Answers For Elders Radio Network – Details, episodes & analysis

Volunteer groups advocate to make a difference in the lives of people facing Alzheimer's and dementia. Jim Wilgus, Executive Director for the Washington State Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association, joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders Radio Show to talk about various ways you can help the search for a cure.

Jim says, "There's a lot of ways for folks to engage with the Alzheimer's Association, whether you're in need of services yourself, or you want to volunteer for a clinical trial, or you want to volunteer for an event, or be a community educate educator in your home community. We're present with Walk events in 600 communities across the United States and over almost 30 in my territory.

"There's all kinds of ways for people to get involved. Certainly if you're in need of services, that's a place to start your journey, to access services at the local level or at a 24/7, 365 day year level. Contact our helpline at 1 800 272-3900. We have master's level social workers that work at that helpline to provide care and support services and advice to individuals, but also they're available with our central information around what's happening locally that you can get involved with.

"Another great place to go is our website www.alz.org, and you can access a myriad of resources there, but also find your local chapter. Getting involved as a volunteer, or seeking our services, is a good first step to begin your journey of supporting the Alzheimer's Association or gaining services from the Alzheimer's Association.

"A one time opportunity could be to participate in your state's Advocacy Day, which actually has individuals from all parts of the state. We held ours last week in Olympia here in Washington. We had over 100 individuals at the state capitol in Olympia who visited with every legislator on a scheduled appointment to talk about the agenda that we were promoting to support Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. We were in Juneau last week in Alaska. If you're in Des Moines, if you're in Santa Fe, if you're in Annapolis, there's a state advocacy day for every single state. It's just as easy as finding the information on our website and learning about when those dates are, and how you can register."

Visit https://www.alz.org/trialmatch to find clinical trials in your area.

• Alzheimer's Association website
• About Alzheimer's and Dementia
• Call their helpline at 800.272.3900
• Hear more podcasts about the Alzheimer's Association
• Hear more podcasts about the Walk to End Alzheimers

Check out our affiliate podcast Alzheimer’s Speaks

Jim Wilgus, Executive Director for the Washington State Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association, joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders Radio Show to talk about the need for participants in Alzheimer's clinical trials.

Jim says, "There are circumstances, certainly, where Alzheimer's disease is prevalent within family units, but there's also incidents where it's not. And that's what makes Alzheimer's disease such a mystery, and why research and clinical trials are so important. There's also known evidence that Alzheimer's disease and other dementia are more prevalent in certain populations, particularly African Americans and Hispanic Americans.

"There are needs for all kinds of individuals. And certainly some trials don't require a diagnosis, some trials do. But the bottom line is we need participants in trials. They're safe, they're ethically sound and founded. Many of them are at universities and hospitals, and new treatments for Alzheimer's disease and other dementia are nearly impossible without clinical trials. Many more participants are needed, including people, as I mentioned, with dementia or those who are at risk of developing it. Also, for caregivers, or healthy volunteers, with no dementia issues. All are urgently needed for the hundreds and hundreds of trials that take place throughout the United States."

Visit https://www.alz.org/trialmatch to find clinical trials in your area.

• Alzheimer's Association website
• About Alzheimer's and Dementia
• Call their helpline at 800.272.3900
• Hear more podcasts about the Alzheimer's Association
• Hear more podcasts about the Walk to End Alzheimers

Check out our affiliate podcast Alzheimer’s Speaks

Daphne Davis from Pinnacle Senior Placements in Seattle, Washington joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders Radio Show to talk about why and how to choose a referral agent to help with making choices about a senior parent.

Daphne says, "When you don't have enough information about making a really serious decision or consequential decision, inevitably what I have found is that people have to make another decision in a very short amount of time. What is the right fit for my mom or dad? I don't want to limit it to just talking to adult children and talking about your mom and dad, but let me just generically paint that picture. Even if you're looking for yourself, having enough information so that you don't have to move again is probably one of the things that could motivate consumers to want to explore a referral agent.

"Many times we can think we can do this ourselves [with] a computer and the Internet... But in this scenario, people are very unique, and they do not fit into a cookie cutter, one-size-fits-all group... It's so important to me to find to be able to meet the loved one. And I don't I don't care if it's for 2 minutes or 2 hours. There's a uniqueness in the energy of your loved one that is important to pick up on. And that's one of the things that in choosing a referral agent, make sure that they're not going to just work off of piece of paper of symptoms and general allergies... Inviting a professional to help you in figuring out where is your mom or dad right now, or where are you right now in the journey of life? What chapter of life are you in to have someone be able to come in and take a snapshot picture of today?"

Daphne adds, "What are our highest values in making this move? Why are we making this move? What are the things that have to exist in this new place called home for your loved one? Once you've established what those highest values are, then you as a family — and I'm going to just talk as a family — you can keep each other accountable to that litmus to that list of highest values and not get in the weeds, but mom really liked doing Fill in the Blank. And she was 40 years old when she did that... So sticking to what are the highest values, that's what a referral agent will do, will help walk through discovering what are the important things to talk about.

"I'm going to generically say in our later years in life, whatever number that starts out, but 80, 90 years old, being able to to say, what is it today? Yeah, Dad used to like to go out and go fishing and he still has that interest, but he's not fishing anymore. But now he wants to talk about it. Or now he wants to educate other people about how fishing, or he wants to be proud of his collection of fly fishing poles, whatever it is... it's not choosing a community that he gets to go out on the river and go fishing."

Reach Pinnacle at 1-855-734-1500 or visit PinnacleSeniorPlacements.com.

Learn more:

• Pinnacle Senior Placements at Answers for Elders
• About Daphne Davis
• Hear more podcasts with Daphne Davis

Check out our affiliate podcast Alzheimer’s Speaks.

Daphne Davis of Pinnacle Senior Placements joins Suzanne to offer tips for dealing with complex family dynamics of helping a struggling senior loved one. Be the son and daughter, don't try to parent your parent.

Daphne says, "My first golden tip would be: if anyone has an opinion, or wants to be a part of a process, or will have a thought about what should happen with mom and dad, they need to be involved in gathering the information from the very beginning. Everyone needs to hear the conversations, everyone needs to get the printed matter. Even if they say 'I trust you, you take care of it,' because inevitably we're curious people, we're gonna ask a question and the person who's at the front line is gonna go, 'I've done all this work already. I've narrowed it to these things. You said you trusted me.'

"Those conversations need to be collective. I encourage people to have a third party. If you have a situation where someone lives out of town — or the relationships between child and parent are strained, or very different, or there's 19 years between the oldest and the youngest siblings, there's gonna be different perspectives — have these conversations together. 

"The other thing that I would really suggest is having it agreed upon by all people involved that we are going to stick to the following highest values, which means you go through a process of discovering what are the highest values from your perspective with a child. What is an example of that? Mom could never give up her gardening. She's got to have some kind of place to be gardening. That's a high value. If they're going to assisted living or independent living, she's got to have a garden. Dad has to have a TV room, dad has to have his own space, he has a collection that he has to keep. There might be something from a religious point of view. They might need to be close to their church or their synagogue. There might be a difference in perspective concerning finances. Mom and dad have money, let's just assume they have some money that they can privately pay for their own care, and they've worked hard for that. And one perspective is they should spend their money on themselves. But mom or dad says no, no, no, we gotta leave something for our kids."

• Pinnacle Senior Placements website
  
• More podcasts with Daphne Davis
• Check out our affiliate podcast Alzheimer’s Speaks

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Chuck Olmstead interviews Patriot’s Landing resident Bill North, a retired Sergeant Major with the U.S. Army. He was born on a farm in Oklahoma in 1932. He joined the National Guard in Fort Sill when he was 16, becoming a cannoneer. The battalion was mobilized for the Korean War, trained by the U.S. Army, shipped out to Japan and finally to Korea.

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In Alzheimer's and in all stages of Dementia, conversation is based on the moment. We've all been taught to be real and truthful, not to lie. But Daphne Davis at Pinnacle Senior Placements suggeststhat white lies are okay at this stage, because they keep someone calm. It's important because their reality is their reality. It's more of staying in the moment with them – the little details don't matter when their reality is what they believe.

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Chuck Olmstead interviews Patriot’s Landing resident Gil Conforti, a retired lieutenant colonel from the U.S. Army. He was born in 1935 in Massachusetts. His father passed away when he was in high school, so he went to work to help support the family. After his 17th birthday, he joined the National Guard. He enjoyed his work, and in 1955 he enlisted in the regular army. He spent 16 months in Korea near the demarkation line, earning promotions to staff seargant.

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Owner Vanessa Carr with Care at Home Seattle says don't wait for care.

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Chuck Olmstead interviews Patriot’s Landing resident Roberta "Bobbie" Quarm, a wife of a retired United States Army serviceman who served for 24 years and was injured in Vietnam. She was born in Cincinnati and lived in Philadelphia during high school, graduating in 1955. She joined the USO and Red Cross. She met her husband of 51 years at Fort Dix in New Jersey, where they married. They were stationed three times at Fort Lewis in Tacoma, Washington.

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Taking away the mystery, Daphne Davis at Pinnacle Senior Placements explains what families can expect with an advisor. She starts as an information post for our families, as an educator. Pinnacle Senior Placements doesn't charge families for our services as advisors. She's paid like a realtor. She works with every community of care in the state of Washington. She's totally transparent, regardless of whether she has a contract with them or not, she works with them. Her motivation is to take away some of the stress of making very big decisions for our loved ones.

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