August 12, 2015

Today's Top Alzheimer's News

USA2 SPOTLIGHT

ICYMI: An August 4, 2015 Boomer Generation Radio program with Rabbi Rabbi Richard Address featured a discussion with Jane Thibault, professor emeritus in gerontology at the University of Kentucky, about new communal approaches to baby boomer aging. Rabbi Address and Jane Thibault are both founders of the ClergyAgainstAlzheimer’s Network. 


MUST READS

An August 12, 2015 New York Times article reported on new research linking moderate exercise and cognition. According to the article, “For the new study, which was published last month in PLOS One, scientists with the University of Kansas Alzheimer’s Disease Center in Fairway, Kan., and other institutions recently decided to see if they could determine just how much exercise is needed to improve the ability to think…In general, the researchers found, most of the exercisers showed improvements in their thinking skills, especially in their ability to control their attention and to create visual maps of spaces in their heads, two aspects of cognition that are known to decline with age. But these gains were about the same whether people had exercised for 75 minutes a week or 225 minutes. Those volunteers who had exercised the most scored slightly better on some cognitive tests at the end of the study period than those exercising less, but the difference was barely significant.”

An August 11, 2015 Harvard Business Review article highlighted CareMore Health System’s experience with coordinated dementia care planning. According to the article, “To address this problem, CareMore built a multidisciplinary team that takes a broad view of the issues confronted by patients with dementia, including preventing falls, providing a safe environment, ensuring that medicines are being safely taken, legal challenges, and nutrition. Patients and their families were given access to a program to educate them about common issues faced by dementia patients and what to expect as the disease worsens. Every patient in the program has a care plan tailored to his or her need and stage. Our pilot effort in brain health involved 42 patients. In the first year, patients had 10 total ER visits and 71% of patients suffered a fall. In the second year, there were no hospitalizations, only 14% reported any kind of falls, and just one had to go to the ER due to injuries suffered in fall. CareMore is in the process of scaling the pilot to a systemwide initiative for more than 100,000 patients.”

An August 11, 2015 Financial Advisor article reported that a California broker “admitted to stealing from funds controlled by his elderly mother and an Alzheimer’s patient to help friends buy luxury goods and pay off gambling debts, according to the SEC.”

An August 11, 2015 NBC 29 broadcast and article reported that “Greater Charlottesville Home Instead Senior Care is starting a new program to train businesses in how to deal with customers who may be dealing with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia.”