to us ALZ dotorg and our helpline. It's one eight
hundred two seven two three nine zerozero, so feel free to reach out
to our helpline as well. Okay, well, I want thank you very
(20:08):
much for being here. I wantto thank our sponsors, Niagara and Prana
Haven for allowing us to have thistime to share your message. Thank you
so much, so appreciate it,and good luck, and we'll hope to
see you at the walk. Thankyou, Tommy. Yes, we'll hope
to see you too, all right, Thanks
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