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Walk for Memories profile: meet Wendy and Larry Smith

Walk for Memories profile: meet Wendy and Larry Smith

Meet Wendy and Larry Smith. They have been volunteering for the Alzheimer Society’s Walk for Memories in Ottawa since its inception 19 years ago.  Like the Walk, Wendy and Larry have experienced a number of changes during that period of time. In the beginning, Wendy worked for an Ottawa-based Chartered Accounting firm, Collins Barrow Ottawa LLP, which had encouraged its employees to get involved in the community. The Alzheimer Society was one of a number of organizations that Collins Barrow…

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How to adjust after the move to long-term care

How to adjust after the move to long-term care

Moving some into long-term care is never an easy transition. Care partners feel many emotions when a family member moves into a long-term care home. Some are relieved to share the care while others feel guilty, especially if promises were unkept. “My valiant hopes around looking after him at home forever were dashed, and I watched in fascination and some horror as others stepped in to take over my role as his caregiver,” said Susan Bithrey, wife and care partner…

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Caregiver support for the holidays

Caregiver support for the holidays

“The holidays can be a tough time of year for caregivers. The business of the season, gatherings with friends and family and the fact that many day programs close present challenges. To caregivers, I have some simple advice for you: Plan ahead to help someone with dementia and yourself get the most out of the holidays. Nobody is going to do it for you.” Sharon Rozsel, caregiver for her mother The Alzheimer Society of Ontario knows that for people with…

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What I learned keeping home safe for my husband

What I learned keeping home safe for my husband

After my husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, I decided to do everything in my power to keep him at home as long as possible. Home could help him connect to his past and maintain a sense of who he was. I learned quickly that this decision meant I needed to adapt to the unique interests and abilities of my husband to encourage whatever independent skills he had left while making home a safe place. For example, Reg always enjoyed…

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Why I research to support caregivers

Why I research to support caregivers

I remember when my grandmother was living with dementia. I was a young girl and I remember my family struggled to care for her because we didn’t know anything about the disease. We thought she was just crazy because she couldn’t remember her sons’ names. Her disease led me to study neuroscience at Queen’s University. I wanted to understand the disease better so that this knowledge could be shared with others, especially caregivers. If people understood dementia better, they could…

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How can we help working caregivers?

How can we help working caregivers?

On October 24th, I had the privilege of attending “Cafe Conversations: Working Caregivers and Labour Market Challenges” at Hart House at the University of Toronto. The International Federation of Ageing hosted the conference and invited many leaders in the health-policy field, including: David Harvey of Alzheimer Society of Ontario Camille Offridge, CEO of the Toronto-central LIHN; Dr. Alex Mihailidis, Barbara G. Symiest Research Chair in Rehabilitation Technology, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute and University of Toronto Dr. Jane Barratt, Secretary General of…

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Ten caregiver tips for Thanksgiving dinner

Ten caregiver tips for Thanksgiving dinner

I love having the family over for Thanksgiving. It’s a treat to catch up and exchange stories. But I’m also a caregiver and those duties can never be ignored. My mother has Alzheimer’s disease and lives at home with me. Including a person with dementia in a social gathering can be challenging, but also rewarding. Although my mother enjoys socializing, she isn’t the only one who has difficulty communicating with others. Sometimes friends and family feel uncertain of what to…

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Why I’m excited by deep brain stimulation

Why I’m excited by deep brain stimulation

I’ve always been interested in how the brain works. And there are so many ways of looking at it – through psychology, medicine and even philosophy. But once I chose medicine, I felt neurosurgery was the most interesting pathway to exploring what happens inside the brain. In some ways, neurosurgeons are like gatekeepers. If you want to study the brain, you often need to gain access through neurosurgery. While my specialty, functional neurosurgery, is about improving brain function, I didn’t…

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