One might think that having a disease with no cure wouldn’t leave a person with much hope to draw on. The truth is, if you’d asked me how I felt about the future after I was first diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, my answer would have been far from ‘hopeful.’ Then, one day, that changed.
It can start with something simple, like having trouble following your favourite recipe, or putting your car keys in the fridge. Maybe you’ve noticed small changes in your memory that are affecting how you do things day-to-day. If you can’t quite remember things that should be straightforward for you, or if you notice changes in your mood or ability to communicate, make an appointment to see your family doctor right away. Diagnosing dementia is a complex and difficult process. The…
Jim Mann, a person living with Alzheimer’s, discusses the impact of language on people with dementia, and how words have the power to harm or heal.
Too often, immigrants in Canada don’t receive the help and support they need because of barriers like language and culture. That’s why Dr. Sharon Koehn from Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, is on a mission to identify ways to foster relationships of trust among immigrants affected by dementia and encourage them to reach out to multicultural agencies. Living with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias is hard enough; it’s essential that we ensure that we don’t make it even harder by…
Planning for the future is important for everyone, but it’s especially important if you or someone you care about has dementia. That’s why we’ve partnered with RBC Wealth Management Estate & Trust Services to bring you a series of informative blogs about estate planning. In this blog, Leanne Kaufman, Head of RBC Estate & Trust Services, asks ‘What kind of financial legacy do you want to leave behind?’
With Mother’s Day just around the corner, the crunch is on to find that perfect gift to show your mom just how much she means to you. But what if your mom has dementia? Here are a few simple, engaging ways to show your mom how much you care—on Mother’s Day or any other day of the year.
May 7 – 13, 2017 is National Hospice Palliative Care Week. Mary Schulz, Director of Education at the Alzheimer Society of Canada discusses some of the misconceptions about palliative care and why it’s important to have conversations about end-of-life.
Dr. Edith Hamel’s research focuses on the supply of blood to the brain, which is so important as the brain doesn’t have a reserve of oxygen and glucose – the main fuel for neurons. This project could uncover ways to slow down the progression of vascular dementia, possibly through the use of therapies already available for the treatment of diabetes and hypercholesterolemia. Dr. Hamel is a professor at McGill University in Montreal. I strongly believe that real possibilities exist to…
Pauline Tardif was appointed the new CEO of the Alzheimer Society of Canada on March 20, 2017. We recently sat down with Pauline to learn more about her background, her goals for the Alzheimer Society, and her life outside of work.
Iva Brunec is investigating how memories about the duration and order of events are created in healthy brains, and how this ability changes in those at risk for dementia. Is the ability to encode and recall information about time one of the first functions to break down with Alzheimer’s disease? Does it affect other aspects of memory as a result? This research aims to provide evidence of a sensitive indicator before a diagnosis of dementia even occurs. Investigating these disorders…