Answers For Elders Radio Network

Suzanne joins Tiana Jackson and Kelaiah Erickson talking about the new senior living and memory care community MorningStar at Laurelhurst that is opening spring 2023 in Portland, Oregon. This segment focuses on MorningStar's involvement in the local community and its commitment to make a positive impact on the world. Each community works with a local charity, and Laurelhurst works with a local senior center to host birthdays and other events there. They are also connected with an Alzheimer's Walk they do each year, do volunteer work with their local Lion's Club, and more. MorningStar at Laurelhurst is located at 3140 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland, OR 97232. To learn more, visit the community's website at  or call (971) 248-7720. You can also hear more podcasts about MorningStar's Oregon communities.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tiana Jackson and Kelaiah Erickson join Suzanne to provide all sorts of information on MorningStar at Laurelhurst, a new senior living and memory care community opening spring 2023 in Portland, Oregon. This segment focuses on memory care. Tiana and Kelaiah discuss quality of care and Lavender Sky, their signature program that trains team members on how to properly approach a resident in memory care who has dementia or Alzheimer's. MorningStar at Laurelhurst is located at 3140 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland, OR 97232. To learn more, visit the community's website at  or call (971) 248-7720. You can also hear more podcasts about MorningStar's Oregon communities.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tiana Jackson and Kelaiah Erickson join Suzanne to talk more about MorningStar at Laurelhurst in Portland, Oregon, a brand new senior living and memory care community opening in spring 2023. This segment focuses on assisted living. Tiana and Kelaiah describe what a typical day is like for residents, services available, and the types of daily activities that are available through their comprehensive life enrichment program. MorningStar at Laurelhurst is located at 3140 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland, OR 97232. To learn more, visit the community's website at  or call (971) 248-7720. You can also hear more podcasts about MorningStar's Oregon communities.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tiana Jackson and Kelaiah Erickson join Suzanne to talk about the brand new senior living and memory care community MorningStar at Laurelhurst in Portland, Oregon, which will open in spring 2023. Tiana Jackson is Senior Executive Director for the Oregon communities. Kelaiah Erickson is Director of Community Relations at Laurelhurst. Tiana and Kelaiah provide an overview of community planning, and how Laurelhurst fits into the MorningStar culture and philosophy of growth and vitality through their Radiance program. MorningStar at Laurelhurst is located at 3140 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland, OR 97232. To learn more, visit the community's website at  or call (971) 248-7720. You can also hear more podcasts about MorningStar's Oregon communities.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Brittany Fleshman, VP of Culture and Program Development at MorningStar Senior Living, joins Suzanne from the corporate office in Colorado to talk more about MorningStar's guiding principles. The three principles are to honor God in their business practices and relationships, to invest generously in the team's ability to serve well, and to value all seniors as gifted and contributing individuals. What that means, in terms of daily practice, is doing the right thing, treating people how they themselves want to be treated. That's service at its finest. Residents have so much to give. Truly listening to their residents gives them dignity and peace. Learn more about MorningStar, their culture, and find more of their podcasts here and here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There are a lot of senior living programs out there, but it's important to understand that they're not all the same. Some of them stand for something, and during this hour Brittany Fleshman, VP of Culture and Program Development at MorningStar Senior Living, joins Suzanne from the corporate office in Colorado to talk about what sets MorningStar apart, with the principles and values of their organization. But they don't stop there. This segment focuses on local outreach, communities giving back to their own local communities. All of their communities are asked to get involved with a local charity of their choice. The home office in Colorado, for instance, helps with the Denver Children's Home. Giving back locally is very important to them. Learn more about MorningStar, their culture, and find more of their podcasts here and here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Brittany Fleshman, VP of Culture and Program Development at MorningStar Senior Living, joins Suzanne from the corporate office in Colorado to talk about MorningStar's residents. The Radiance program communicates trust in numerous ways. When they have families come in, they sit down with them and start from ground zero, answering what is assisted living, what is independent living or memory care, what's dementia, and then learning the ins and outs of their loved ones. They talk all aspects, what they're going to expect, what they're experiencing right now, in making what we do for their loved ones very specific and real, to meet their needs and wants. Learn more about MorningStar, their culture, and find more of their podcasts here and here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Brittany Fleshman, VP of Culture and Program Development at MorningStar Senior Living, joins Suzanne from the corporate office in Colorado to talk about the company's foundational vision and mission. Their core values of love, honesty, kindness, goodness, fairness, and respect show up in everything they do, from new hire paperwork, to when residents move in, to their Radiance program, their customer service hospitality initiative. Their three principles are to honor God in their business practices and relationships, to invest generously in the team's ability to serve well, and to value all seniors as gifted and contributing individuals. Learn more about MorningStar, their culture, and find more of their podcasts here and here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Elder law attorney Jim Koewler joins Suzanne to talk about setting up your estate plan and the people needed to complete various documents, such as powers of attorney, wills, living wills, revocable trusts, and irrevocable third-party trusts. This segment covers setting up irrevocable third-party trusts. Irrevocable Third-Party Trust for disabled person Grantors are initial trustees Successor trustee Successor trustee approaches First approach- Trustee: Person who will look out for disabled beneficiary but will not cave in to unreasonable demands for money from trust and will not resent having to deal with beneficiary Second approach- Trustee: Bank or trust company or trusted family member- Distribution Committee (to make decisions on when to pay out for benefit of beneficiary, taking pressure off the trustee) Special needs attorney Social worker Family member(s) (maybe) HIPAA Release(Gives access to health information. Doesn't grand decision-making authority.) Include everyone who is named in Health Care Power of Attorney Include any other family members or friends who are likely to help look after you if you need care (long-term or otherwise) Listen in to hear details and explanations. Learn more about Jim Koewler at Answer for Elders or at his website, and look here to see a list of all of Jim's podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Elder law attorney Jim Koewler joins Suzanne to talk about setting up your estate plan and the people needed to complete various documents, such as powers of attorney, wills, living wills, revocable trusts, and irrevocable third-party trusts. This segment covers revocable trusts. Revocable Trust Initial Trustee: Grantors (the people setting up the trust in the first place) Successor Trustee (after initial trustees both diseased or physically/mentally unable to continue as trustee): Person who gets stuff done, meets deadlines, and doesn't buckle under pressure (just like backup executor for Will) Listen in to hear details and explanations. Learn more about Jim Koewler at Answer for Elders or at his website, and look here to see a list of all of Jim's podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Elder law attorney Jim Koewler joins Suzanne to talk about setting up your estate plan and the people needed to complete various documents, such as powers of attorney, wills, living wills, revocable trusts, and irrevocable third-party trusts. This segment covers wills. Living Will Person to receive phone call (that Principal seems to have suffered traumatic brain damage): Probably spouse First alternate person to receive phone call: Person most likely to take in Principal (person signing the Living Will) if Principal needs long-term care (same for Powers of Attorney) Second successor agent: Person second-most likely to take in Principal if Principal needs long-term care Etc. (Note: The person listed on Living Will to receive the phone call doesn't have any "power," but many families don't know that. So, to avoid "power struggles" among family members, it is prudent to list the same people in the Living Will as are named in the Powers of Attorney.) Will Executor: Spouse first Backup Executor (if spouse not able): Person who gets stuff done, meets deadlines, and doesn't buckle under pressure from other heirs Listen in to hear details and explanations. Learn more about Jim Koewler at Answer for Elders or at his website, and look here to see a list of all of Jim's podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Elder law attorney Jim Koewler joins Suzanne to talk about setting up your estate plan and the people needed to complete various documents, such as powers of attorney, wills, living wills, revocable trusts, and irrevocable third-party trusts. This segment covers Powers of Attorney. Agent: Probably spouse (unless spouse cracks under pressure of making decisions for others) First successor agent: Person most likely to take in Principal (person signing the POA) if Principal needs long-term care) Second successor agent: Person second-most likely to take in Principal if Principal needs long-term care) Etc. Jim suggests naming the same agents and successor agents in both the General and Health Care Powers of Attorney so that, should you ever need long-term care, the person providing care also has the ability to hire help and to pay for it. Listen in to hear details and explanations. Learn more about Jim Koewler at Answer for Elders or at his website, and look here to see a list of all of Jim's podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kelley Smith from CarePartners Senior Living joins Suzanne to add insights and advice to the fifth and sixth of Teepa Snow's six tips for making holidays successful for those who have Alzheimer's and dementia, providing advice and insight. Tip 5: Accept General Comments. Kelley says, "If mom and dad have some memory issues, help them. Teepa gives an example, if you're Jewish, of setting the menorah on the mantle, but she says Mom might not understand the word menorah. So maybe what you do is, you pick up the menorah. 'Mom, would you like me to put this over here?' and show her as you're doing it. Mom, do you like the green lights of the white lights? Maybe you show her the lights. A lot of times with dementia, the detail is what becomes missing. Grandpa might not be able to describe things specifically, like when you're helping him get his dinner plate together. Sometimes it's very general. They might say, I want the bird. I don't want that yellow stuff. Show Dad the cranberries, this cranberry sauce. 'Dad, do you like this, you used to like this.' And don't make him describe it to you until he wants it, help him. And that's kind of what she's getting at with that. Keep it simple." Tip 6: Give Room For a Getaway. Kelley clarifies, "I'm a grown up. I can go get in my car and I can drive away, and I can go get away from everybody if I need you. If I have dementia, I can't do that. So if you're gonna have mom or dad over, do you have a room that has a bed, that's on the first floor, easy to get to, that's a quiet space, if they are overwhelmed and they just need to get away from everybody? They're not ready to go home yet, but just need a break. Do you have a quiet spot where they can just go reconnect for a minute? Take a nap, be able to put your feet up for a minute. Sometimes that's all they need, a little bit of quiet time, and they can come back and join the rest of the family recharged again." Suzanne adds, "Make it a kid-free zone, too. Let the kids know, grandpa's just gonna go be quiet for a few minutes. Leave him alone for a little bit. Give them that opportunity to recharge. There are many of us in this world who need that, and don't have dementia yet. Now put somebody who's having a hard time keeping up with the conversations, who can't describe how good dinner was because they can't find their words, and that's exhausting. Think about how tired they are, you know. So I love that advice, give them some space." As an alternative to having everybody together in one big event, spread out the holiday. Kelley says, "It depends on where they're at with their dementia journey. Depending on the type of work that you do, many people are off this week. If you have that kind of time, why cram everything into one day? They're not gonna remember half of it if you do that anyway. You can have dinner at your house and have lunch with mom a day later. If taking her out is too much for her, there are other things you can do. If you've got family coming in from out of town that they'd like to see, if they live in assistant living, call the community, check visiting stuff, see if they've got anything going on — some of them have holiday dinners that you can sign up for. Lots of places like ours, we even have private dining rooms. You could come in, and bring the kids from out of town to come see mom, and spend an hour or two. Or on Christmas morning, have family show up at different times at the senior living community, bring them some goodies." Learn more about CarePartners Senior Living at their website.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kelley Smith from CarePartners Senior Living joins Suzanne to add insights and advice to the third and fourth of Teepa Snow's six tips for making holidays successful for those who have Alzheimer's and dementia, providing advice and insight. Tip 3: Be Ready to Hear the Same Story Multiple Times. Kelley says, "This is also a good way to connect with mom and dad. What if, while dad was telling your story about his fishing trip to Alaska – you've heard it nine times – ask who went with you. Who went? How long have you known Bobby? Didn't you guys grow up together? You can steer the story, to see what else do they remember? One of these days you're not gonna hear that story any more. For your grandkids, what about taking the opportunity to record some of these stories over the holidays? These are things that I look back on, things I wish I had of my grandparents." Tip 4. Avoid Direct Corrections. Kelley says, "This is one of my favorites. What Teepa says is, corrections don't make you feel good about yourself. I'll tell you something, I've been embarrassed in the past by well-meaning people who correct you, and the first thing I always jumped to is, I don't remember you being my mother, and I'm not five, right? A person living with dementia, their brain doesn't fire the same way. You have dementia and you don't really even understand first of all what was said, but now, coming at you is this correction, it's it's a little demeaning in a way. I've always been a big fan of 'follow them where they're going.' "They're doing the best they can with the memories that they've got. They're not liars, they're not trying to set you up, but just telling a story, and they might not get all the details right. Is it important? No, so pick your battles. Not every story is going to be 100% accurate, not every every memory is going to be 100%, and that's okay. You have to give yourself a little grace too. You're not going to be perfect. Let it go. It's not life for death." In the next segment, Kelley and Suzanne talk about the fifth and sixth tips. Learn more about CarePartners Senior Living at their website.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kelley Smith from CarePartners Senior Living joins Suzanne to share Teepa Snow's six tips for making holidays successful for those who have Alzheimer's and dementia, providing advice and insight. Tip 1: Smaller, Simpler, Shorter. Kelley says, "I've always said I'd rather break bread with friends than eat wagyu with strangers. It's not about the meal, it's about the company. The best times in my life were spent just with the people, I don't remember the food. Do you want to build memories for the grandkids about grandma and grandpa being there, or are you more worried about that turkey being absolutely perfect? And that's your focus, and now you're mean and hateful of the party because you didn't get a chance to also sit and enjoy your family while they were there? I've gone to things before were I never saw the host, almost the whole night, because they were in there cooking." Suzanne relates, "When I was caring for my mom, even though I was a burned out caregiver, and working a full time job on top of it, I knew the holidays were important to my mother, so I bent over backwards to give her a wonderful Christmas celebration. And that included taking her to the Swedish Club so that she could have lutefisk. That included making sure that she got to all these places. And I know she was worn out. I think I just put way too much stress on myself and upon her. Ask for help – you don't have to do it all. Maybe what you do is have a pot luck when you bring the family together. You can downsize things, you don't have to decorate the entire house. Maybe you do a nice tree, and maybe you do some flowers and candles on the table, and that's enough. You don't have to go overboard." Tip 2: Use Retained Abilities. Kelley explains, "Remember, mom and dad haven't forgotten everything. We have residents that couldn't tell you their name, but they know how to fold socks. They still know how to help set the table. There's some things that are like what we call 'muscle memory', that we just know how to do. It's amazing. My grandfather could probably tear a car apart, but he couldn't tell me what he had for breakfast. But what I'm getting at is, while mom and dad are there, instead of just putting them in a chair by the window, give them something to do that is a retained ability. If they can still sit with the kids and put puzzles together, let them do that. If they want to help set the table, let them help. Part of dementia is feeling like you no longer fit in and you're no longer needed. That's another big thing that people with dementia deal with. So, if mom and dad are at the house, and you could use a little help, I guarantee they'd be happy to do it. Those retained abilities also make them feel successful, like they got to help too. They say there's greater joy in giving than there is in receiving. Well, that also means in the way we treat people, and sometimes it's a good thing to let someone else feel good about trying to be part of the family." In the next segment, Kelley and Suzanne talk about the third and fourth tips. Learn more about CarePartners Senior Living at their website.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kelley Smith from CarePartners Senior Living joins Suzanne to share Teepa Snow's six tips for making holidays successful for those who have Alzheimer's and dementia. As many of you are driving to family locations, maybe listening in the car, you may be wanting to know how to deal with a loved one who has dementia. You don't necessarily know what to expect, and there's a lot of questions about how do we deal with dad, mom, aunt, uncle, and include them in the family gathering. According to the Alzheimer's Association, more than six million Americans of all ages have Alzheimer's disease, and that is expected to grow to 14 million people by the year 2060. About 11% of those over 65 have some sort of dementia or Alzheimer's. The majority are at least 75 years old. It progresses and gets more evident as you get older. Oftentimes we may not necessarily know how to communicate, how to best serve them, how to feel comfortable in a dialogue. Kelley Smith explains, "A lot of it stems around education. We sometimes have higher expectations than we should. I think people also get frustrated, because when mom does have those moments of clarity, we think she's okay again. It doesn't always quite work like that. People get frustrated with the same story 600 times, but that's also part of the disease. They can't remember if they told you this or not, or who they told. As the communication declines for their loved one, a lot of times, it's how do you keep up? What do you do? And that that's where people feel lost, not so much the frustration, but, what do we do now?" Kelley offers a few tips of her own to prepare for the holidays. "There's a ton of different things we could talk about, but I think that the easiest thing is, first of all, don't be afraid to ask questions. If mom and dad are in a community, feel free to talk to those folks, and find out what are some activities maybe they're doing in the community that might be better for mom. Ask for advice, call the Alzheimer's Association. They have resources, ask questions. "What is your plan, and then how do we execute that? What are the key things logistically of bringing mom or dad or an aunt or uncle into your home: Can they get up the stairs? Are they in a wheelchair? Can they get to the bathroom? Not only that, but has their dementia gotten to a point where maybe they're gonna need some some help eating? Everybody's circumstances are different, everybody's journey with dementia is different. There are many things to take into consideration. You bring them into your home, and it's all decorated for Christmas, and you've got bright lights and pokey, shiny, crazy, lots of stuff going on, loud Christmas music playing. That might not necessarily be the best environment for them." In the next segment, Kelley and Suzanne provide insight and advice with the six tips for making holidays successful for those who have Alzheimer's and dementia. Learn more about CarePartners Senior Living at their website.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What does a family do when faced with having to pay for a senior loved one to move into a senior care community? In this segment, Emily Schwarz with ElderLife Financial joins Suzanne to share some success stories and various examples of ways that ElderLife has helped families, courtesy of MorningStar Senior Living. Emily says, "we recently had a family down in Florida that was looking for a bridge loan while their home was selling. So Mary had a $131,000 home to list and they needed to move into the community immediately. They reached out to the ElderLife Financial concierge, and within three days we were able to fund a bridge loan. They needed $5,000 a month for rent and care, and so we estimated that it would probably take about six months for that home to sell. Now, the great part about this is they listed their home for $131,000 and they actually received $146,000 for that home when it sold. How did that happen? Because they were able to fix up that home. I know we talked a lot about home repairs, and staging them, and having mom and dad out of the home. They ultimately got $15,000 more by utilizing our bridge loan. They were able to get top dollar, even in this tough real estate market, because the house was staged and in its tip-top shape, all repairs done. So I would think that's the one of the best case scenarios. That's what we see a lot, where families actually earn more for their home than they thought they would. "One thing people don't realize that we help with is existing residents. So if you are already living in senior living, or your mom's already living in senior living, and you never knew that ElderLife Financial existed, and you're struggling to pay that rent bill every month, because your home hasn't sold as fast as you thought, or your VA benefit is dragging along, you can contact ElderLife and we even provide bridge loans for existing residents. So before you start thinking about moving mom and dad out of the community, have a conversation with us. We also clear up arrearages. I just had a family in that situation. We've provided $25,000 to their community because they were in arrears. The next month, their house sold. They were able to pay it off, but they didn't have to be evicted. They were able to stay while they waited for that home to close." Listen to hear more examples of ways ElderLife Financial can help. Call their financial concierge family line at 888-228-4500 or visit ElderLife Financial's website. Courtesy of MorningStar Senior Living. Lead image © Can Stock Photo / FeverpitchedSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There are many financial resources for families that they may not know about. And Emily, I'm very interested in you touched on it earlier, but I would say probably 80% of people that have aging parents have no idea about what's called Aid and Attendance benefits or VA benefits. Their loved one may qualify for a benefit from the military based on certain criteria. Emily Schwarz, VP of Sales for ElderLife Financial, is also the President of AidInAttendance.com. Emily joins Suzanne to tell us a little bit about Aid and Attendance benefits and how to qualify for them, courtesy of MorningStar Senior Living. Emily talks about the four criteria to qualify, and for spouses to qualify, and also provides ways to find out when your senior loved one served in the military if you aren't sure of the dates. "There are actually more spouses on this benefit than veterans, because more spouses are living into their 90s. A spouse is eligible based on her wartime husband's service. She always applies on the most recent husband, so if she was married to a wartime veteran who passes, and she remarries a non wartime veteran, then she is likely no longer eligible. You're not going to be eligible if divorced from a veteran — you need to be married to that wartime veteran at the time of death. Maybe you've never gotten a benefit from the VA before, but your husband's service left you this wonderful benefit." Listen to hear all about qualifying. For more information, call ElderLife Financial at 888-228-4500, and if you want to explore VA benefits, just let the financial concierge know that. Also visit ElderLife Financial's website. Courtesy of MorningStar Senior Living. Lead image © Can Stock Photo / photography33See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What does a family do when faced with having to pay for a senior loved one to move into a senior care community? Emily Schwarz with ElderLife Financial joins Suzanne to talk more about solving this financial conundrum, courtesy of MorningStar Senior Living. Emily says, “The last two years, we've been seeing homes fly off the market, so it was very easy for someone to decide they're moving into senior living, put their house on the market, and 30 days later they have the money. Now, this year has had the lowest number of new mortgage applications in 22 years. We all know interest rates are going up, so people that were trying to buy a home or thinking of buying their home have less buying power. So many of them are afraid to move out of that rental into a home purchase, and therefore seniors that are selling that home aren't able to sell it as quickly as they thought. And so we're trying to help families through that process, because when they need the care, they really need to be moving into the community. "ElderLife has the perfect solution for that, and we've been doing this since 2000. We've been helping families understand how to get funding to pay for their care. But it's even more important than for a long time in the recent past. So what we do is we offer a family an ElderLife Bridge loan, and what that Bridge loan will do is provide them funding to move into their community while their home is listed for sale. In fact, we can even provide the funds before it's listed. We know that, many times the children need to move mom and dad out of the home in order to get it ready for sale. We want them to get that top dollar, getting $10- or $50- or $100,000 more, because it's an empty home. Maybe a staged home, a re-painted, new-carpet home." Hear much more on today's podcast. For further information, call the concierge family line at 888-228-4500 or visit ElderLife Financial's website. Courtesy of MorningStar Senior Living. Lead image © Can Stock Photo / monkeybusinessSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What does a family do when faced with having to pay for a senior loved one to move into a senior care community? Emily Schwarz with ElderLife Financial joins Suzanne to talk about solving this financial conundrum, courtesy of MorningStar Senior Living. "A family might have a home to sell, maybe they're eligible for VA benefits, maybe they have a long-term-care insurance policy. They have ways to pay for the community of their choice, but they don't have the funds available today. What ElderLife does, when a family contacts us, is provide a free consultation and review everything that might be available to that senior, kind of like a financial aid office at a college or university, and will help them with resources to pay for the community that they want and need. "ElderLife Financial is a one-stop shop to help families understand their financial resources to pay for senior living. They speak with a financial concierge who will work with them from start to finish. And they go through a whole menu of things that a family could use to pay for their community. Selling a home, VA benefits, taking the maximum advantage of their long-term-care insurance policy. Maybe it's a reverse mortgage of one part of the couple's remaining at home, selling a life insurance policy, if they're gonna lapse it. And we also educate about tax deductions, and personal loans. So there are ways to pay for senior living that maybe the family's never thought of. "We help them with a loan that helps bridge the gap from the time the senior needs the care to the time the senior can afford the care. The Outer Life Bridge loan will actually allow the family to include moving expenses, perform home repairs, staging, whatever you need. We can provide those funds directly to family, and then we can also add in the initial senior living community fee. All of that can get rolled into the bridge loan, and then you don't have to ask a family member for that loan. When the home sells, you use the proceeds to pay off the loan, without having all those difficult family conversations." Suzanne describes the situation she had faced with her mom, who had to sell her house to pay for senior care, and having to go to a family member for a personal loan on her behalf to pay to get the house ready to sell, which was paid back from the proceeds of the house sale. Emily explains, "In your family situation, what we could have done is, we would have talked with your mom and we would have talked with you, and we would have established a line of credit for that, essentially a life bridge loan. We would have provided the money that she needed for however long it took to sell the home. We could provide the money that she needed to pay for the community, to bridge the gap between her social security and the cost of the community." Hear much more on today's podcast. For further information, call their financial concierge family line at 888-228-4500 or visit ElderLife Financial's website. Courtesy of MorningStar Senior Living. Lead image © Can Stock Photo / dolgachovSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Joining Suzanne this hour is Lianna Marie, founder of AllAboutParkinsons.com, who has written a new book called "The Parkinson's Path." In this segment, Lianna talks about adjusting our personal expectations around the holidays, which she learned from 30 years living with her Mom through Parkinson's. Lianna says, "We create this massive set of expectations for holidays, then we're wondering why we're so let down. How about we just change that narrative and say, 'Okay, just look my mom, what are her favorite things?' Those things were not things, they were people. Surround Mom with her family. Her grandkids, for example, were her therapy. We put them around her, and she was happy as a clam. We didn't really need a heck of a lot else. Okay, maybe some turkey and some sweets. She loved the desserts. But there wasn't really a heck of a lot else that we needed to do in terms of making it a happy time for her. "I was the one that was complicating things a lot. She wasn't, she was just there living with Parkinson's, and as the dementia set in more and more, we had to bring the holiday spirit to the long-term care home. We had to bring the music there. We set things up there. My aunt put on dance time at the long-term care home. She would organize these kinds of things, like Christmas music on the piano. She would come in and play piano and bring the music to the people. When I felt that I was so alone, I had to remember that A) I wasn't, that that was just my imagination, that my family was all there, and B) I needed to dial down those expectations of what Christmas once was, that we can still get the essence of what made it so special. "it really did make us slow down and put into perspective what's most important, and that can be applicable to anyone, really. Christmas time, and Thanksgiving, are times when you look at where you are in life, what's most important, and oftentimes that's family or friends. For my mom, at least, those were the most important things to her." Lianna's book "The Complete Guide for People With Parkinson's Disease and Their Loved Ones" was written for people who may be newly diagnosed or someone that knows someone who's newly diagnosed. The caregiving book, "Everything You Need to Know About Caregiving for Parkinson's Disease," is for people who are caring. Her upcoming book, "The Parkinson's Path," should be available in early 2023. Her books are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and wherever books are sold. Hear more of Lianna's podcasts at Answers for Elders, and visit her website or AllAboutParkinsons.com to learn more.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Joining Suzanne this hour is Lianna Marie, founder of AllAboutParkinsons.com, who has written a new book called "The Parkinson's Path." In this segment, Lianna provides some Parkinson's caregiver advice, talks more about what she could have done different, and what she learned from her 30 years living with her Mom through Parkinson's. Lianna says, “In my mom's case, she was in her 40s, so obviously it was a lot younger, and she was going to have a longer journey with Parkinson's. So a lot of this depends on the overall length of time that one might be living with Parkinson's. But for me, I really got to see and be a part of this slow, progressing, chronic illness, and one where I evolved from cheerleader to care partnering, which I think is a great term that we use nowadays, because you're the partner not necessarily hands-on caregiving, and then caregiving later, where I was doing some of that nitty gritty stuff, if you will, helping with those daily tasks and things that my mom needed, and then ultimately handing some of that off to professionals who care for Mom in long-term care. I spent a lot of my time advocating for my mom, and really just trying to get the people that were "in charge of her care" to take the best care of my mom, teach them a little bit about Parkinson's, because even though we know a lot more about it these days – in the healthcare profession there's a lot that's missing. I spent a lot of time teaching – if you will, for lack of better word – staff on best ways to make my mom's life easier.” As the family member who was her mom's power of attorney, Lianna describes how that worked with her siblings, and whether she ever got burned out. “In my case, I have three siblings, and my mom had remarried. I like to call myself a project manager, where I was like, 'Okay, so here's what Lianna is gonna do. Could sister one do this, could brother one do this?' And it works well when everybody's on the same page. Back then we would have Skype calls with my siblings, with me explaining what I think mom needs, and what do you guys think about that? I was fortunate because my siblings and I pretty much were agreeing. From time to time, I'd get pushed back, 'Lianna, that's way too ridiculous. Mom does not need that' My mom had appointed me power of attorney of her care. So I felt like I had this duty to make sure I gave her the best possible outcomes, that's my job – I mean, it's on paper – so I maybe sometimes took that a little too seriously. It's helpful to talk things over and then also for me to see things from their perspective. I did have an implosion, if you will. One or two siblings may have accused me of holding on too tightly to Mom when she was getting far along into dementia. Just keeping her alive is not important if she isn't having some joy or something positive. It's so much easier now for me to talk about it, but at the time, you're letting go of your loved one, your mom." Lianna has also written "The Complete Guide for People With Parkinson's Disease and Their Loved Ones," "Everything You Need to Know About Parkinson's Disease," and "Everything You Need to Know About Caregiving for Parkinson's Disease." Her books are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and wherever books are sold. The new book "The Parkinson's Path" will be available in early 2023. Hear more of Lianna's podcasts at Answers for Elders, and visit her website or AllAboutParkinsons.com to learn more.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Joining Suzanne this hour is Lianna Marie, founder of AllAboutParkinsons.com, who has written a new book called "The Parkinson's Path." Asked what it was like when she first heard her mom had been diagnosed, Lianna says, "I was in my mid teens at the time, and I had not noticed anything "wrong" with my mom, so when she told us she had Parkinson's disease, it was an absolute, complete shock. As a daughter, I was just not sure what that meant. It was I guess good timing, if you want to say that, that Michael J. Fox had also been diagnosed at that time, so there could have been a little bit of comfort in knowing that there's somebody recognizable who has this, and he looks all right – again, this is a 16-year-old. And honestly, we went pretty quickly from shocked — at least I went from shocked — to 'we don't have time for Parkinson's.' I remember my mom saying that. Diseases don't choose the time that they show up. My mom was in the middle of a really messy divorce with my dad. 'I have this stuff over here, so Parkinson's, you're gonna have to move over there.' That eventually turned into me helping her get some practical information about the disease." "It was my, if you will, 'job.' Quickly I took on the role of cheerleader: 'All right, Mom, we're in this together, we're gonna do this Parkinson's thing.' I was an athlete, and so I looked at it from a coaching perspective, and in my early 20s and then in mid 20s, that's sort of how I looked at it. 'Okay, let's get her hydrated,' – which actually is really important in Parkinson's – but it was to take care of these practical aspects of her disease that I can help her control. Cheerleading is really important. Being the optimist, helping them look at the bigger picture." "We did the best with what we had at the time, with the information that we had at the time. You've gotta trust that you did the best you could. I wish I had learned more about – or someone had taught us about – the non-motor symptoms of Parkinson's, because mostly we thought it was the tremor, the speech, various things that everybody knows now are related to Parkinson's. But no one told us that anxiety, depression, and apathy were parts of this disease." Lianna has also written "The Complete Guide for People With Parkinson's Disease and Their Loved Ones," "Everything You Need to Know About Parkinson's Disease," and "Everything You Need to Know About Caregiving for Parkinson's Disease." Her books are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and wherever books are sold. Hear more of Lianna's podcasts at Answers for Elders, and visit her website or AllAboutParkinsons.com to learn more.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lianna Marie is the founder of AllAboutParkinsons.com and has just written a new book, "The Parkinson's Path." Parkinson's may be a snowflake illness — unique for everyone — but the emotional journey that people go on when they're living with a chronic illness like Parkinson's has many commonalities. People share the same frustrations, sadness, and loss. Reflecting on her 30 years living with her Mom through Parkinson's, in the book Lianna presents the 30 most common emotions that they went through together, how they worked through them, and what they did about them. She then offers some practical ways to get through each of the challenges. Lianna says, "It wasn't just all bad stuff. Some things happened that — quite honestly I hate using the word joyful because people might think that's odd to say in relationship to a chronic illness — but there were a lot of moments of joy that we experienced throughout Mom's illness. And, really, what are our options? You get diagnosed with Parkinson's, are you're going to give up? No. One of my favorite quotes is from someone with Parkinson's who said, and I think everyone has probably heard this before, but "Parkinson's is not the end of your life, it's the beginning of a new one." So that's what "The Parkinson's Path" is all about." Lianna has also written "The Complete Guide for People With Parkinson's Disease and Their Loved Ones," "Everything You Need to Know About Parkinson's Disease," and "Everything You Need to Know About Caregiving for Parkinson's Disease." Her books are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and wherever books are sold. Hear more of Lianna's podcasts at Answers for Elders, and visit her website or AllAboutParkinsons.com to learn more.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Suzanne is joined by Rebecca Bomann, CEO and founder of SASH Services (Sell a Senior Home), to talk about how to best facilitate a home sale with a loved one who is there with Alzheimer's or dementia. Previous segments have talked about the journey leading up to mom or dad leaving, not trying to pack up the home while they're still living there, finding a good place for them to move, and having the legal paperwork in order, as well as surrounding yourself with experienced professionals. Rebecca says now it's time for you as the caregiver to delegate the home sale. “The important thing is not to bite off more than you can chew as far as getting the home ready for market. Your first and most important job, that really no one else can do as well as you, is being that power of attorney and caregiver for your loved one. Other people can work on the house, and you don't necessarily have to have the house be like HGTV in order to sell it. If it's clean, if it's empty, if there's not major repairs to be done, it's okay if you have pink tile in the bathroom, it's okay if you have avocado counters in the kitchen, it's okay if you have a shag rug in the family room. The house will still sell. Save your energy and strength, because you need it for the long haul of being the caregiver and power of attorney. “We love saying to the family, we've got the house sale. We'll take it from here. So we come in, and we bring in experienced professional downsizers who can sort through all of the things in the home, set aside those sentimental things like photos, and letters, and photo albums, and yearbooks, and wedding dresses, itemize the things that can be monetized to help pay for mom or dad's care, and empty out the home. Then, we're a licensed general contractor, so we can come in and do some light updates, or repairs, or a big renovation to help the home sell for top value. Once again, we're not doing this with the help of the son or daughter. We don't want them to have to take that on — we're doing this for them. They can be in another state, another country — they've delegated this to us. “Because SASH was designed to be a service that specifically takes care of the needs of seniors and their families, we started providing cash advances over a decade ago. And so we give the family a cash advance on the future net proceeds of mom or dad's home sale, sometimes $10,000, $45,000, up to $75,000, and even more. It doesn't require any credit check. We arrange for it, so it's not coming up on anyone's credit, and we want to provide that solution so they can just focus on their role as caregiver for mom or dad, and then hand the home sale over to us. So I always say, build a team of professionals around you who know what they're doing. “Moving is a huge mental and emotional adjustment for your loved one, and you're best served being there for them, not to be out painting walls. One of the things that I always tell caregivers is, “Sometimes you just have to sit down and breathe, take care of yourself,” Learn more at SASH Services or call 888-400-7274. Also check out SASH's resources at AFE's website.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Suzanne is joined by Rebecca Bomann, CEO and founder of SASH Services (Sell a Senior Home), to talk about how to best facilitate a home sale with a loved one who is there with Alzheimer's or dementia. Rebecca says,“Don't start packing up the house and putting things in boxes while mom or dad is still living there. Give them the comfort of the familiarity of their own home the way they've always loved it. Avoid having them sitting with confusion, disorientation, and anxiety. Over and over again, they'll have trauma and shock: what is happening to my home? Let it remain the safe, comfortable, and familiar place.” Rebecca shares stories from a good move and a bad move. “We just were assisting a family. Mom has early onset Alzheimer's, and they found a place for her that is run by caregivers who actually speak her language. English isn't her first language. They're serving food that she grew up with, and they even speak the same dialect of the same language. Her family took a lot of care, they interviewed, they toured, they took their time. They were looking at a lot of different places, and they found a place where it is comfortable for mom. That was a well-done placement. “We are also helping another family where mom has dementia. The power of attorney went to a place, but didn't vet it properly. Mom wasn't examined properly. A lot of quick decisions were made. It was just assisted living. Her first night there, she walked out the front door and walked ten blocks by herself before she was finally found and picked up. It could have been disastrous, and the family had to hurry up and find the right kind of place for her. It was a second move, really disruptive, and traumatic for Mom.” “Work instead on finding that new place for mom and dad, and the placement of where to find that place for mom and dad to live is so important. You want to really take the time to do that well. Find the right place for them to move into, and then bring those familiar things over, and decorate their new place with it. Let their familiar surroundings follow them. Bring the photos, and the favorite quilt, and the favorite armchair, and the American flag that sits over there, their entertainment center, and get all of that set up. “I even had one client whose furniture was covered with gray tape. She was so frugal that she gray-taped her furniture. And when I moved her, she brought all of her gray-taped furniture with her. That was what was most familiar, and I wasn't going to object. So let them bring the things that are familiar, and worn, and loved, and comforting, and really take the time to make sure the placement is appropriate for their care needs and their financial needs.” Learn more at SASH Services or call 888-400-7274. Also check out SASH's resources at AFE's website.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Suzanne is joined by Rebecca Bomann, CEO and founder of SASH Services, to provide encouragement, guidance, and tips for families selling the senior home of a loved one. First: get your legal paperwork in order. Rebecca says, “We can't emphasize it enough. People do not want to have these conversations, because it means that there's gonna come a time when you're very competent, bright, active, athletic, very sharp mom or dad can't make decisions for themselves anymore. Nobody wants to imagine that possibility. But when families don't get those documents in place, then they get caught in crises where somebody needs to be making the decisions and no one has the authority to do so. “I'm working with a family right now where the son lives out of state. Mom was declining, he had her power of attorney ready, he sent it to me in an email. We got it recorded with the county. He was able to sign papers for his mom two days later to get her house sold. There was no scramble, there was no stress, and we were able to begin and get funds in for her care immediately. Contrast that with another client I took care of this year, where there wasn't a power of attorney. His wife is on the house's title, but she never signed a power of attorney over to her husband, and now had dementia. He couldn't sell his home because no one could sign for her, and he had to go through three months of a legal conservatorship through the court just to sell his own home. So, that's the difference between having those papers prepared and not.” Second: “If mom or Dad are going to be in the home while the house is getting ready for sale, choose professionals to come in and help your family through this journey who are experienced and understand the delicacy of talking to someone who has advancing dementia or Alzheimer's. You don't want someone just barreling in, just because they have a real estate license, and talking about things that are going to cause anxiety and send the person with dementia into a disorientation, into an emotional tailspin, confusing them. This needs a very delicate touch, and it requires experience, empathy, and knowing how to navigate around those big decisions while mom or dad are there, and how to take the important things out of earshot or out of sight. I helped a couple recently, and I knew that she would forget who I was after our visit. I'd visit again and talk to her husband, and she would introduce herself to me over and over on each successive visit, even though we saw each other 30 or 40 times over the course of a few months. I just gently said hello, it's great to see you. How is your day going? I just smiled, brought a smile to her face. I didn't try to make her remember me. I'm just there to help her feel comfortable and at ease. “For families that are choosing a real estate agent, vet them offsite first. Meet at a Starbucks or a local restaurant, have coffee, talk to them, ask them what is your philosophy of caring for people who have Alzheimer's or dementia. Find out how they talk about it, see how their inner-personal skills are, before bringing them into the home where mom or dad is, and see you know how they act around those topics. Also, ask about their experience, how many times have they been involved with a situation like this, and find out if they're experienced. Other elder care providers might be able to give a reference to the real estate agent that is sensitive to that.” Learn more at SASH Services or call 888-400-7274. Also check out SASH's resources at AFE's website.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Suzanne is joined by Rebecca Bomann, CEO and founder of SASH Services (Sell a Senior Home), to provide tips, guidance, and encouragement for families that may have a concern about the care of a senior loved one who has progressive dementia or Alzheimer's and can no longer take care of themselves anymore. Their home is usually their biggest asset to pay for round-the-clock care that mom or dad needs. Families find themselves in an intense situation. The caregiver has to manage mom's finances, mom's care — where is she going to move to? What level of care does she need? Doctor's appointments? And we've got this home that she's lived in for 50 years, it's full, it hasn't been ready for market. How in the world are we gonna do this? Rebecca says, “I'm working with a family right now where their loved one has dementia and it's $15,000 a month for around-the-clock care in their home. That is a lot of money. Even if you own your home outright, with that expense you can burn through all the equity in your home in just a couple of years. Financially, it doesn't make sense to stay at home. And then there's the safety element: The stove is left on, the doors are left open or unlocked, there's electrical hazards, there's fall risks. And family members are going and checking on mom every day, and they're starting to be so frazzled because of the stress of knowing that mom or dad is in an unsafe environment, and they have just reached that point where it's time to get mom or dad into a place of care. And, well, we're gonna have to sell the home to pay for it. And this is where they call us. “We've got lots of tips and guidelines that we can get into in our next segment, and we just want to be here for you, give you valuable information, support, and this is all based on my years of experience of doing this day in and day out.” Learn more at SASH Services or call 888-400-7274. Also check out SASH's resources at AFE's website.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Suzanne is joined by Dr. Paul Winner, the Senior Director of the Premiere Research Institute and Attending Neurologist at Palm Beach Neurology in West Palm Beach, Florida. Dr. Winner says, “We've been through research for a very long time. Most of our patients and research are actually the patients from our practice. We've been doing the best we can to try to help them. It has been hard. It has not been easy for many years. But things have changed. About three years ago, we started to get a much better understanding of this illness. We had some of the right medicines, the monoclonal antibodies to remove amyloid. We just didn't have the right dose, and we were studying them for too short a period of time, because we didn't understand the disease and what was happening. That has changed. We now understand to use the higher doses. We have a better handle on determining what side effects will occur in what patients. So we have bio markers that let us know: this is an Alzheimer's patient, this is a patient who has this genetic profile, this is the right study for them, this is the right monoclonal for them, because we already know the paradigms. We didn't know that many years ago, but we do know that now, and now we're seeing that we need a little more time. Patients have to give us a little more time. The medicines are working, but many of them take a year, two years, to really show that clinical response that we want to see. So that's very important, and that's part of learning and educating. But probably the most important thing to take away is that it's not just one or two medicines anymore. We are going to use multiple medicines depending on the situation. “But the very first thing you have to do is get diagnosed correctly. So if there's any history in your family of dementia, even if it wasn't diagnosed as Alzheimer's, you need to be evaluated, if you're 50 or older, because that's where most of our studies start, we may even go younger than that. Definitely by 60 you need to start to be evaluated to see if you have those risk factors in your family. If you're not, and your family's lived to 105 and no one's ever had dementia, you may not be at risk. Still not a bad idea, though, at least by 60 or 65, to start getting an occasional neuro-behavioral assessment. Get a baseline of where your cognitive function is. Get a baseline of how your brain is working. We have something called an EVOX. It's a very easy machine. It's a much more sophisticated machine than an EEG. They're a little expensive and hard to do right now, because we don't have enough machines in the country. But eventually they shouldn't be as expensive, and they can be used as a screen. No amyloid, you don't have Alzheimer's. Present, doesn't mean you have Alzheimer's yet, doesn't mean it's gonna be bad yet, but you do have to follow up. You can't just forget about that, because we can take it out and get you better if it is something significant.” “Right now, the most advanced evaluations and the most advanced treatments are inside the research. We are still recruiting for this new targeted Athira 1017, the FOSCO, we still have some recruitment going on. We're also recruiting for many of the other studies as well. Right now, all these bio market tests, different ones are done for different reasons. Many of them, you get a PET scan or a tau scan, some of you get both, some of you get the whole thing, some, you just get segments that are needed, to prove whether the medicine is working or not working. All of them have neuro-behavioral testing done serially throughout, to see how you're clinically doing. But what's more important than anything: how you're doing, and we can monitor that. How are you doing with your family, how is the caregiver doing? You can't just use medicine alone as well. You still have to do exercise, you still have to do diet, you still have to control the blood pressure, it's like any chronic illness. This is a neuro-degenerative disease, a chronic illness that has to be fought at every single level, and you have to support the caregiver, the family, and you have to obviously keep the patient number one.” Learn more about the Athira Pharma Alzheimer's LIFT-AD research study, Interested in learning more? Contact Premiere Research Institute at (561) 296-3838, contact Dr Winner at (561) 851-9400 or learn more about him here. This podcast is courtesy of Athira Pharma.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Suzanne is joined by Dr. Paul Winner, the Senior Director of the Premiere Research Institute and Attending Neurologist at Palm Beach Neurology in West Palm Beach, Florida, to talk about advances in Alzheimer's research. Dr. Winner says, “There's definitely a lot of optimism for patients with Alzheimer's. We've started to understand this disease a little better. We understand a lot more about amyloid, its toxic form, about tau, how it progresses, how there's nerve damage. These are all targets, these are all options to stop them. So our targeted research is to try to remove the toxic amyloid, to prevent its formation, to uncouple it, make it easier to be removed. There are basically plaques and tangles, amyloid and tau. Also to address the glial cell for inflammation. These are all targets — these are all options, and all of these are being tested right now, and there is definitely optimism in several of them. Some we feel we'll have some FDA approved medicines, possibly in 2023, definitely within the next two or three years. “We we try to be very positive, but we do have to be a little careful. We do not have the ability today to stop Alzheimer's dementia. Let's make that clear. We do not have a cure. That's okay, we're working to that. But we can slow the progression of the illness. And we have shown we were able to remove amyloid. It takes 15 to about 22 years for the amyloid to be deposited. During all that time, it's causing trouble, damage, inflammation, cell death, production of tau. You want to get there even before patients have clinical symptoms. How in the world could we do that? “Well, we have bio-markers now — we can tell if someone has positive amyloid, positive tau, positive nerve damage, even though it's not really affecting their life yet. So we can do that today, and those studies are ongoing, we are doing it now, I have patients under treatment. Then there's people who have mild cognitive impairment who come in voluntarily: They're starting to forget things. They've got to make lists to go to the grocery store, they're forgetting names, which they never did before. Or they need directions, they need someone else to help them in the car to drive, they need someone else to help them with the checkbook, because they're making too many mistakes. This is where we can slow down the deposition of amyloid in the brain — that's been done. In fact, there's already a medicine, aducanumab, that's FDA approved, but there are a lot of issues around it, and it's only used still in research primarily. “But two others have shown very significant promise recently in Phase 2 studies. The clinical relevance is still being determined and it doesn't happen right away. It takes about six months to a year plus to remove amyloid to about a 60 to 70+ percent, and it takes about 18 months for us to really see what I've just observed, but this is significantly positive. The medicine does what it's supposed to do. It removes the amyloid, and you had less of a decline in the group that was on this active medicine. “There're many other advances in Alzheimer's research. We're looking at anti inflammatory-type medicines, neuro-protective type medicines. Those are a little bit in their earlier studies, but we do have some promise.” Learn more about the Athira Pharma Alzheimer's LIFT-AD research study, Interested in learning more? Contact Premiere Research Institute at (561) 296-3838, contact Dr Winner at (561) 851-9400 or learn more about him here. This podcast is courtesy of Athira Pharma.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Suzanne is joined by Dr. Paul Winner, the Senior Director of the Premiere Research Institute and Attending Neurologist at Palm Beach Neurology in West Palm Beach, Florida. When family members see that mom may be fine, but maybe Dad starts to have some memory issues. How do you start the process of having the conversation to get them tested? Dr. Winner says, “I think you want to let people know that we have very good diagnostic methods today. We can actually determine what it is. It could be something simple. So you need to go to a center, essentially a memory disorder center. If you really have a problem, something that's essentially now affecting the family, that's no longer, “I'm worried if I have a little bit of an issue with my memory,” then you have to go to a memory disorder center. They need to get to a place that can do 1) a very, very good history and 2) a very good physical exam, and they're looking at domains of how the brain works. A good history can determine how long it's been that there's been memory issues. What was the initial problem? Was it a short term memory issue, was it an immediate memory issue, was it a behavior issue? Was it a movement problem? What is it? Because there's all different kinds of dementias, or maybe it's something else. A medication got changed a year ago and that's when this all started. So there are some simpler problems. There's thyroid conditions in the family and their medicine got changed. There's a lot of different variables. So a very good history, a very good physical exam. You need to do laboratory studies, basic laboratory studies, to make sure there is not a problem with thyroid. There isn't a B12 deficiency. There isn't an autoimmune or infectious process. This is not expensive and not hard to do. What happens next? Dr. Winner explains, “Next is a nerve behavioral test. You need proper testing on what is going on with the brain. Is the aspect that's wrong? Is it memory? Is an executive function? Is it processing speed? All the different aspects, attention problems, is there a non-functional area or multiple areas? This gives you a clue right away of what you're dealing with. Then you need a picture of the brain. You need to make sure there's not another explanation, or maybe there's a mix, there could be two dementias. Sometimes a brain tumor caused this. Sometimes it's a meningioma with edema, and we can treat that, and they're all better pretty quickly. “Then let's say we go through that and it's suggestive of Alzheimer's dementia. Well, you can make a clinical diagnosis, but you're not going to be right a lot of the time. You need to go to the next level. The next level is bio markers. We have serum bio markers, but essentially the gold study we should do is to use a PET scan, an amyloid PET scan, and/or add to that a tau pet scan. Two proteins are involved in Alzheimer's, amyloid and tau, so we can tell whether they're present. If you do not have significant amyloid deposits in the brain, you do not have Alzheimer's disease, period. But that test is expensive. It's $5, $6, $7,000, and it's not covered by insurance right now. “Why is it so important to do this? We need to know the diagnosis. We must get it correct, because certain medicines are being developed for Alzheimer's. Others are being developed for general dementias, others for Parkinson's. Others may work at all of these different dementias. We need to know what the person has, so we can select the right medicine as we move forward.” Learn more about the Athira Pharma Alzheimer's LIFT-AD research study, Interested in learning more? Contact Premiere Research Institute at (561) 296-3838, contact Dr Winner at (561) 851-9400 or learn more about him here. This podcast is courtesy of Athira Pharma.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Suzanne is joined by Dr. Paul Winner, the Senior Director of the Premiere Research Institute and Attending Neurologist at Palm Beach Neurology in West Palm Beach, Florida. Dr. Winner addresses various lifestyle changes to help avoid developing dementia. He says, “There are risk actors. You want to avoid this as best you can. You don't want this to happen, even if you're predisposed genetically to develop it. There are some things you can do to help yourself now. Controlling your blood pressure and exercising are the two single best things you can do outside of getting your hearing checked: * Have your hearing checked. It's so easy to find out if you have a hearing deficit and to correct it today with hearing aids. That goes a long way. * Correct your vision. If you have visual impairments, you want the best input into your brain so it can function as best it can. If you've got metabolic syndrome, get it under control. If you have diabetes, control it as best as you can. Check your blood pressure. Studies have shown — the Sprint Mind study showed that controlling blood pressure clearly reduced the development of dementias. You want your blood pressure at 120 over 70 or less. Now obviously, if you're symptomatic with a low blood pressure, you can't do that, but most patients can, and you want to do that as soon as you possibly can. * Overweight obesity is another risk factor. Do your best to avoid certain foods. Diet is important. You don't want to wait till you have the symptoms — you want to get in front of it as best you possibly can. There are many medical and non-medical organizations that can give you some ideas about diet. Diet is complex. There are there's a Dash diet, there's a finger diet, there's the Mediterranean diet. The diet that you can handle, that you can do, is the right one for you. There are some that statistically seem a little bit better. The Mediterranean diet's pretty simple. * Alcohol consumption, basically none is the best, but if you're going to use it, it needs to be small quantities. The exact quantities are not clear. Remember, what do we use alcohol for in a clinical practice? We use it to clean off our tables, to kill viruses and bacteria. It is a caustic substance. * Head trauma — please don't do things that will ultimately result in you having a head injury, especially after the age of 40. If you're predisposed to develop that toxic amyloid genetically, and you hit your head, you're gonna accelerate that process. Do not go fix the roof if you're 40 or 50. Hire someone to do that. I can't tell you how many patients I have taken care of that have fallen off ladders when they were fixing gutters or the roof. Get someone to do that for you, if at all possible. Wear a helmet when riding a bicycle. If you've got problems with balance, use a stationary bike inside a protected area. I lost a good friend because, unfortunately, he had an injury that resulted in a subdural that clearly could have been prevented, and he's not with us anymore. It accelerated the dementia aggressively, and within a matter of years he was no longer alive.” if somebody wants to get tested how do they get tested? Dr. Winner explains, “I don't want to be too optimistic here, because we're still doing the research and this is early data, but we have medications that are clinically functioning and look very positive. We need to get the diagnosis correct, which means just getting a simple evaluation of a person's history and a physical exam is not enough anymore. You need a neuro-behavioral test, administered by people who are very good at doing this, for a basic assessment. Then you're gonna have to get into much more detail medically to actually get the diagnosis right, because, essentially, Alzheimer's is about 60 to 70 percent of the dementias. Vascular dementia could be another 20 percent. They can coexist — in fact, the majority of them are mixed, but there is a predominant version on top of that. So you need to go to a center who's familiar with that. And everything is changing very quickly. We should have FDA-approved medications very soon, we have one right now that is disease modifying.” Learn more about the Athira Pharma Alzheimer's LIFT-AD research study, Interested in learning more? Contact Premiere Research Institute at (561) 296-3838, contact Dr Winner at (561) 851-9400 or learn more about him here. This podcast is courtesy of Athira Pharma.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Suzanne is joined by Dr. Paul Winner, the Senior Director of the Premiere Research Institute and Attending Neurologist at Palm Beach Neurology in West Palm Beach, Florida. Dr. Winner emphasizes, “Memory loss is not normal in aging. That is very clear to us now as we study this. When we forget something in our 20s or 30s, we don't even think twice about it. When we get in our 50s, 60s, 70s and we forget something, we wonder: am I getting Alzheimer's? First of all, it takes a long time to get Alzheimer's. The initial pathology is the depositing of something called A beta 42, a toxic protein called an amyloid. It's 15 to 22 years from the time that metabolic problems starts till we make the clinical diagnosis using clinical signs of Alzheimer's disease. So a lot of things are happening in the brain. People are normal for a long time while this biology is happening underneath with regard to the deposition of amyloid. And then there's another thing that happens. A deposition of another protein happens. The amyloid starts to cause trouble with the synapses, the communications in the brain. That's when you're starting to see the short-term memory issues in something called the temporal lobe region. And then you get, essentially, problems with the deposition of another protein called phosphorylated tau nerve cells are starting to die, and now you're getting more prominent symptoms. All of this takes years to decades happen. Pay attention to an individual, comparing how they've been all their life, and if something there seems to be memory loss in aging, that's the time for concern. Dr. Winner explains, “An example I had recently: a couple came in and the husband noticed that when she's cooking, she's forgetting to put certain ingredients in, and she's a fantastic cook according to her husband. He's noticed over the past year or so that things aren't made right. He actually sees her shying away from cooking certain things. So we start to see people start to pull back. They know something's wrong, so so they say, let's go out to dinner more. I'm not gonna make that. I don't like making that anymore because it's complicated, or socially, they're finding it's hard to put a word in a sentence. They just can't get the right word in the sentence. And now they feel a little funny if they're going to go out socially and in a conversation, they can't keep the conversation going. They lose track and they realize something's wrong. I don't want to show this to other people, and they start essentially withdrawing, and that makes the situation worse. Human beings need to be interactive with other human beings. Dr. Winner has participated as Investigator and Principal Investigator in numerous clinical studies. Learn more about the Athira Pharma Alzheimer's LIFT-AD research study, Interested in learning more? Contact Premiere Research Institute at (561) 296-3838, contact Dr Winner at (561) 851-9400 or learn more about him here. This podcast is courtesy of Athira Pharma.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Carol Rosenstein, the founder of Music Mends Minds, joins Suzanne to talk about Rotary programs and other ways you can get involved with the program. Carol explains their partnership with Rotary International: “If you're a Rotarian, please give me a call. We can talk about you creating a music group through your club as a community outreach program, and you will take that into an adult community services organization like Culver City Senior Center, and you can sponsor a music group, bringing music to the seniors in your neighborhood. Rotary is very busy in the Washington state area. We must have eight or ten different music groups already that are sponsored by rotary clubs. You can go onto our website and look to see where our music groups are located, scroll through and find those that are in the Washington area.” Suzanne says, “Please go to https://www.musicmendsminds.org/. Check out what they do. This is an organization that makes an incredible difference in hundreds of thousands of lives. And if you consider making a donation, it makes all the difference, because this can transform the lives of those suffering from neuro-generative diseases, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, dementia, depression, loneliness, you name it.” For more information, email Carol at info@musicmendsminds.org/, call her at (818) 326-0500, and you can donate to keep them growing at https://www.musicmendsminds.org/.

Carol Rosenstein, the founder of Music Mends Minds, joins Suzanne to talk more about how her program expanded during COVID. Carol explains, “COVID closed us down, and it was a nightmare. And a board certified music therapist hired to participate in our in-person groups said there's something called Zoom. Zoom? Let's Zoom. So seniors showed up on Zoom, and we started to connect with people from all over the world, because it doesn't matter where you're located. We continued our growth spurt in spite of the closing down. Today, we're still on Zoom three times a week 11:30 to 12:30 Monday Wednesday Friday, and we're singing, socializing, and having the best time ever on Zoom.” The kind of music they feature is from the older generation, because our memory recalls all of the oldies but goodies, and so when you sing an oldie but goodie, you've got the music as the anchor. “Music excites those cells from yesteryear, and that's why our seniors will wake up and sing a song. Sing a song – it's as palpable and important as having that pill out of your medicine jar. And the side effects are pure joy and increased brain function, not only for the patients, but the caregivers and the families at large. It's a win win win situation with music.” For more information, email Carol at info@musicmendsminds.org/, call her at (818) 326-0500, and you can donate to keep them growing at https://www.musicmendsminds.org/.

Carol Rosenstein, the founder of Music Mends Minds, joins Suzanne to talk more about how music transforms those suffering from Parkinson's disease, dementia, or Alzheimer's. Carol wants to bring our attention to two important takeaways. First, there are cells in our brains that have to do with music memory storage. Those cells are generated when a fetus in utero is six months old. They're already hearing a lullaby of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" being played in mommy's bedroom. Research shows that those lullabies are recognized after they're born. The second thing is that we have a personal pharmacy within our own brains. Music is a catalyst that can release a neurotransmitter chemical. A Parkinson patient, they have dopamine deficiency. Music triggers a release of dopamine so that a Parkinsonian walks better, thinks better, talks better, feels better. Somebody sitting clapping to a melody, or tapping to a melody, doesn't have exactly the same trigger in the brain as somebody playing piano. There's music, there's notes, there's pedals, there's harmonics, and so the intensity of the music making has the most important effect on how much of that chemical is going to be released into the system. Carol says, “We don't only administer to the patients. How about the caregiver? Ehree seconds, somebody's being diagnosed with dementia, every 65 seconds somebody with Alzheimer's, every five minutes somebody with Parkinson's. We're on a pandemic parallel pathway that COVID took us on, and we can show that music helps to stabilize us all.” For more information, email Carol at info@musicmendsminds.org/, call her at (818) 326-0500, and you can donate to keep them growing at https://www.musicmendsminds.org/.

Carol Rosenstein, the founder of Music Mends Minds, joins Suzanne to talk about how music transforms people's lives, particularly those suffering from Parkinson's disease, dementia, or Alzheimer's. Carol was deeply affected by this story: “In 1992, Dr. Concerto Tomano was a newly graduated music therapist. She was summoned to a local facility of end-stage dementia patients. The facility said, come and entertain our people. They are "the water and feeding group" because their brains are gone. She showed up in a communal area flanked by dementia patients that were in wheelchairs, some with mittens and their hands secured so that they couldn't get out of the wheelchair, others that were standing around in catatonic states, and she started to play the piano. Within seconds, these people started singing, mouthing, and moving to the music. “I was so transfixed by her story. My precious Owen, who is now gone almost two years, had Parkinson's and dementia. Ten years into the journey, he had medication issues. As a Parkinsonian patient, he was taking synthetic dopamine several times a day. His brain was on overload. He was hallucinating, he was agitated. Our neurologist read these clinical findings, and said, it's the dopamine, Carol, bring down the dose. You know that your beloved becomes a wet noodle – the hallucinations were gone, the agitation was gone, but my guy was spent. He played the piano socially, sitting at the piano, as a wet noodle. I would see him become a dry one. Within five, ten minutes he had re-entered the environment as if I had given him a dose of med. And seeing this repeatedly, and with my clinical eye, I told the doctor, and he said that we're watching the power of music changing brain chemistry. “I said, can I get a few like-minded souls and let's jam and make music together and have all of them respond? He says yes. And that's when everything started to change in my household, and in many many other households. Because I called for a launch. Thirty strangers arrived at a local private school in their music studio. They had the Steinway piano and the drum kit and a wall full of instruments for any kid to choose whatever they want for the session. And here thirty people gathered. One of them went to the Steinway piano, another to the drum kit as a drummer. My husband took a saxophone off the wall, and Sam opened up his jacket pocket and pulled out a harmonica out of his jacket pocket, and before you knew it, 15 minutes later, these total strangers, all with our diagnoses, were joined at the hip making music together. That was the start of the Fifth Dementia band. “It just is so important to understand music is medicine for the mind, regardless of what ails you. We have a partnership with Rotary International that takes us global. ''Rotary'' magazine featured us in the May 2022 edition with a seven page story and me on the cover. So we reach out to share with people how they can start a musical group through their organizations to reach the seniors who need the music. Because music is medicine, and changed their lives.” Learn more at https://www.musicmendsminds.org/. You can also text or call (818) 326- 0500.

Suzanne talks with Julie Wilkins, Ignacio Lopez, and Rebecca Martin to talk about MorningStar Senior Living's Lavender Sky program. Rebecca Martin is VP of Memory Care, Julie Wilkins is Vice President of Clinical Resources at EmpowerMe Wellness, and Ignacio Lopez is a dementia resident expert at MorningStar at West Valley.  This segment focuses on where we go in the future with breakthroughs in Alzheimer's and dementia therapies, and how they plan for the future with Lavender Sky, the communities' holistic approach to Alzheimer's and Dementia memory care.  Rebecca says, “We're constantly reevaluating our current programs, just looking at our new clientele, and unfortunately, we do see an increase in earlier onset Alzheimer's and dementia. So how does programming change for somebody that is 55 or 60 versus our our previous clientele that was in the older ages of 80 and 90. So we've looked at a lot of different holistic modalities and the benefits in implementing them into our program offerings, and just see so much success from that. So that's I think really where we're going is furthering the development of our activity offerings.”  Julie says, “There's just a ton of research being done. Things come out every month. We are constantly updating our program. One of the more interesting things of late has been the connection between music and improved memory, improved depression, agitation, and the areas that are stimulated in the brain by music. But the other piece of that is the individualized component. We strongly associate music of certain types with emotions and experiences, so we always want to make sure that we're pairing, you know, something that has a positive impact on the individual, or a type of music that they've always enjoyed, or something that has always made them feel uplifted or calmed in something.  Ignacio says, “We're looking at things to include like cognitive stimulation therapy as well, and new things that are always up and coming. We want layer those into our Lavender Sky program as well. What we know about cognitive stimulation therapy is that it can really help people in the earlier stages of dementia to maintain their independence, longer, have better word-finding skills, better emotional control, and really just overall better quality of life. It's a therapy that's been around for several years, but we're seeing more studies that show excellent success in even reducing the need for dementia medications. And if we can do that just by engaging our residence in these creative ways, in additional holistic modalities and therapies, then that's our goal, quality of life, 100 percent.”  Learn more at https://www.morningstarseniorliving.com/

Rebecca Martin, MorningStar Senior Living's VP of Memory Care, joins Suzanne to talk about their Lavender Sky program. Lavender Sky is the communities' Alzheimer's and dementia memory care philosophy and programming services, which takes a holistic approach.  Why is it called Lavender Sky? Rebecca explains, “That really comes from our tagline at MorningStar, which is to cast a new light, and that is our goal, just knowing that so many people come to us having those feelings of despair or anxiety, and wanting to find the best place for their senior loved one. And also, the color dark purple is often associated with Alzheimer's, so we decided, when we cast light on the darkness of all of those emotions, that we can really bring peace to those families, that we can lift them up to a lighter, more hopeful space. And just doing so lightens that color to lavender. So we chose to call it Lavender Sky. And for the soothing properties of lavender, the plant, which is known to help therapeutically soothe anxiety.”  Rebecca continues, “The program is really more than just a training program. This is our philosophy on memory care with staff training, family support services, and our signature standards that you can see in all 32 of our homes. What we did there is branch off of our mission statement and our commitment to really value all seniors as gifted in contributing individuals. We thought, how do we continue to do that despite the challenges that come with dementia? How do we continue to draw out those gifts and support our seniors to really feel genuinely valued?  “We've had the Lavender Sky training program since about 2013. It has evolved over the years, and the program has been developing over this past year to include additional layers: the family support, and even community training for first responders, or anybody that really just wants to have a greater understanding of dementia and Alzheimer's.  “We require all of our staff to go through the Lavender Sky training. So, whether they work in culinary, housekeeping, or the front desk, we want them to have that deeper understanding of what dementia is, because 70% of our residents, even in assisted living, can have some cognitive challenges. So we want them to be able to identify when someone might benefit from additional support, or how to redirect somebody that may have some cognitive challenges. And we just want everyone to feel fully comfortable, equipped, and confident that they know how to engage with a resident, how to redirect them if necessary. And to really understand, with great empathy, what's physically going on with their cognitive decline.”  See a video introduction of Lavender Sky with Rebecca Martin, and learn more atMorningStar Senior Living's website.

Suzanne is joined by Ignacio Lopez III, CDP, dementia resident expert at MorningStar Senior Living's new community, MorningStar at West Valley in San José, California. They have a dedicated art studio, fitness studio, living areas, two dining rooms, and a sky terrace. The Lavender Sky approach is to serve them, enter their world and embrace them where they are. The community is set up for person-centric care.  They are scheduled to open in January and taking reservations, with Founder's Club members having many perks. Learn more at https://www.morningstarseniorliving.com/communities/memory-care-san-jose-west-valley/. Their information center is located at 3920 Williams Rd, Suite B in San José.

Julie Wilkins, Vice President of Clinical Resources at EmpowerMe Wellness, joins Suzanne to talk about their Mindful Living memory program, a formalized approach to addressing the needs of seniors who are experiencing memory loss or a decline in function related to dementia or other cognitive issues. It is based on Claudia Allen's work of the six levels of cognition, which is a test that evaluates the ability of someone to make decisions, maintain independence and safely perform basic skills. Mindful Living is used to identify seniors showing memory problems or decreased ability to function in their residence, determine their functional level, educate on coping strategies, and provide non-pharmacological interventions to enhance quality of life and improve their ability to function.  Julie explains, “We have developed an individualized approach. So not only do we start with determining what level they're at, but we also take into consideration who their relationships are with, and the depth of those relationships, in addition to what is the structure of their day. Some folks do just fine until the afternoon, and that's when it breaks down, and we have to figure out what triggers the breakdown.  “If we have a family member that's concerned, we'll bring them in for a screening. We do some assessments: what is their day like, how are they managing in their residence? What things can they do, what things are they having trouble doing? From there we can get an idea if we need to do more specialty testing to delve into really what the cause of the problems are. We need the level screening that I talked about, and then from there, we set goals with the resident and the caregivers and family in mind, so everybody contributes to those goals: What are the important things for them to do? How can we keep their level of independence as much and as long as possible?”  Follow the links to learn more about Julie Wilkins, the Allen Cognitive Level screen, EmpowerMe Wellness, and the Mindful Living program.

Kelley Smith at CarePartners Senior Living joins Suzanne to talk about CarePartners memory care and their Bonded Pairs program, which keeps spouses together at a senior living community. Kelley talked about CarePartners cottages: "The cottages has been such a winner from the very beginning, and it allows residents autonomy because they each live in a little house — they have their own little bedroom, everybody has a bathroom, there's a common area, a kitchen, and usually they've got cookies or bread or something baking to make it smell good all the time. And residents have snacks in the refrigerator. They can go out to a beautiful, secure courtyard and enjoy being out in our beautiful weather. We have umbrella areas and undercover areas for them to sit outside and enjoy beautiful things. And they can visit other cottages, so if they have a friend that lives across the street, they can go visit, like a little village. But it works. It works, because they get to be outside, they get to they get to move. Activities have also been brought in. You want it to feel for them like the little house they used to live in. It's just it's kind of neat to have, like you know, a barbecue or something going on and have all the rest of the neighbors and out in the courtyards and enjoying their neighborhood.” Regarding Bonded Pairs, this is for any couple, where they're safe together. “Bonded Pairs doesn't have to be a married couple. It can be any bonded pair. We've had a mother and daughter team. Our goal is to keep them together as long as possible. We'll come into the room providing care. You know, we can do all the same things for that loved one that we do in memory care. Maybe there's time for their haircut, and they gotta go run by the bank, but she's just not having a bad day. They can take mom up to memory care. She can hang out with us for a couple of hours while he runs his errand he can't come back and pick her up. So it works out really well. But at night, you know when when they're going to sleep, and she's right tucked in next to him and he's not worried about what's happening upstairs, and she's not scared because she's alone.” They purchased The Arbor in Bremerton, Washington and Lynden Manor in Whatcom County, Washington. “We've already gotten the chance to make some improvements at Lynden Manor. Not that it needed a lot, but sometimes when you've been in a building for a long time, you don't see things. We've got a lot of new things planned. We just did a really fun party for the residents, with a petting zoo, a band, and good food. The Seahawks Legends got to come visit. But it's gorgeous and it has independent, assisted living, and memory here all right there on this gorgeous ground. And again they seem like all of other CarePartners properties. They do that that beautiful spend down. You don't have to worry about, what am I gonna do if I run out of money? You just stay, have a great life, have fun. It's a beautiful community.” CarePartners has also expanded into Arizona with three communities. “We're building in Tuson. There's Cottage Lane at Vineyard Park Surprise, Arizona. They don't use the phrase independent living in Arizona, it's more advanced care for assisted living, and then memory care, with all three in a one-story building that's really easy to navigate. The building is fantastic, again, great care team, beautiful people. The rooms are amazing. I'd live there, it's fantastic.” Learn more at their website at CarePartners Senior Living.

Kelley Smith at CarePartners Senior Living joins Suzanne to talk about the most common questions she's asked every day about Alzheimer's and Dementia. Kelley explained, “People want to know what a normal day looks like. You may go in for a tour and see people sleeping on the couch. Depending on the time, they'd probably be doing that at home — and this is their home. Don't expect there to be parties every time you visit, because the job isn't to entertain the residents constantly, it's to keep them in a homelike environment where they feel safe and secure. There are all sorts of activities from doing somebody's nails to playing a card game, or something else that's entertaining. But the most important thing is not that mom needs to be entertained, but that she needs to feel needed. CarePartners learns as much about the residents. One family sat us down, told us all about their beautiful mother who moved into our Mill Creek community. The activity girl ran down and got all these vases, and all these gorgeous flowers, because the mother was a flower arranger. She now does all of the flowers at the community. That's the kind of stuff you'll see in dementia communities. It's not always cupcakes and popcorn balls. You need to meet these folks where they're at, at the moment.” Sometimes mom wakes up and see her husband — but she remembers what her husband was like 30 or 40 years ago, not the old man in bed next to her, and she doesn't recognize him. Another common thing is that grandma will fixate on a teen grandson, and he doesn't get it, and thinks grandma's being weird. Do you look anything like grandpa when he was young? In her mind, Mom will go back in time. Certain things don't make sense to us, because in their mind, they're back to 32 again, and you should be about 12. Rarely, they don't recognize the spouse. Most of the time that's the only person they recognize as their disease progresses. But when it seems Mom can't remember your name. Kelley says, “I'm gonna tell you right now. I think, in their heart, they always know who you are. I think that's why things get calm after a visit. I think that's why, even if they don't recognize you, just your presence can be good for them. Don't give up on them just because they've hurt your feelings. Think about what they're going through.” When families get to this point, and ask how can they best bridge my loved one into a community of care such as CarePartners, they ask what their first steps should be. Kelley advises, “The first thing they should do is start checking things out before it becomes an emergency. The problem with memory care is, by the time we get folks, there's either been an emergency, or we're about to have one. Make your decisions sooner. Start doing some research a little bit beforehand. Pick out communities that you like. I would pick out one or two, not just one. And the reason is, what if the time comes when mom needs to move, and they're full? So check out a couple of places, make sure you like a couple of them. Ask the right questions. And then as far as your loved one goes, you're gonna know, and a lot of times if you're taking them back and forth to a doctor, the doctor at some point will make a recommendation, and it's time. We've never had a problem with anybody really refusing to move in. You know, that's not really a problem because most folks are either they're ready for memory care or they're happy that assisted living is going to be a bridge.” In the next segment, Kelley and Suzanne talk about the CarePartners Bonded Pairs program. Kelley explained, “One of the situations we realized we're having is that kids were coming to mom and dad, and separating them because one of them has Alzheimer's. We think we should go put Mom in this place. And dad's like, “I'll be darned if you're going to take mom from me,” and mom doesn't want to be taken from dad. So what we came up with was the Bonded Pairs program. And at our Mount Lake Terrace community alone, we've kept over fifty couples together that would have been separated. It not only saves money, but saves heartache. You know, if dad and mom can be in assisted living together, and she's not going to get up the middle of the night and wander down the street, she's fine. So why are we pushing these issues and trying to separate these folks? The biggest concern people had was being separated.”

Kelley Smith at CarePartners Senior Living joins Suzanne to talk about different types of dementia, and how to approach caring for a senior loved one. If you contact the Alzheimer's Association, they'll tell you there are over a hundred different types of dementia. Alzheimer's is the kind of dementia you see the most, and you also see vascular dementia that can be brought on by a number of different things. Heart disease, COPD. You also see Lewy body dementia, which unfortunately is very common with many Parkinson's residents. You don't have to have Parkinson's to get Lewy body, but that also forms a very different behavior, a very different outlook. Also, a 45 year old person who gets Alzheimer's will probably be deceased by 50, and an 89 year old woman's with Alzheimer's will probably live out their life. We as family members think we're doing right by a loved one because we have them at home, but we really are clueless when it comes to communication. We don't know how to stimulate their brains — we don't have those skill sets. What should they expect in a home care situation? You need to take a look at the situation. If your loved one is still safe at home — they're not wandering, they're not at risk, they're still in the first stages — can you bring in some home care to kind of help out with a few things, maybe some housekeeping, whatever it takes to keep them at home? As long as they're safe at home, it's never a bad idea. When we get to the dementia part, where we have science experiments in the refrigerator and medication not being taken on time, then it's time to ask: Is it really realistic for us to keep mom and dad at home? What's it doing to my health, what's it doing to our situation? And is it working? Is mom happy? And if the truth is it's not working, she's not happy, then you have to start looking at some outside options. And there's adult family homes, there's assisted living, memory care-type communities, there are options out there. But you have to figure out what's going to be best for them with their personality and their abilities, and their social skill at the time that the placement has become necessary. In the next segment, Kelley and Suzanne talk about various care options for those with Alzheimer's and dementia. Learn more at CarePartners' website.

Kelley Smith at CarePartners Senior Living joins Suzanne to discuss how to talk about dementia or Alzheimer's with your senior loved one. We all get forgetful at times, depending on our stress level and workload. You can be forgetful at 20, you can be forgetful at 40. You can be forgetful at 80. Normal forgetfulness is you're walking out the door; did you bring your keys? Not normal is you've got medications on the counter that are eight years old, but you think that you just got them. Unless we have a long-distance relationship with our families, we usually can tell when there's been a decline that's significant enough to make a difference. Watch for signs of danger: is the person becoming a danger to themselves or other people? If you think that's an issue, get them in to see their doctor to get a proper diagnosis. How do you bring that up? First, put yourself in the other person's shoes. Understand that what you're going to talk to them about is scary. This is not an easy conversation for you to have, but it's a harder conversation for them to have. Think about the message you want to convey — ask them how they're feeling. Ask them if they're noticing things: are they feeling a little bit different, and are they noticing things are a little tougher or harder, or whatever it is you've noticed in the home? Also keep the family dynamic in mind. Kelley shared this story: “One time 15 years ago my mom got really sick and was in the hospital for a long time, and finally they said she could go home, but they really recommended she had some extra care. And I said, hey, I'm the oldest kid, I'm the daughter. I'll come take care of you. And she said, yea, No. My feelings were hurt for just a minute, but then I got it. She did not want our dynamic to change. She didn't want to become my child. If I had gotten sick and she took care of me, there wouldn't have been any dignity issues, because she's already been doing that from the time I was born.” You have to think about that when you're having these conversations with your loved ones. Try not to put them in a position where their dignity could be a concern. Maybe they don't want you to be the person who cares for them, and don't take that personally. You're gonna have to honor their wishes as well.  In the next segment, Kelley and Suzanne talk more about connecting with our senior loved ones in a new way. Learn more at CarePartners' website. 

Sarah Luetke, founder and CEO Sound Dental Care, joins Suzanne to talk about breakthroughs in geriatric dental care. In this segment, Sarah talks about her mission and where the breakthroughs will take us. Her goal and team is about serving others, helping family members, and trying something different. We're all aging, and we're all going to go through this process – seniors should be able to live out their lives feeling like they're being cared for, in a humane way, being advocated.  Learn more at https://www.sounddentalcare.com/ or call 206-745-3808.

Sarah Luetke, founder and CEO Sound Dental Care, joins Suzanne to talk about breakthroughs in geriatric dental care. She uses silver diamine treatments to treat cavities for patients who aren't healthy enough for a tooth extraction. Mobile dental hygiene is often a better solution. Learn more at https://www.sounddentalcare.com/ or call 206-745-3808.

Sarah Luetke, founder and CEO Sound Dental Care, joins Suzanne to talk about breakthroughs in geriatric dental care. If you have a senior loved one who's in a senior living community or goes to a community center, there are are services available for preventative dental care as well as help with gum issues and things like that. Tele-dentistry lets you have offsite dentists consult. Sound Dental Care's business only sees patients at senior living communities and community centers — people who can't travel to a dental office. We have to think about dental insurance in a different way with seniors.  Learn more at https://www.sounddentalcare.com/ or call 206-745-3808.

Sarah Luetke, founder and CEO Sound Dental Care, joins Suzanne to talk about advances in geriatric dental health. She's worked in affluent communities as well as in places where people don't always have those resources. Previous generations had teeth pulled and maybe have dentures. Now we have much better technology, but it can be expensive. Learn more at https://www.sounddentalcare.com/ or call 206-745-3808.

Pauline Smith, executive director of Encore Communities at Laurel Cove in Shoreline, Washington joins Suzanne to talk about how the community supports families of senior loved ones.  Encore Communities at Laurel Cove is located at 17201 15th Ave NE, Shoreline, WA 98155. Learn more at https://encorecommunities.com/laurel-cove or call 206-364-9336.

With high rates of Alzheimer's in Washington, Suzanne talks about memory care at Encore Communities at Laurel Cove in Shoreline, Washington with executive director Pauline Smith. She talks about memory care and the services provided for those with Alzheimer's. Encore Communities at Laurel Cove is located at 17201 15th Ave NE, Shoreline, WA 98155. Learn more at https://encorecommunities.com/laurel-cove or call 206-364-9336.