Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome to Georgia Focus. I'm John Clark on the Georgia
and Use Network Alzheimer's.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
You are not alone.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Nearly seven million Americans are living with Alzheimer's and more
than eleven million friends in family help provide care for them,
especially here at the holidays. Here today to talk about
this with us are Leslie Holland and Kim Franklin from
the Alzheimer's Association here in Georgia.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Well, it's good to see you guys.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Good to be here at the Alzheimer's Association in Atlanta
the office. It's the holidays coming up. People are visiting,
people are going to visit where they're both going to
be visiting, and they're going to visit because they're going
to family member's house or the family members coming to
their house. What is some things some family should remember
during the holidays.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Now, it's important to remember that because of the disease,
sometimes the lapse in memory and remembering who people are
can be overwhelming. But also people are coming and going
and there's a lot going on at the house, or
families are all getting together and there's large crowds. It
(01:11):
can be a lot for a person with Alzheimer's disease
or dementia to process. So that can increase like anxiety,
that kind of stuff, but it also can increase the
chance of that individual wandering to try to get away
from some of the chaos, and so wandering can become
a reality at that stage too.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
And you have the helpline is open twenty four to seven, yes,
three sixty five.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
What is that number.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
It's eight hundred two seven to thirty nine hundred and
like you said, it is twenty four to seven. Holidays,
night weekend. Somebody will answer the phone. You get a
live counselor on the phone, and they can send you
if you just want some information about the disease or
specific to the holidays, like plan for the holidays, travel
(02:02):
with a person with the disease, or they can they
can do crisis intervention too, So say you need some
support and you need to talk to someone right away,
you can get that through the helpline.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
So if somebody goes missing somewhere called nine one one
or which.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
Yes, called nine one.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
One first, because we want to get a report and
as soon as possible. Unfortunately, a lot of times people
will wait because they think the person's going to come
back right and naturally that's.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
You know, that's not the case here.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
We want you to call right away, get that report
in so that searches can begin and hopefully the person
will be found a little bit quicker than.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
If you wait.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Yes, I can attest to that, but being someone who
does search and rescue for Alzheimer's patients, call immediately and
get get search and rescue help out there immediately.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yes, that's the thing about it. These people are they don't.
They don't.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
They've got Alzheimer's and they're wondering constantly. They're just wondering.
They're wondering while you're while you're calling. And so that's
why I always tell people, don't look thinking you're gonna
find them. You might find them, but it's better to
have them come in this way, coming towards.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
You have somebody come towards you just want to do.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Well, in families, a lot of times think, oh, my
loved one doesn't wander, And the reality is it's something
you can't really plan for, and it can happen at
any stage of the disease process. So some people might
do it pretty early on. Some people may never do
it until they're like middle to late stages. But it's
something you've got to constantly worry and think about because
(03:41):
it is a real thing.
Speaker 5 (03:43):
And especially when if a family's traveling, you know, and
someone can get someone living with the disease or living
with dementia can get disoriented they're in a new place
that doesn't look like their home. Even more important than
if you know, there are some things that you can
(04:05):
do to try to mitigate it by you know, it
just in the travel process alone, allowing extra time and
you know, maybe not stay with family, maybe stay in
a hotel where they can have some downtime, you know,
that kind of thing. There are some things that you
can do there. But again, immediately call nine one one,
and then when you have a moment to breathe call
(04:28):
that helpline because again you'll get a counselor they can
help you get you know, as you're moving on in
the process of the disease, you know, you can get
that assistance. And at least just knowing that someone is
there and will listen to you and can help you
with a myriad of things can be you know, such
(04:50):
a help for families.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Yeah, I don't I guess a lot of times the
family doesn't know that. They think they're the only one
dealing with it and you're not, so that you get that.
Speaker 6 (05:00):
A lot of.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Family thinks there's a helpline and I can call people.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Yeah, a lot of times they don't know the Association
is here and that we provide all these support services
for free, that they can access things like the helpline
and things like support groups. And once they join a
support group, then they find a bunch of other people
that are in their shoes and they can connect with
(05:25):
other caregivers who you know, can be a support system
to them as well, because it's somebody that's also walking
that same journey as you.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Yeah, are we are we any closer to finding a
cure for it?
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Is? It?
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Is it close enough?
Speaker 5 (05:43):
We are in We're in a really great position right
now because we are in what we are calling an
era of treatment. Okay, we have been doing so much
research for so many years. Last year alone, the Alzheimer's
Association funded over a million.
Speaker 6 (06:00):
Dollars worth of or one hundred.
Speaker 5 (06:02):
Million dollars of research, and we're talking everything from lifestyle
to medical interventions.
Speaker 6 (06:10):
Now.
Speaker 5 (06:11):
The reason we say we are now in an era
of treatment is because for the first time, we have
actual treatments that are changing the course of the disease.
Speaker 6 (06:21):
So you ask, if we are closer to a cure.
We think so, We hope so.
Speaker 5 (06:28):
And even with those clinical trials that maybe they're like, Okay, this,
this treatment's not going to work, we still are gaining
you know, we don't consider that a failure because we're
still gaining so much information and so much knowledge so
that you can take take that information and that knowledge
(06:50):
and move it to you know, to to the next project.
But these two, these two treatments are are huge in
the fight for Alzheimer's. We just we've never had anything
like this before that actually clinically changes the course of
the disease.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
And that's because of the people that get involved with it,
that have it, that it's familiar with, that that get
involved with it.
Speaker 5 (07:17):
Yes, clinical trials are so important, and you know, we
ask people over and over again. We have a service
called trial Match and you can just go online, fill
in things, you know, answer questions that you know, does
this interest you, do you have this, do you have that?
Speaker 6 (07:36):
And then what will happen?
Speaker 5 (07:38):
You know, put in your zip code and then when
there's a clinical trial that opens up in your area
that you are a match for, they will reach out
to you and say, hey, you know you you're a
match for this, and then you can make that decision
whether or not you want to join that trial. So
it's it's so important to be part of a clinical
(08:00):
trial if and when you can, even if it's not
a medication trial, even if it's you're doing something like
fall prevention or you know, name any of the different
trials that are going on.
Speaker 6 (08:15):
It's just so important. And the other thing is we really.
Speaker 5 (08:18):
Need diversity in these trials because it's hard to say
if a if an intervention or a treatment is going
to work for your community. If we don't have your
community represented in the trials, you know it's and we're
(08:41):
not here to cure Alzheimer's for one group of people.
We're here to cure cure Alzheimer's for everyone. So we
really need all of the representation that we can get
in those clinical trials.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
I know a guy that goes to Emory every year
for clinical trials. He his all of his siblings. I
think almost everybody has died of Alzheimer's. His parents died
of Alzhemer's. He doesn't have it. He's seventy something years old,
but he goes on those trials every year. He says,
I'm the healthiest guy in there. They check everything, but
(09:15):
they're checking me, and I keep going because I want
to find a cure. It's killed everybody in my family.
I want to find a cure for these people. And
he says, I just keep going. I go back and
I let him do what they're going to do that day,
and he tells you about it all the time.
Speaker 5 (09:28):
And it's sad that it takes that kind of loss,
But kudos to people like that who are willing to
get into clinical trials because a lot of times people
are like, oh, I don't have time for that, or
you know, there may just be a general mistrust, but
it's just so important because you're only helping future generations
(09:51):
each time you do that.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
What are some of the other things that you're doing now?
The awesome association, I know you just had to walks
it into Endo Alzheimer's.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
They just finished up, I think, but how do they do?
Speaker 6 (10:02):
So we had twenty walks throughout the state.
Speaker 5 (10:06):
Great we had increased participation this year in I think
every market that we were in, which was awesome. We
are still raising funds until December thirty first.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
Okay, so if you know.
Speaker 5 (10:20):
Someone who walked and you didn't get a chance to donate,
or maybe you were out of town and you didn't
get to participate in the Walk to End Alzheimer's, you
can still donate.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
To the walk.
Speaker 5 (10:33):
We are again, we're a little bit under our fundraising
goal this year, but we we have until December thirty first,
and last year nationwide there was we raised one hundred
million dollars in funds in the Walk to End.
Speaker 6 (10:52):
Alzheimer's and we've.
Speaker 5 (10:55):
Spent one hundred and seven or one hundred million dollars
on research. So you know, if you're worried that your
participation doesn't matter or doesn't count, you can not be
worried about that because that is not true at all.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
That's true. That's true. It helps out. That's that's proof.
It does help out. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Absolutely, and you could do that until December thirty first.
You still have plenty of time to do about right.
Just simmer now so you get time to donate and
walk it.
Speaker 5 (11:24):
Yep. And you can go to Georgia Walk Dot org
and pick your favorite city and you know, donate to
the Walk in that city if you would like to donate.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Now.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Coming up in the new year twenty twenty five, you
have some events coming up for that. Again, anything you
want to talk about now or any or you want
to wait or talk.
Speaker 6 (11:43):
About, well, we have some.
Speaker 5 (11:45):
So in the spring is our first big push. We
have gala's and it looks like we're going to have
our gala in Atlanta.
Speaker 6 (11:55):
Is the biggest. Last year we raised.
Speaker 5 (11:58):
One point two five million and that was Dancing Stars
of Atlanta. It's always a fun time. We have them
in Columbus. We have a gala in Augusta as well,
and then a gala in Savannah in Coastal Georgia, and
so that's a lot of fun. And then in June
(12:18):
we have obviously the Summer Solstice, which is when we
start the longest day and we we celebrate caregivers on
the longest day of the year, and that is really
cool because that's a DIY fundraiser. You can do whatever
you want and just have a good time in support
of caregivers. And then we hit the fall again and
(12:42):
back to the walk season.
Speaker 6 (12:43):
So it's a it's a full circle, full circle.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Get to get ready for.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Back to the what to do during the holidays, and
we think that you know, they're gonna want to walk holidays,
They're gonna people are going to them go to talk
to people about what to do about that. Who should
we watch out for? When should you know to contact
somebody about you've got you've got a family member or
(13:11):
a person that you know has gone missing. When should
you know to contact somebody about that to get them
to help you.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
I would say call nine one one immediately, But then
also just know that there are resources like your search
and rescue team that can be contacted next to go
ahead and get you.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
Guys on the way if you're available.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
But there's other search and rescue teams that do this
as volunteers and will come out and assist. So you know,
first call is you realize your loved ones wandered off
or they can't be located, whether that be like around
the house or they've gotten in a car and driven off,
(13:57):
then we want to call.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Police right away, right away.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
But if they are on foot, then the next call
can be to a search and rescue team that can
be you know, on the way too, to assist because
usually the police are going to come out, they're going
to take a report. Hopefully they're going to do a
Mattie's call. That's another thing we want to urge them
to do is in our state, we have a Mattie's
call when we have a missing person that's a missing
(14:24):
disabled adult, and you want to urge to get that
done as well, so that we can get the local
area to also be on the lookout for the person if.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
The person is if the police don't respond fast or
they might not be able to, they might they're busy.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
They can call me. Please call me.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
It's Georgie Emergency Search and Rescue. Four four three oh
nine seven three eighty six. Call me anytime, day or night.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Call me. I'll come out. I'll get you to a
police officer. I'll get a police officer and if.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
John can't come out, he'll help find a team that can.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
I'll find it.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
I'll help you find a unity care the resources get there.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Yeah, we want to get help quickly. We want to
get help quickly if they go missing. You know, we talk,
we talk to police officers about how they go missing.
And I tell people police officers they don't always have
all the answers, and they have a lot of answers.
They got a lot of answers, but they don't always
have a lot of answers.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
So let's talk about what they what you teach them
every year.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
So when we do first responder education, we're certified in
the state to provide education to first responders so that
they get their credit hours, but we educate them on
the disease itself, what happens to the individual when they
have Alzheimer's or another form of dementia, and then you know,
(15:48):
the loss of communication, ways that they can try to
communicate with them, ways that they can kind of be
in the know of what they may be dealing with.
Things to look for to know that the person may
have memory loss, because a lot of times they don't
know they don't know anything about the disease, and they
(16:09):
don't understand that this person may not respond to your
questions properly, or they may not respond to what you
tell them to do, Like if you tell them to
go sit over there, they may not go sit over there.
So because of the loss of memory and the you know,
difficulty with reasoning and all that, that's happening in these
individuals' brains. They you know, there's there's different ways that
(16:32):
you have to communicate with them. So we educate them
just about the disease, and then we educate them about
resources like search and rescue teams and specializing in that,
and about Mattie's calls that if you have a missing person,
the steps that you have to take to get the
Mattie's Call implemented in the state.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
And then we talk to them.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Just about our resources to be able to provide families
with our resources so hopefully we can and intervene with
services or information and resources to families and caregivers so
that hopefully it won't happen again.
Speaker 5 (17:09):
And another part of the equation is with that law
enforcement training is they're not just communication with the person
with dementia, but communication with the family as.
Speaker 6 (17:22):
Well, because.
Speaker 5 (17:24):
You guys who are trained in search and rescue for
people with cognitive impairment know that there are different questions
that you have to ask the family to try to
get answers. So it's not just communicate how to communicate
with the person living with the issue, but also how
to communicate on the front end with the family. So
(17:47):
that you guys have the correct information to then do
the search. So that's also a really important part of it.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
That's a very good point because that's what you do,
is you spend time on the front end. You spend
ten minutes it's for that family or caregiver whoever, talking
to them, find out what the person was like, not
who they are. I mean, you want to find who
they are and what they look like, what they were,
what they were like. Then then you have a better
(18:13):
chance to find them if you find out what they're like.
I always tell people, don't don't automatically assume they're in
the woods. Forget the woods. You know, we hit some
people missing this weekend for Alzheimer's and they weren't in
the woods. So they're like, they don't go in the woods.
(18:35):
Unless the evidence leads you to believe they're in the woods,
then you go to the woods. But if you take
ten minutes to find out ahead of time, you'll know
they're not in the woods. That's when that's that's a
good point. Good point thinking about what people are doing
and they're traveling now, d're the holidays, but there's some
things you need to remember when you're traveling.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
What are some things they need to remember?
Speaker 3 (18:54):
I would say, you know, keep in mind we do
not want to leave them alone stop at a gas station.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
Or you're in the airport, you know, you need.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
To have somebody with them at all times, especially if
you think about how busy the airport is and you know,
some of these things, especially around the holidays with how
many people are traveling, to make sure that somebody is
with them and has eyes on them at all times,
and you know, allowing extra time for travel because they
(19:26):
may need to stop.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
They may you know, you may need to take some.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Rest breaks and get out of the car for the
caregiver and for the person living with the disease to
you know, get some fresh air and get out of
the car because remember the repetitive behaviors and the repetitive
you know, the confusion and stuff because you're traveling and
you're going away from home and that might be their
comfort spot. And so just keeping in mind that, you know,
(19:53):
you might need to allow some extra time for that
individual too, and then thinking.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
About if you are going to.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
A hotel or a family member's house, that you are
going somewhere that is unfamiliar to that person. No matter
how many times they've been to that location, it is
likely going to be unfamiliar to them because that short
term memory loss that they have, So there's going to
be an increase in confusion a lot of times, and
our calls that the helpline usually ramp up after the
(20:23):
holidays because a lot of times family members are all
together and they may not have seen mom and dad
or whoever it might be for several months, and all
of a sudden they realize the magnitude of what's going on,
and so then they're reaching out to try to figure
out what to do and where to turn for help.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
That's true that if the holidays is when you come
home and you see you and you're like, oh my gosh,
they've really changed.
Speaker 5 (20:50):
Yeah, And a lot of times we have seen too,
a lot where there are people who they know they're
having some issues, but they find workarounds because they don't
want to tell their family, and so they're able to
hide it.
Speaker 6 (21:02):
Well you can.
Speaker 5 (21:04):
You know, if you're zooming or doing FaceTime or whatever
with a family member once a week, it's easy for
them to mask or to hide some of those things.
But when you're together, as people are during the holidays.
That's when it's really hard for a lot of those
people who are living with cognitive issues to mask what's
(21:26):
going on. And so then you know, the calls ramp
up because family's like, wow, we didn't we didn't know
this was going on.
Speaker 6 (21:34):
We didn't see it.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
So and there's always that well, he's all right, he's minimal,
But then that minimal can turn in.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
A heartbeat, and that can turn it a heartbeat.
Speaker 5 (21:48):
We had we had a board member who actually his mother,
his mother was living with Alzheimer's. His mother and dad
went on a vacation. They were they lived in Virginia.
They were going somewhere on vacation during the holidays, and
the mother went they stopped at a rest stop. The
(22:09):
mom went into the bathroom and then while he was
pumping gas, she was able to tell somebody in the
bathroom like, Hey, this man out there has kidnapped me.
Speaker 6 (22:23):
Call the police.
Speaker 5 (22:25):
And so so that lady of course went into the
gas station said call the police. So you know, they
get back in the car, they're five miles down the
road and police light them up, and he's got to
prove that his wife has Alzheimer's. That she's not in
danger that she has been kidnapped. I mean, there's just
(22:47):
all kinds of things that can happen that you don't
you know, you don't count on, and.
Speaker 6 (22:52):
So you really just have to do the best that.
Speaker 5 (22:55):
You can do keeping them calm and helping them try
to understand where they're going and why and that kind
of thing.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Yeah, let me ask you this.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Can the helpline be used to get a doctor if
someone needs a doctor?
Speaker 3 (23:08):
Yeah. Resources you can call the helpline if you're looking
for an elder law attorney, or.
Speaker 4 (23:16):
A doctor, a neurologist, or a geriatric physician.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Or.
Speaker 4 (23:22):
You know, an adult day center in your area.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
We can help link up to those services based on
where you live.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Okay, I just wanted to get that out in case
you could. I was sure. Yeah, let's let's give out
all the information where somebody can go and then go
and donate where they can go and get help, where
they can get help, search and rescue help, where coush
they go.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Well, you can call the helpline for any of those
resources if nothing, if you can't find it online through
your Google search or or a website through searching, which
is www.
Speaker 4 (23:55):
Dot alz dot org.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
Then you can call the helpline at eight hundred to
seven to thirty nine hundred and a helpline counselor can
get you the resources and the links to those places
as well.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
Yep.
Speaker 5 (24:07):
So again, if you want to donate to the walk,
the easiest place is Georgia Walk dot org. But again
you can also call the helpline and they can they
can get you where you need to go to if
you just want to donate to, you know, the walked
ind Alzheimer's. They can do just about everything but tell
you how to cook your turkey, and Butterball has.
Speaker 6 (24:30):
The line for that.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Well, I might as well get about our number because
I have a feeling they're going to be using this
year Georgia Search and Riscue four O four three oh
nine seven three eighty six, because I have a feeling
we're going to get called sometime during this holidays. Thank
you both for talking about it today. It's it's very,
very very important, and unfortunately more and more people are
(24:53):
getting it.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
But we're looking for a cure. We're going to find
a cure.
Speaker 6 (24:56):
We're getting closer.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Yeah, thank you very much, thank you.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
That's Leslie Holland and Kim Franklin from the Alzheimer's Association
Here in Georgia. Remember their helpline is twenty four seven
three sixty five eight hundred twenty seven two thirty nine hundred,
eight hundred twenty seven two thirty nine hundred for search
and rescue assistance, called nine one one, then called Georgia
Emergency Search and Rescue at four oh four, three oh
(25:20):
nine seven three eight six, four oh four, three oh nine,
seven three eighty six. If you have questions or comments
about today's program, you can email me John Clark at
Georgiannewsnetwork dot com. Thanks for listening. I'll talk to you
next week right here on your local radio station on
Georgia Focus
Welcome to Georgia Focus. I'm John Clark on the Georgia
and Use Network Alzheimer's.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
You are not alone.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Nearly seven million Americans are living with Alzheimer's and more
than eleven million friends in family help provide care for them,
especially here at the holidays. Here today to talk about
this with us are Leslie Holland and Kim Franklin from
the Alzheimer's Association here in Georgia.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Well, it's good to see you guys.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Good to be here at the Alzheimer's Association in Atlanta
the office. It's the holidays coming up. People are visiting,
people are going to visit where they're both going to
be visiting, and they're going to visit because they're going
to family member's house or the family members coming to
their house. What is some things some family should remember
during the holidays.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Now, it's important to remember that because of the disease,
sometimes the lapse in memory and remembering who people are
can be overwhelming. But also people are coming and going
and there's a lot going on at the house, or
families are all getting together and there's large crowds. It
(01:11):
can be a lot for a person with Alzheimer's disease
or dementia to process. So that can increase like anxiety,
that kind of stuff, but it also can increase the
chance of that individual wandering to try to get away
from some of the chaos, and so wandering can become
a reality at that stage too.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
And you have the helpline is open twenty four to seven, yes,
three sixty five.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
What is that number.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
It's eight hundred two seven to thirty nine hundred and
like you said, it is twenty four to seven. Holidays,
night weekend. Somebody will answer the phone. You get a
live counselor on the phone, and they can send you
if you just want some information about the disease or
specific to the holidays, like plan for the holidays, travel
(02:02):
with a person with the disease, or they can they
can do crisis intervention too, So say you need some
support and you need to talk to someone right away,
you can get that through the helpline.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
So if somebody goes missing somewhere called nine one one
or which.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
Yes, called nine one.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
One first, because we want to get a report and
as soon as possible. Unfortunately, a lot of times people
will wait because they think the person's going to come
back right and naturally that's.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
You know, that's not the case here.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
We want you to call right away, get that report
in so that searches can begin and hopefully the person
will be found a little bit quicker than.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
If you wait.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Yes, I can attest to that, but being someone who
does search and rescue for Alzheimer's patients, call immediately and
get get search and rescue help out there immediately.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yes, that's the thing about it. These people are they don't.
They don't.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
They've got Alzheimer's and they're wondering constantly. They're just wondering.
They're wondering while you're while you're calling. And so that's
why I always tell people, don't look thinking you're gonna
find them. You might find them, but it's better to
have them come in this way, coming towards.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
You have somebody come towards you just want to do.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Well, in families, a lot of times think, oh, my
loved one doesn't wander, And the reality is it's something
you can't really plan for, and it can happen at
any stage of the disease process. So some people might
do it pretty early on. Some people may never do
it until they're like middle to late stages. But it's
something you've got to constantly worry and think about because
(03:41):
it is a real thing.
Speaker 5 (03:43):
And especially when if a family's traveling, you know, and
someone can get someone living with the disease or living
with dementia can get disoriented they're in a new place
that doesn't look like their home. Even more important than
if you know, there are some things that you can
(04:05):
do to try to mitigate it by you know, it
just in the travel process alone, allowing extra time and
you know, maybe not stay with family, maybe stay in
a hotel where they can have some downtime, you know,
that kind of thing. There are some things that you
can do there. But again, immediately call nine one one,
and then when you have a moment to breathe call
(04:28):
that helpline because again you'll get a counselor they can
help you get you know, as you're moving on in
the process of the disease, you know, you can get
that assistance. And at least just knowing that someone is
there and will listen to you and can help you
with a myriad of things can be you know, such
(04:50):
a help for families.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Yeah, I don't I guess a lot of times the
family doesn't know that. They think they're the only one
dealing with it and you're not, so that you get that.
Speaker 6 (05:00):
A lot of.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Family thinks there's a helpline and I can call people.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Yeah, a lot of times they don't know the Association
is here and that we provide all these support services
for free, that they can access things like the helpline
and things like support groups. And once they join a
support group, then they find a bunch of other people
that are in their shoes and they can connect with
(05:25):
other caregivers who you know, can be a support system
to them as well, because it's somebody that's also walking
that same journey as you.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Yeah, are we are we any closer to finding a
cure for it?
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Is? It?
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Is it close enough?
Speaker 5 (05:43):
We are in We're in a really great position right
now because we are in what we are calling an
era of treatment. Okay, we have been doing so much
research for so many years. Last year alone, the Alzheimer's
Association funded over a million.
Speaker 6 (06:00):
Dollars worth of or one hundred.
Speaker 5 (06:02):
Million dollars of research, and we're talking everything from lifestyle
to medical interventions.
Speaker 6 (06:10):
Now.
Speaker 5 (06:11):
The reason we say we are now in an era
of treatment is because for the first time, we have
actual treatments that are changing the course of the disease.
Speaker 6 (06:21):
So you ask, if we are closer to a cure.
We think so, We hope so.
Speaker 5 (06:28):
And even with those clinical trials that maybe they're like, Okay, this,
this treatment's not going to work, we still are gaining
you know, we don't consider that a failure because we're
still gaining so much information and so much knowledge so
that you can take take that information and that knowledge
(06:50):
and move it to you know, to to the next project.
But these two, these two treatments are are huge in
the fight for Alzheimer's. We just we've never had anything
like this before that actually clinically changes the course of
the disease.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
And that's because of the people that get involved with it,
that have it, that it's familiar with, that that get
involved with it.
Speaker 5 (07:17):
Yes, clinical trials are so important, and you know, we
ask people over and over again. We have a service
called trial Match and you can just go online, fill
in things, you know, answer questions that you know, does
this interest you, do you have this, do you have that?
Speaker 6 (07:36):
And then what will happen?
Speaker 5 (07:38):
You know, put in your zip code and then when
there's a clinical trial that opens up in your area
that you are a match for, they will reach out
to you and say, hey, you know you you're a
match for this, and then you can make that decision
whether or not you want to join that trial. So
it's it's so important to be part of a clinical
(08:00):
trial if and when you can, even if it's not
a medication trial, even if it's you're doing something like
fall prevention or you know, name any of the different
trials that are going on.
Speaker 6 (08:15):
It's just so important. And the other thing is we really.
Speaker 5 (08:18):
Need diversity in these trials because it's hard to say
if a if an intervention or a treatment is going
to work for your community. If we don't have your
community represented in the trials, you know it's and we're
(08:41):
not here to cure Alzheimer's for one group of people.
We're here to cure cure Alzheimer's for everyone. So we
really need all of the representation that we can get
in those clinical trials.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
I know a guy that goes to Emory every year
for clinical trials. He his all of his siblings. I
think almost everybody has died of Alzheimer's. His parents died
of Alzhemer's. He doesn't have it. He's seventy something years old,
but he goes on those trials every year. He says,
I'm the healthiest guy in there. They check everything, but
(09:15):
they're checking me, and I keep going because I want
to find a cure. It's killed everybody in my family.
I want to find a cure for these people. And
he says, I just keep going. I go back and
I let him do what they're going to do that day,
and he tells you about it all the time.
Speaker 5 (09:28):
And it's sad that it takes that kind of loss,
But kudos to people like that who are willing to
get into clinical trials because a lot of times people
are like, oh, I don't have time for that, or
you know, there may just be a general mistrust, but
it's just so important because you're only helping future generations
(09:51):
each time you do that.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
What are some of the other things that you're doing now?
The awesome association, I know you just had to walks
it into Endo Alzheimer's.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
They just finished up, I think, but how do they do?
Speaker 6 (10:02):
So we had twenty walks throughout the state.
Speaker 5 (10:06):
Great we had increased participation this year in I think
every market that we were in, which was awesome. We
are still raising funds until December thirty first.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
Okay, so if you know.
Speaker 5 (10:20):
Someone who walked and you didn't get a chance to donate,
or maybe you were out of town and you didn't
get to participate in the Walk to End Alzheimer's, you
can still donate.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
To the walk.
Speaker 5 (10:33):
We are again, we're a little bit under our fundraising
goal this year, but we we have until December thirty first,
and last year nationwide there was we raised one hundred
million dollars in funds in the Walk to End.
Speaker 6 (10:52):
Alzheimer's and we've.
Speaker 5 (10:55):
Spent one hundred and seven or one hundred million dollars
on research. So you know, if you're worried that your
participation doesn't matter or doesn't count, you can not be
worried about that because that is not true at all.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
That's true. That's true. It helps out. That's that's proof.
It does help out. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Absolutely, and you could do that until December thirty first.
You still have plenty of time to do about right.
Just simmer now so you get time to donate and
walk it.
Speaker 5 (11:24):
Yep. And you can go to Georgia Walk Dot org
and pick your favorite city and you know, donate to
the Walk in that city if you would like to donate.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Now.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Coming up in the new year twenty twenty five, you
have some events coming up for that. Again, anything you
want to talk about now or any or you want
to wait or talk.
Speaker 6 (11:43):
About, well, we have some.
Speaker 5 (11:45):
So in the spring is our first big push. We
have gala's and it looks like we're going to have
our gala in Atlanta.
Speaker 6 (11:55):
Is the biggest. Last year we raised.
Speaker 5 (11:58):
One point two five million and that was Dancing Stars
of Atlanta. It's always a fun time. We have them
in Columbus. We have a gala in Augusta as well,
and then a gala in Savannah in Coastal Georgia, and
so that's a lot of fun. And then in June
(12:18):
we have obviously the Summer Solstice, which is when we
start the longest day and we we celebrate caregivers on
the longest day of the year, and that is really
cool because that's a DIY fundraiser. You can do whatever
you want and just have a good time in support
of caregivers. And then we hit the fall again and
(12:42):
back to the walk season.
Speaker 6 (12:43):
So it's a it's a full circle, full circle.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Get to get ready for.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Back to the what to do during the holidays, and
we think that you know, they're gonna want to walk holidays,
They're gonna people are going to them go to talk
to people about what to do about that. Who should
we watch out for? When should you know to contact
somebody about you've got you've got a family member or
(13:11):
a person that you know has gone missing. When should
you know to contact somebody about that to get them
to help you.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
I would say call nine one one immediately, But then
also just know that there are resources like your search
and rescue team that can be contacted next to go
ahead and get you.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
Guys on the way if you're available.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
But there's other search and rescue teams that do this
as volunteers and will come out and assist. So you know,
first call is you realize your loved ones wandered off
or they can't be located, whether that be like around
the house or they've gotten in a car and driven off,
(13:57):
then we want to call.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Police right away, right away.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
But if they are on foot, then the next call
can be to a search and rescue team that can
be you know, on the way too, to assist because
usually the police are going to come out, they're going
to take a report. Hopefully they're going to do a
Mattie's call. That's another thing we want to urge them
to do is in our state, we have a Mattie's
call when we have a missing person that's a missing
(14:24):
disabled adult, and you want to urge to get that
done as well, so that we can get the local
area to also be on the lookout for the person if.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
The person is if the police don't respond fast or
they might not be able to, they might they're busy.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
They can call me. Please call me.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
It's Georgie Emergency Search and Rescue. Four four three oh
nine seven three eighty six. Call me anytime, day or night.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Call me. I'll come out. I'll get you to a
police officer. I'll get a police officer and if.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
John can't come out, he'll help find a team that can.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
I'll find it.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
I'll help you find a unity care the resources get there.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Yeah, we want to get help quickly. We want to
get help quickly if they go missing. You know, we talk,
we talk to police officers about how they go missing.
And I tell people police officers they don't always have
all the answers, and they have a lot of answers.
They got a lot of answers, but they don't always
have a lot of answers.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
So let's talk about what they what you teach them
every year.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
So when we do first responder education, we're certified in
the state to provide education to first responders so that
they get their credit hours, but we educate them on
the disease itself, what happens to the individual when they
have Alzheimer's or another form of dementia, and then you know,
(15:48):
the loss of communication, ways that they can try to
communicate with them, ways that they can kind of be
in the know of what they may be dealing with.
Things to look for to know that the person may
have memory loss, because a lot of times they don't
know they don't know anything about the disease, and they
(16:09):
don't understand that this person may not respond to your
questions properly, or they may not respond to what you
tell them to do, Like if you tell them to
go sit over there, they may not go sit over there.
So because of the loss of memory and the you know,
difficulty with reasoning and all that, that's happening in these
individuals' brains. They you know, there's there's different ways that
(16:32):
you have to communicate with them. So we educate them
just about the disease, and then we educate them about
resources like search and rescue teams and specializing in that,
and about Mattie's calls that if you have a missing person,
the steps that you have to take to get the
Mattie's Call implemented in the state.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
And then we talk to them.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Just about our resources to be able to provide families
with our resources so hopefully we can and intervene with
services or information and resources to families and caregivers so
that hopefully it won't happen again.
Speaker 5 (17:09):
And another part of the equation is with that law
enforcement training is they're not just communication with the person
with dementia, but communication with the family as.
Speaker 6 (17:22):
Well, because.
Speaker 5 (17:24):
You guys who are trained in search and rescue for
people with cognitive impairment know that there are different questions
that you have to ask the family to try to
get answers. So it's not just communicate how to communicate
with the person living with the issue, but also how
to communicate on the front end with the family. So
(17:47):
that you guys have the correct information to then do
the search. So that's also a really important part of it.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
That's a very good point because that's what you do,
is you spend time on the front end. You spend
ten minutes it's for that family or caregiver whoever, talking
to them, find out what the person was like, not
who they are. I mean, you want to find who
they are and what they look like, what they were,
what they were like. Then then you have a better
(18:13):
chance to find them if you find out what they're like.
I always tell people, don't don't automatically assume they're in
the woods. Forget the woods. You know, we hit some
people missing this weekend for Alzheimer's and they weren't in
the woods. So they're like, they don't go in the woods.
(18:35):
Unless the evidence leads you to believe they're in the woods,
then you go to the woods. But if you take
ten minutes to find out ahead of time, you'll know
they're not in the woods. That's when that's that's a
good point. Good point thinking about what people are doing
and they're traveling now, d're the holidays, but there's some
things you need to remember when you're traveling.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
What are some things they need to remember?
Speaker 3 (18:54):
I would say, you know, keep in mind we do
not want to leave them alone stop at a gas station.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
Or you're in the airport, you know, you need.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
To have somebody with them at all times, especially if
you think about how busy the airport is and you know,
some of these things, especially around the holidays with how
many people are traveling, to make sure that somebody is
with them and has eyes on them at all times,
and you know, allowing extra time for travel because they
(19:26):
may need to stop.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
They may you know, you may need to take some.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Rest breaks and get out of the car for the
caregiver and for the person living with the disease to
you know, get some fresh air and get out of
the car because remember the repetitive behaviors and the repetitive
you know, the confusion and stuff because you're traveling and
you're going away from home and that might be their
comfort spot. And so just keeping in mind that, you know,
(19:53):
you might need to allow some extra time for that
individual too, and then thinking.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
About if you are going to.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
A hotel or a family member's house, that you are
going somewhere that is unfamiliar to that person. No matter
how many times they've been to that location, it is
likely going to be unfamiliar to them because that short
term memory loss that they have, So there's going to
be an increase in confusion a lot of times, and
our calls that the helpline usually ramp up after the
(20:23):
holidays because a lot of times family members are all
together and they may not have seen mom and dad
or whoever it might be for several months, and all
of a sudden they realize the magnitude of what's going on,
and so then they're reaching out to try to figure
out what to do and where to turn for help.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
That's true that if the holidays is when you come
home and you see you and you're like, oh my gosh,
they've really changed.
Speaker 5 (20:50):
Yeah, And a lot of times we have seen too,
a lot where there are people who they know they're
having some issues, but they find workarounds because they don't
want to tell their family, and so they're able to
hide it.
Speaker 6 (21:02):
Well you can.
Speaker 5 (21:04):
You know, if you're zooming or doing FaceTime or whatever
with a family member once a week, it's easy for
them to mask or to hide some of those things.
But when you're together, as people are during the holidays.
That's when it's really hard for a lot of those
people who are living with cognitive issues to mask what's
(21:26):
going on. And so then you know, the calls ramp
up because family's like, wow, we didn't we didn't know
this was going on.
Speaker 6 (21:34):
We didn't see it.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
So and there's always that well, he's all right, he's minimal,
But then that minimal can turn in.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
A heartbeat, and that can turn it a heartbeat.
Speaker 5 (21:48):
We had we had a board member who actually his mother,
his mother was living with Alzheimer's. His mother and dad
went on a vacation. They were they lived in Virginia.
They were going somewhere on vacation during the holidays, and
the mother went they stopped at a rest stop. The
(22:09):
mom went into the bathroom and then while he was
pumping gas, she was able to tell somebody in the
bathroom like, Hey, this man out there has kidnapped me.
Speaker 6 (22:23):
Call the police.
Speaker 5 (22:25):
And so so that lady of course went into the
gas station said call the police. So you know, they
get back in the car, they're five miles down the
road and police light them up, and he's got to
prove that his wife has Alzheimer's. That she's not in
danger that she has been kidnapped. I mean, there's just
(22:47):
all kinds of things that can happen that you don't
you know, you don't count on, and.
Speaker 6 (22:52):
So you really just have to do the best that.
Speaker 5 (22:55):
You can do keeping them calm and helping them try
to understand where they're going and why and that kind
of thing.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Yeah, let me ask you this.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Can the helpline be used to get a doctor if
someone needs a doctor?
Speaker 3 (23:08):
Yeah. Resources you can call the helpline if you're looking
for an elder law attorney, or.
Speaker 4 (23:16):
A doctor, a neurologist, or a geriatric physician.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Or.
Speaker 4 (23:22):
You know, an adult day center in your area.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
We can help link up to those services based on
where you live.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Okay, I just wanted to get that out in case
you could. I was sure. Yeah, let's let's give out
all the information where somebody can go and then go
and donate where they can go and get help, where
they can get help, search and rescue help, where coush
they go.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Well, you can call the helpline for any of those
resources if nothing, if you can't find it online through
your Google search or or a website through searching, which
is www.
Speaker 4 (23:55):
Dot alz dot org.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
Then you can call the helpline at eight hundred to
seven to thirty nine hundred and a helpline counselor can
get you the resources and the links to those places
as well.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
Yep.
Speaker 5 (24:07):
So again, if you want to donate to the walk,
the easiest place is Georgia Walk dot org. But again
you can also call the helpline and they can they
can get you where you need to go to if
you just want to donate to, you know, the walked
ind Alzheimer's. They can do just about everything but tell
you how to cook your turkey, and Butterball has.
Speaker 6 (24:30):
The line for that.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Well, I might as well get about our number because
I have a feeling they're going to be using this
year Georgia Search and Riscue four O four three oh
nine seven three eighty six, because I have a feeling
we're going to get called sometime during this holidays. Thank
you both for talking about it today. It's it's very,
very very important, and unfortunately more and more people are
(24:53):
getting it.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
But we're looking for a cure. We're going to find
a cure.
Speaker 6 (24:56):
We're getting closer.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Yeah, thank you very much, thank you.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
That's Leslie Holland and Kim Franklin from the Alzheimer's Association
Here in Georgia. Remember their helpline is twenty four seven
three sixty five eight hundred twenty seven two thirty nine hundred,
eight hundred twenty seven two thirty nine hundred for search
and rescue assistance, called nine one one, then called Georgia
Emergency Search and Rescue at four oh four, three oh
(25:20):
nine seven three eight six, four oh four, three oh nine,
seven three eighty six. If you have questions or comments
about today's program, you can email me John Clark at
Georgiannewsnetwork dot com. Thanks for listening. I'll talk to you
next week right here on your local radio station on
Georgia Focus
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