In this episode, we welcome Dr. Kevin Foley, Medical Director of Trinity Health’s Hauenstein Neuroscience Center, Alzheimer’s Disease and Memory Disorders Program, and Associate Professor and Director of Geriatrics, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine.
Dr. Foley told us he had a good reason for opening an Alzheimer’s Disease and Memory Disorders Program at the Trinity Health Hauenstein Neuroscience Center.
“Nobody else was doing it. It was a huge need.”
As the population ages, the need will become greater and the search for better treatments more urgent. His faculty appointment at the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine opened the door for collaboration between the medical school and Mercy Health.
Foley hopes to inspire medical students to join the battle against memory disorders.
Foley noted, “I looked at what I was doing at the Trinity Health Hauenstein Neuroscience Center, and I was taking care of a landslide of people. I wasn’t making enough of an impact.
Dr. Foley was instrumental in establishing West Michigan’s first and most experienced Alzheimer’s disease and memory disorders program at Trinity Health. The program has been focused for years on being able to accurately diagnose and manage all patient and caregiver needs related to memory disorders or dementia.
Services provided by the Trinity Health Medical Group, Alzheimer's & Memory Clinic:
Diagnosis confirmation and follow-up care
Memory loss medication management
Mood and behavior management
Support for medical, legal, and residential placement options
Connection to caregiver resources and support services
Caregiver support group
Comprehensive patient education
Online: Trinity Health Medical Group, Alzheimer's & Memory Clinic
Dr. Foley told us he had a good reason for opening an Alzheimer’s Disease and Memory Disorders Program at the Trinity Health Hauenstein Neuroscience Center.
“Nobody else was doing it. It was a huge need.”
As the population ages, the need will become greater and the search for better treatments more urgent. His faculty appointment at the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine opened the door for collaboration between the medical school and Mercy Health.
Foley hopes to inspire medical students to join the battle against memory disorders.
Foley noted, “I looked at what I was doing at the Trinity Health Hauenstein Neuroscience Center, and I was taking care of a landslide of people. I wasn’t making enough of an impact.
Dr. Foley was instrumental in establishing West Michigan’s first and most experienced Alzheimer’s disease and memory disorders program at Trinity Health. The program has been focused for years on being able to accurately diagnose and manage all patient and caregiver needs related to memory disorders or dementia.
Services provided by the Trinity Health Medical Group, Alzheimer's & Memory Clinic:
Diagnosis confirmation and follow-up care
Memory loss medication management
Mood and behavior management
Support for medical, legal, and residential placement options
Connection to caregiver resources and support services
Caregiver support group
Comprehensive patient education
Online: Trinity Health Medical Group, Alzheimer's & Memory Clinic
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is iHeartRadio's West Michigan Weekend. West Michigan Weekend is
a weekly program designed to inform and enlighten on a
wide range of public policy issues, as well as news
and current events. Now here's your host, Phil Tower.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
In this segment, I'm really pleased to welcome back doctor
Kevin Foley. He's medical director of Trinity Health's Medical Groups
Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders Program at Trinity Health. Doctor
Foley is also an educator. He's professor with the Department
of Family and Community Medicine at the College of Osteopathic
Medicine at Michigan State University. I know my brother, a
(00:42):
proud grad of the MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine, would
want me to get that absolutely right. But let's get
down to brass tacks here. Few diagnoses are more frightening
than learning you have a diagnosis of Alzheimer's or any
other type of disease that causes dementia or for that matter,
who isn't afraid of memory issues. You hear about people
(01:03):
losing their mind and a lot of fear about that.
More than fifty million people in the world are living
with dementia, and that number is exploding, likely to double
every twenty years, reaching one hundred and thirty nine million
people in twenty fifty, which sounds like a long time away.
I just want to remind you that's only fifteen years away.
Some pretty staggering numbers. How do we keep up with that? Well,
(01:26):
we need a lot more people like doctor Foley. We
don't have a legitimate cloning program for people like doctor Fully.
But first and foremost, doctor Kevin Foley, welcome back to
the program.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
I'm glad you're here.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
Hey, thanks for having me, and I'm glad to be
able to talk more about memory loss.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Yeah, it is important and it's impacting some areas of life.
And I know in my well prepared notes there's a
section about caregivers.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Because this disease, is it right to call it a disease?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yes, sector Fully, Yeah, this disease impacts me more than
the person with the disease. It impacts their caregivers, It
impacts their families significantly. And you've seen this firsthand for decades.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Oh.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Indeed, and dementia is oftentimes referred to as a disease
that affects families.
Speaker 5 (02:15):
And as much as it effects individuals.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
And it's essential that family members be educated so that
they know how to best help and to make sure
that the quality of life of the person with memory
loss can be as good as possible.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
So let's unpack this real quick.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
And I do want to remind our audience about a
year ago, at the end of June in twenty twenty four,
Doctor Fully joined us for a program and we really
had a lot of great information in there about Alzheimer's.
Some of that and you'll hear in this program, but
a lot more depth. And I'm really happy to recommend
that program, which was one of our most downloaded podcasts
(02:50):
of twenty twenty four. Just go to Woodradio dot com
and on the left hand side of the website under
the podcast section, look for West Michigan. We can unpack
and no understand Doctor Fully Alzheimer's versus.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Dementia, just as a quick review for our listeners.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
Yeah, very common question that I get in the office.
It's easy to remember if you think about dementia as
being an outcome like daemonia. Pnemonia is an outcome of
a process, some type of an infection. It could be
a bacteria, could be a virus, et cetera. Dementia is
an outcome from a disease or some other clinical process
(03:28):
that leads a person to not be able to manage
their usual day to day affairs and to fulfill.
Speaker 5 (03:34):
Their obligations and responsibility.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
So what it's doing is describing an amount of memory loss,
and it's a significant amount if a person can't make
up their responsibilities throughout the day. But it doesn't really
speak to the cause. But Alzheimer's happens to be the
most common cause of dementia in the world, and there
are other causes as well that we might.
Speaker 5 (03:56):
Talk about today.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Yeah, and it's more than memorily memory loss. Doctor fully,
in terms of signs of dementia, it may be some
motor skills, It may be problem with just reasoning and
common problem solving. It could be personality changes as well.
Could present as a number of things, right.
Speaker 5 (04:18):
Yeah, it can.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
You know, people ask me what the textbook presentation is
for someone who has a Burman loss, and there really
isn't one. It can look like a lot of different things.
But what's important to know is that the changes represent
the departure from a person's baseline, the way that they
always used to remember and get through their day. So
if there are progressive changes that are out of the ordinary,
(04:40):
then they need to be monitored. And if they begin
to affect a person's functioning, if they can't do the
things that they need to do throughout the day, then
that's really a warning sign.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Doctor Kevin Fully with us. He is medical director Trinity
Health Medical Groups Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders program. That
this program was started a long time ago. There's a
quote on your website about you know, starting this at
the right time and you just sense that there was
this onslaught of diagnoses coming. Can you talk about that
(05:12):
take us back to when the program started. I wanted
to ask you about that because personally, this is a
passion project of yours.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Doctor Fully, Yeah, it is.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
It's a long story, but I'll make it short. I
was in private practice in the early two thousands and
I was dealing with patients in my own practice who
had no resources for their.
Speaker 5 (05:32):
Own problems with memory.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
And I remember that they were going to the Mayo
Clinic and the University of Michigan, which is quite a
ways away from here. And having had experience in taking
care of patients who have married lost and diagnosing them
and managing them. I came up with the idea of
starting a clinic, and I wasn't sure which hospital would
(05:55):
be the best location for doing that. At the time,
I had known Ralph how Einstein sior wonderful man who
was passionate about improving healthcare services in West Michigan, and
I met with him and he asked me what I
wanted to do in my career and I said, I
want to build a memory program and he said, well,
I know the place where you can do that, and
(06:16):
it was at Trinity Hill Saint Mary's and I had
a meeting with the chief executive officer, Phil mccarkole and
the chief medical officer at the time, who didn't know me.
Neither of them did, but they were very inviting and
I pitched my idea and they said, this is wonderful.
We absolutely need the service in West Michigan, and they
supported me the whole way.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
I love that story. That took a lot of courage
to do that, but you knew it was needed. And
when you've got Ralph Hollenstein on your side, that doesn't
hurt either. Oh.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
Indeed, I was very nervous in that meeting because I
hadn't met I was actually surprised that they gave me
the time to meet with them, but they were so
inviting and supportive.
Speaker 5 (06:54):
I remember that day so well.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
So as you look back on those twenty plus years
with Trinity Health and this groundbreaking program, did you predict
it would be like this in twenty twenty five or
did you just say we got to be knows to
the grindstone and try to figure this out as we go.
Speaker 5 (07:10):
Well, I had an idea.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
I didn't know that our neurology center would grow to
the extent that it did. We started out with just
two programs. I was the second. The Parkinson's program was
the initial service that was offered in neuroscience. I intentionally
talked to many primary care providers before we opened our
(07:32):
doors in the community, and I said to them, I
want to build this program. What do you want me
to do for you? And they gave me a very
long list of things that they thought would be helpful.
And so with that knowledge and that information, I really
was convinced.
Speaker 5 (07:47):
That we would be successful along the way.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
When people come to you and they get this diagnosis
of memory loss, maybe it's dementia, maybe it's Alzheimer's, maybe
it's something else. We are the and we are going
to talk about other lesser known types of memory loss.
Let's start about the diagnosis and what happens from there.
There are a lot of questions from the patient, from
(08:10):
their significant other or one of their children, their adult children.
But I think the first question everybody asks is there
is there something I can take to delay the onset
symptoms here or the symptom onset. Rather talk about that
process from diagnosis forward, doctor fully.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
Yeah, I can tell you that I can almost anticipate
and when somebody comes in to see me for the
first time, that they're going to be very anxious themselves,
and I can well understand that. In fact, when I
ask them how I can help, they oftentimes don't even
know what to say, so it takes a while for
me to understand what their agenda is, but it's almost
always the same.
Speaker 5 (08:47):
They want to know what's going on.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
They want to diagnosis so that they can to have closure,
and they want to have a plan going forward for management,
and they usually do ask about medications.
Speaker 5 (08:56):
So after I get.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
To know them, I ask them of out the story,
what has happened. You know, how has their memory changed?
Can you describe it to me? And in what way
has it impacted their ability to do those things that
they are responsible for doing, in other words, assessing their
functioning finding. After that we do memory tests, we do
a neurological exam. There may be a need for doing
(09:18):
additional tests like brain scanning and blood tests. More often
than not, the assessment can be done on a single
visit and then the diagnosis is rendered with great caution.
You I can obviously see the expression on people's faces
when I tell them that they have dementia, you know,
(09:38):
whether it's from Alzheimer's disease or some of the condition,
and it can be heartbreaking to see their reaction. You know,
they almost feel like their life is over, and then
they start conjuring up fears about how bad it can be.
In it it is not always as bad as they
think that it will be. So most of the counseling
that I give is to try and provide them with
some encouragement them know that there can be a silver
(10:02):
lining around the black cloud of dementia and that their
lives can be better than they believe that it may be.
And if they have Alzheimer's disease, then we can talk
about medications because those only that's the only diagnosis for
which we have FDA proved medications is Alzheimer's.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
General risk factors for dementia age usually sixty five years
in older, genetic predisposition, a head injury, which is one
we don't hear about a lot, cardiovascular disease, which we
do hear about the connection and importance of diet, the
importance of physical activity, not smoking, not excessively drinking alcohol.
(10:41):
We're learning a lot about alcohol and how important moderation
is in terms of alcohol. And the other one which
surprises a lot of people. Yet the Surgeon General doctor
fully I think it was a year ago, said that
loneliness is a national health crisis in this country and
that is a social isolation can really be a factor
for dementia, it can.
Speaker 5 (11:02):
You know, And that sort of speaks to the need
to keep our minds active. You know.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
I'm asked all the time about well what if I
do brain games, crossler puzzles, to douqu with.
Speaker 5 (11:11):
That sort of thing.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
Well, you know, just socializing stimulate your mind in the
same way. So lonelinesses can be a risk factor. If
you don't use your brain, then your brain knows that
and then begins to try and compensate in whatever way
that it can, and then you can lose your faculties. So,
in addition to those risk factors, which are very important
in age is certainly the most important of that list.
(11:35):
There are others too that we talked about last time.
Hearing loss is now recognized as a risk factor for dementia.
Use of certain medications that have side effects that are
called anti cool energic side effects, that's another concern. And
then sleep at MEA I see a lot of people
in the office of Sleep at me, So those are
the ones that you know, we really need to focus on.
(11:56):
And one thing that's really important to note is that
a lot of patients that I see believe that because
they have someone in their family that has dementia, that
they're next in line. And I tell them that, although yes,
there are some risk factors genetic risk factors for dementia,
Genetic dementia is very rare, interesting It really accounts for
(12:17):
a very small percentage of all people who have dementia.
It's usually sporadic, so that's important to know. And sometimes
that provides some peace of mind for family members.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
We have some other types of dementia. Alzheimer's the most
common disease causing dementia, but we have Louis body dementia,
we have fronto temporal dementia, and Louis body dementia may
be familiar to many of us because that's what Robin
Williams was diagnosed with or said to be living with,
(12:48):
and he sadly took his life. Bruce Williams was diagnosed with.
Was it a type of dementia?
Speaker 3 (12:54):
What is it? What does Bruce Williams have or what
was diagnosed with?
Speaker 4 (12:58):
Yeah, and I don't know all the d details. His
family has been keeping it somewhat private, but they have
described it as aphasia, and my hunch is that he
has primary progressive aphasia, which is a form of fronto
temporal dementia.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Interesting, do we know why there are different types of
dementia or we're just learning this as the research continues.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
Well, we are learning interestingly, fronts of temple dementia affects
middle aged adults, those who are in their fifties and sixties,
whereas Alzheimer's tends to be a condition that affects older
adults over the age of seventy five, so there is
a difference there. All of these different types of dementia
that you mentioned have different pathologies. There are some similarities,
a little bit of overlapp that they are distinct, and
(13:43):
we're still at a loss to understand why there are
so many different NERD degenerative diseases that can lead to
the same outcome.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Yeah, Doctor Kevin Fully with US medical director Trinity Health
Medical Group Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders Program. He's also
professor with the Department of Family and Community Medicine at
Michigan State University's College of Osteopathic Medicine. I want to
strongly encourage you to check out the website Trinityhealthmichigan dot org.
(14:12):
All you need to do is type in memory disorders
in the search bar. It will take you right to
the page where you can learn more about everything we're
talking about, including find a doctor to begin this journey,
or at least get checked out.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
If you have.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Suspicions, you know, I don't think I asked you the
last time. We were fortunate to have you on the program,
Doctor Fully. A lot of people think okay, doctor, fully,
my mom had Alzheimer's, she struggled with it. My grandmother
had Alzheimer's, and several of her siblings had Alzheimer's. Is
this a guarantee that I'm going to get it? Or
we could be on the paternal side. Let's talk about
(14:50):
that in terms of the familiar history with Alzheimer's.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
Yeah, And as I mentioned, there are some forms of
Alzheimer's that are familiar generally in those instances, the symptoms
begin much earlier, when adults are in their fifties or sixties.
But there is a late onset form of Alzheimer's disease
that is genetic, that affects adults at the same age
(15:13):
as the sporadic type in their sixties, seventies, and eighties.
It can be hard to distinguish. But when I see
patients in the office, I always treat them objectively. Because
they say that they have Alzheimer's in the family doesn't
necessarily influence my opinion at the beginning of.
Speaker 5 (15:33):
What may be going on.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
I take that into account, but they may have something else,
and I can tell you that very often they do.
They don't have the same condition as their family members
might have and sometimes their memory loss is treatable. But
there are circumstances in which a family may be prone
to having Alzheimer's disease, and we have ways in which
(15:56):
we can identify that now that we didn't when I
started to years ago. We have blood tests that can
determine whether or not those late on set genes are
present and are increasing a person's risk for developing familial
dementia of Alzheimer's.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Before we run out of time, I want to mention
the point forward, which I know you are a huge
advocate of making sure the person who's been diagnosed with
a type of dementia has a strong support system.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Caregivers are critical in.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
This journey, and I want you to talk about that
before we wrap up our conversation. What do you recommend
in terms of preparing yourself. If maybe adult children are
listening and they've got someone in their family who's just
been diagnosed or has been in the first year of
a diagnosis, what would you recommend to them, doctor Pully.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
You know, the emphasis really drifts over from the patient
to the family member who is the caregiver or the
caregiving team after the diagnosis has made and as I said,
it is essential that they be as well armed as
possible to go forward, because without a good caregiver, the
patient's is not going to be ideal.
Speaker 5 (17:02):
There are many resources.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
We are very fortunate in West Michigan to have the
scope of resources that we do that can help caregivers
to learn how to be better caregivers. Their training programs
that can help them build skills and knowledge. There are
support groups. There is abundant information available to them so
they can learn more about the disease and what the
(17:25):
outcome might be. So we direct them all to those
different resources and encourage them with each visit to make
sure that they are ascending on their own trajectory of
becoming skilled and hopefully even master caregivers with time, if
they are so inclined to do that.
Speaker 5 (17:45):
Most are.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
They want to do what they can for as long
as possible. But one thing I've learned is that caregivers
are made and they're not born.
Speaker 5 (17:52):
So we have to make those caregivers.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
That's such a valuable distinction. I'm so glad you said that,
doctor fully by it. By the way, Doctor Kevin fully
with us on West Michigan Weekend, head of Trinity Health
Medical groups Alzheimer's Disease and Memory disorders program.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Real quickly.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
If someone wants to be seen by you, that time
is expiring because you are retiring, and by the time
this runs on the radio, you will have retired. I
want to congratulate you on an incredibly successful and impactful
run in this area. You have certainly left a legacy
(18:32):
doctor fully in. I feel so grateful to have had
the opportunity to have you on this program and to
share your knowledge. But you assure me and our listeners
you've got some great doctors ready to see people at
Trinity's Memory disorders program. Do they need a referral from
their primary care physician?
Speaker 4 (18:49):
Yes, they still need a referral. I have an heir
parent who is wonderful. I was great concerned when I
had considered retiring that there might be some lapses and services.
But I made sure that I stayed no long enough
to make sure that everything would still be in place, yes,
when I departed, so that everyone would receive the same
(19:10):
quality of care that I would provide myself.
Speaker 5 (19:13):
So all of those services are still available.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
It's just a matter of calling our office and having
a referral from a primary care physician, and everything will
be the same as it's always been.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Feel so fortunate to have had your wisdom on this program,
and thank you for assuring our listeners of that. And congratulations.
I know retirement really doesn't mean retirement from a lot
of people these days. I can't see you sitting in
a chair for very long, and that's a good thing.
Speaker 4 (19:42):
Yes, the retirement means that I can do things on
my terms and not someone else's.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Indeed, indeed, I love it. Thank you so much for
joining us and continued good luck. I'm sure we'll run
into each other again.
Speaker 5 (19:55):
Oh well, thank you very much Schuell for having me
on the program.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Doctor Kevin Foley our guest.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
He is medical director of Trinity Health Medical Group Alzheimer's
disease and memory disorders program. With us on this edition
of West Michigan Weekend.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
You've been listening to iHeartRadio's West Michigan Weekend. West Michigan
Weekend is a production of Wood Radio and iHeartRadio.
This is iHeartRadio's West Michigan Weekend. West Michigan Weekend is
a weekly program designed to inform and enlighten on a
wide range of public policy issues, as well as news
and current events. Now here's your host, Phil Tower.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
In this segment, I'm really pleased to welcome back doctor
Kevin Foley. He's medical director of Trinity Health's Medical Groups
Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders Program at Trinity Health. Doctor
Foley is also an educator. He's professor with the Department
of Family and Community Medicine at the College of Osteopathic
Medicine at Michigan State University. I know my brother, a
(00:42):
proud grad of the MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine, would
want me to get that absolutely right. But let's get
down to brass tacks here. Few diagnoses are more frightening
than learning you have a diagnosis of Alzheimer's or any
other type of disease that causes dementia or for that matter,
who isn't afraid of memory issues. You hear about people
(01:03):
losing their mind and a lot of fear about that.
More than fifty million people in the world are living
with dementia, and that number is exploding, likely to double
every twenty years, reaching one hundred and thirty nine million
people in twenty fifty, which sounds like a long time away.
I just want to remind you that's only fifteen years away.
Some pretty staggering numbers. How do we keep up with that? Well,
(01:26):
we need a lot more people like doctor Foley. We
don't have a legitimate cloning program for people like doctor Fully.
But first and foremost, doctor Kevin Foley, welcome back to
the program.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
I'm glad you're here.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
Hey, thanks for having me, and I'm glad to be
able to talk more about memory loss.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Yeah, it is important and it's impacting some areas of life.
And I know in my well prepared notes there's a
section about caregivers.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Because this disease, is it right to call it a disease?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yes, sector Fully, Yeah, this disease impacts me more than
the person with the disease. It impacts their caregivers, It
impacts their families significantly. And you've seen this firsthand for decades.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Oh.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Indeed, and dementia is oftentimes referred to as a disease
that affects families.
Speaker 5 (02:15):
And as much as it effects individuals.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
And it's essential that family members be educated so that
they know how to best help and to make sure
that the quality of life of the person with memory
loss can be as good as possible.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
So let's unpack this real quick.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
And I do want to remind our audience about a
year ago, at the end of June in twenty twenty four,
Doctor Fully joined us for a program and we really
had a lot of great information in there about Alzheimer's.
Some of that and you'll hear in this program, but
a lot more depth. And I'm really happy to recommend
that program, which was one of our most downloaded podcasts
(02:50):
of twenty twenty four. Just go to Woodradio dot com
and on the left hand side of the website under
the podcast section, look for West Michigan. We can unpack
and no understand Doctor Fully Alzheimer's versus.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Dementia, just as a quick review for our listeners.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
Yeah, very common question that I get in the office.
It's easy to remember if you think about dementia as
being an outcome like daemonia. Pnemonia is an outcome of
a process, some type of an infection. It could be
a bacteria, could be a virus, et cetera. Dementia is
an outcome from a disease or some other clinical process
(03:28):
that leads a person to not be able to manage
their usual day to day affairs and to fulfill.
Speaker 5 (03:34):
Their obligations and responsibility.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
So what it's doing is describing an amount of memory loss,
and it's a significant amount if a person can't make
up their responsibilities throughout the day. But it doesn't really
speak to the cause. But Alzheimer's happens to be the
most common cause of dementia in the world, and there
are other causes as well that we might.
Speaker 5 (03:56):
Talk about today.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Yeah, and it's more than memorily memory loss. Doctor fully,
in terms of signs of dementia, it may be some
motor skills, It may be problem with just reasoning and
common problem solving. It could be personality changes as well.
Could present as a number of things, right.
Speaker 5 (04:18):
Yeah, it can.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
You know, people ask me what the textbook presentation is
for someone who has a Burman loss, and there really
isn't one. It can look like a lot of different things.
But what's important to know is that the changes represent
the departure from a person's baseline, the way that they
always used to remember and get through their day. So
if there are progressive changes that are out of the ordinary,
(04:40):
then they need to be monitored. And if they begin
to affect a person's functioning, if they can't do the
things that they need to do throughout the day, then
that's really a warning sign.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Doctor Kevin Fully with us. He is medical director Trinity
Health Medical Groups Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders program. That
this program was started a long time ago. There's a
quote on your website about you know, starting this at
the right time and you just sense that there was
this onslaught of diagnoses coming. Can you talk about that
(05:12):
take us back to when the program started. I wanted
to ask you about that because personally, this is a
passion project of yours.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Doctor Fully, Yeah, it is.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
It's a long story, but I'll make it short. I
was in private practice in the early two thousands and
I was dealing with patients in my own practice who
had no resources for their.
Speaker 5 (05:32):
Own problems with memory.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
And I remember that they were going to the Mayo
Clinic and the University of Michigan, which is quite a
ways away from here. And having had experience in taking
care of patients who have married lost and diagnosing them
and managing them. I came up with the idea of
starting a clinic, and I wasn't sure which hospital would
(05:55):
be the best location for doing that. At the time,
I had known Ralph how Einstein sior wonderful man who
was passionate about improving healthcare services in West Michigan, and
I met with him and he asked me what I
wanted to do in my career and I said, I
want to build a memory program and he said, well,
I know the place where you can do that, and
(06:16):
it was at Trinity Hill Saint Mary's and I had
a meeting with the chief executive officer, Phil mccarkole and
the chief medical officer at the time, who didn't know me.
Neither of them did, but they were very inviting and
I pitched my idea and they said, this is wonderful.
We absolutely need the service in West Michigan, and they
supported me the whole way.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
I love that story. That took a lot of courage
to do that, but you knew it was needed. And
when you've got Ralph Hollenstein on your side, that doesn't
hurt either. Oh.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
Indeed, I was very nervous in that meeting because I
hadn't met I was actually surprised that they gave me
the time to meet with them, but they were so
inviting and supportive.
Speaker 5 (06:54):
I remember that day so well.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
So as you look back on those twenty plus years
with Trinity Health and this groundbreaking program, did you predict
it would be like this in twenty twenty five or
did you just say we got to be knows to
the grindstone and try to figure this out as we go.
Speaker 5 (07:10):
Well, I had an idea.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
I didn't know that our neurology center would grow to
the extent that it did. We started out with just
two programs. I was the second. The Parkinson's program was
the initial service that was offered in neuroscience. I intentionally
talked to many primary care providers before we opened our
(07:32):
doors in the community, and I said to them, I
want to build this program. What do you want me
to do for you? And they gave me a very
long list of things that they thought would be helpful.
And so with that knowledge and that information, I really
was convinced.
Speaker 5 (07:47):
That we would be successful along the way.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
When people come to you and they get this diagnosis
of memory loss, maybe it's dementia, maybe it's Alzheimer's, maybe
it's something else. We are the and we are going
to talk about other lesser known types of memory loss.
Let's start about the diagnosis and what happens from there.
There are a lot of questions from the patient, from
(08:10):
their significant other or one of their children, their adult children.
But I think the first question everybody asks is there
is there something I can take to delay the onset
symptoms here or the symptom onset. Rather talk about that
process from diagnosis forward, doctor fully.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
Yeah, I can tell you that I can almost anticipate
and when somebody comes in to see me for the
first time, that they're going to be very anxious themselves,
and I can well understand that. In fact, when I
ask them how I can help, they oftentimes don't even
know what to say, so it takes a while for
me to understand what their agenda is, but it's almost
always the same.
Speaker 5 (08:47):
They want to know what's going on.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
They want to diagnosis so that they can to have closure,
and they want to have a plan going forward for management,
and they usually do ask about medications.
Speaker 5 (08:56):
So after I get.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
To know them, I ask them of out the story,
what has happened. You know, how has their memory changed?
Can you describe it to me? And in what way
has it impacted their ability to do those things that
they are responsible for doing, in other words, assessing their
functioning finding. After that we do memory tests, we do
a neurological exam. There may be a need for doing
(09:18):
additional tests like brain scanning and blood tests. More often
than not, the assessment can be done on a single
visit and then the diagnosis is rendered with great caution.
You I can obviously see the expression on people's faces
when I tell them that they have dementia, you know,
(09:38):
whether it's from Alzheimer's disease or some of the condition,
and it can be heartbreaking to see their reaction. You know,
they almost feel like their life is over, and then
they start conjuring up fears about how bad it can be.
In it it is not always as bad as they
think that it will be. So most of the counseling
that I give is to try and provide them with
some encouragement them know that there can be a silver
(10:02):
lining around the black cloud of dementia and that their
lives can be better than they believe that it may be.
And if they have Alzheimer's disease, then we can talk
about medications because those only that's the only diagnosis for
which we have FDA proved medications is Alzheimer's.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
General risk factors for dementia age usually sixty five years
in older, genetic predisposition, a head injury, which is one
we don't hear about a lot, cardiovascular disease, which we
do hear about the connection and importance of diet, the
importance of physical activity, not smoking, not excessively drinking alcohol.
(10:41):
We're learning a lot about alcohol and how important moderation
is in terms of alcohol. And the other one which
surprises a lot of people. Yet the Surgeon General doctor
fully I think it was a year ago, said that
loneliness is a national health crisis in this country and
that is a social isolation can really be a factor
for dementia, it can.
Speaker 5 (11:02):
You know, And that sort of speaks to the need
to keep our minds active. You know.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
I'm asked all the time about well what if I
do brain games, crossler puzzles, to douqu with.
Speaker 5 (11:11):
That sort of thing.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
Well, you know, just socializing stimulate your mind in the
same way. So lonelinesses can be a risk factor. If
you don't use your brain, then your brain knows that
and then begins to try and compensate in whatever way
that it can, and then you can lose your faculties. So,
in addition to those risk factors, which are very important
in age is certainly the most important of that list.
(11:35):
There are others too that we talked about last time.
Hearing loss is now recognized as a risk factor for dementia.
Use of certain medications that have side effects that are
called anti cool energic side effects, that's another concern. And
then sleep at MEA I see a lot of people
in the office of Sleep at me, So those are
the ones that you know, we really need to focus on.
(11:56):
And one thing that's really important to note is that
a lot of patients that I see believe that because
they have someone in their family that has dementia, that
they're next in line. And I tell them that, although yes,
there are some risk factors genetic risk factors for dementia,
Genetic dementia is very rare, interesting It really accounts for
(12:17):
a very small percentage of all people who have dementia.
It's usually sporadic, so that's important to know. And sometimes
that provides some peace of mind for family members.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
We have some other types of dementia. Alzheimer's the most
common disease causing dementia, but we have Louis body dementia,
we have fronto temporal dementia, and Louis body dementia may
be familiar to many of us because that's what Robin
Williams was diagnosed with or said to be living with,
(12:48):
and he sadly took his life. Bruce Williams was diagnosed with.
Was it a type of dementia?
Speaker 3 (12:54):
What is it? What does Bruce Williams have or what
was diagnosed with?
Speaker 4 (12:58):
Yeah, and I don't know all the d details. His
family has been keeping it somewhat private, but they have
described it as aphasia, and my hunch is that he
has primary progressive aphasia, which is a form of fronto
temporal dementia.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Interesting, do we know why there are different types of
dementia or we're just learning this as the research continues.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
Well, we are learning interestingly, fronts of temple dementia affects
middle aged adults, those who are in their fifties and sixties,
whereas Alzheimer's tends to be a condition that affects older
adults over the age of seventy five, so there is
a difference there. All of these different types of dementia
that you mentioned have different pathologies. There are some similarities,
a little bit of overlapp that they are distinct, and
(13:43):
we're still at a loss to understand why there are
so many different NERD degenerative diseases that can lead to
the same outcome.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Yeah, Doctor Kevin Fully with US medical director Trinity Health
Medical Group Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders Program. He's also
professor with the Department of Family and Community Medicine at
Michigan State University's College of Osteopathic Medicine. I want to
strongly encourage you to check out the website Trinityhealthmichigan dot org.
(14:12):
All you need to do is type in memory disorders
in the search bar. It will take you right to
the page where you can learn more about everything we're
talking about, including find a doctor to begin this journey,
or at least get checked out.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
If you have.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Suspicions, you know, I don't think I asked you the
last time. We were fortunate to have you on the program,
Doctor Fully. A lot of people think okay, doctor, fully,
my mom had Alzheimer's, she struggled with it. My grandmother
had Alzheimer's, and several of her siblings had Alzheimer's. Is
this a guarantee that I'm going to get it? Or
we could be on the paternal side. Let's talk about
(14:50):
that in terms of the familiar history with Alzheimer's.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
Yeah, And as I mentioned, there are some forms of
Alzheimer's that are familiar generally in those instances, the symptoms
begin much earlier, when adults are in their fifties or sixties.
But there is a late onset form of Alzheimer's disease
that is genetic, that affects adults at the same age
(15:13):
as the sporadic type in their sixties, seventies, and eighties.
It can be hard to distinguish. But when I see
patients in the office, I always treat them objectively. Because
they say that they have Alzheimer's in the family doesn't
necessarily influence my opinion at the beginning of.
Speaker 5 (15:33):
What may be going on.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
I take that into account, but they may have something else,
and I can tell you that very often they do.
They don't have the same condition as their family members
might have and sometimes their memory loss is treatable. But
there are circumstances in which a family may be prone
to having Alzheimer's disease, and we have ways in which
(15:56):
we can identify that now that we didn't when I
started to years ago. We have blood tests that can
determine whether or not those late on set genes are
present and are increasing a person's risk for developing familial
dementia of Alzheimer's.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Before we run out of time, I want to mention
the point forward, which I know you are a huge
advocate of making sure the person who's been diagnosed with
a type of dementia has a strong support system.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Caregivers are critical in.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
This journey, and I want you to talk about that
before we wrap up our conversation. What do you recommend
in terms of preparing yourself. If maybe adult children are
listening and they've got someone in their family who's just
been diagnosed or has been in the first year of
a diagnosis, what would you recommend to them, doctor Pully.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
You know, the emphasis really drifts over from the patient
to the family member who is the caregiver or the
caregiving team after the diagnosis has made and as I said,
it is essential that they be as well armed as
possible to go forward, because without a good caregiver, the
patient's is not going to be ideal.
Speaker 5 (17:02):
There are many resources.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
We are very fortunate in West Michigan to have the
scope of resources that we do that can help caregivers
to learn how to be better caregivers. Their training programs
that can help them build skills and knowledge. There are
support groups. There is abundant information available to them so
they can learn more about the disease and what the
(17:25):
outcome might be. So we direct them all to those
different resources and encourage them with each visit to make
sure that they are ascending on their own trajectory of
becoming skilled and hopefully even master caregivers with time, if
they are so inclined to do that.
Speaker 5 (17:45):
Most are.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
They want to do what they can for as long
as possible. But one thing I've learned is that caregivers
are made and they're not born.
Speaker 5 (17:52):
So we have to make those caregivers.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
That's such a valuable distinction. I'm so glad you said that,
doctor fully by it. By the way, Doctor Kevin fully
with us on West Michigan Weekend, head of Trinity Health
Medical groups Alzheimer's Disease and Memory disorders program.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Real quickly.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
If someone wants to be seen by you, that time
is expiring because you are retiring, and by the time
this runs on the radio, you will have retired. I
want to congratulate you on an incredibly successful and impactful
run in this area. You have certainly left a legacy
(18:32):
doctor fully in. I feel so grateful to have had
the opportunity to have you on this program and to
share your knowledge. But you assure me and our listeners
you've got some great doctors ready to see people at
Trinity's Memory disorders program. Do they need a referral from
their primary care physician?
Speaker 4 (18:49):
Yes, they still need a referral. I have an heir
parent who is wonderful. I was great concerned when I
had considered retiring that there might be some lapses and services.
But I made sure that I stayed no long enough
to make sure that everything would still be in place, yes,
when I departed, so that everyone would receive the same
(19:10):
quality of care that I would provide myself.
Speaker 5 (19:13):
So all of those services are still available.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
It's just a matter of calling our office and having
a referral from a primary care physician, and everything will
be the same as it's always been.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Feel so fortunate to have had your wisdom on this program,
and thank you for assuring our listeners of that. And congratulations.
I know retirement really doesn't mean retirement from a lot
of people these days. I can't see you sitting in
a chair for very long, and that's a good thing.
Speaker 4 (19:42):
Yes, the retirement means that I can do things on
my terms and not someone else's.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Indeed, indeed, I love it. Thank you so much for
joining us and continued good luck. I'm sure we'll run
into each other again.
Speaker 5 (19:55):
Oh well, thank you very much Schuell for having me
on the program.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Doctor Kevin Foley our guest.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
He is medical director of Trinity Health Medical Group Alzheimer's
disease and memory disorders program. With us on this edition
of West Michigan Weekend.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
You've been listening to iHeartRadio's West Michigan Weekend. West Michigan
Weekend is a production of Wood Radio and iHeartRadio.
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