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Category: Ontario Posts

On-ice showdown for Alzheimer’s disease

On-ice showdown for Alzheimer’s disease

On January 24, I will be hosting the fifth annual Red Stone Lake Pond Hockey invitational, an outdoor hockey tournament on Piccadilly Bay in Haliburton, Ontario. But this classic Canadian weekend of intense on-ice competition is about more than victory. Through Memory Makers for Alzheimer’s, we’ve turned the tournament into a fundraiser in honour of my father, Don de Maio, who passed away from Alzheimer’s disease last year. Our house on Piccadilly Bay once belonged to my father, who always…

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How a diagnosis helped my mom

How a diagnosis helped my mom

At first, it was small changes. My mother was losing things and getting on the wrong bus. But then I began to notice more unsettling changes. She wasn’t taking care of herself, slept a lot during the day and was becoming even more confused. I knew something was wrong. I took her to her doctor. We got the always shocking, but ultimately expected news. She had dementia. I felt mixed emotions. But knowing the source of my mother’s difficulties was…

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2014 Walk for Memories: meet walker Casey Peters

2014 Walk for Memories: meet walker Casey Peters

It all started with her cookies. My Nonna (grandma in Italian) made the best oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. They were a staple of my childhood. One day, when I was a teenager, the cookies tasted different. It was such a small thing, but I noticed, because they had always tasted the same. When I started working part-time after school, I couldn’t bake with her as often. And the cookies changed even more. She started forgetting small details things, not remembering…

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Questions for your doctor when seeking a diagnosis

Questions for your doctor when seeking a diagnosis

My mother is 82 years of age and she is becoming much more forgetful. She constantly repeats herself and forgets everything that I say. She is also more argumentative lately and when I ask her what is wrong, she gets upset and says she is fine. What can I do? Many families are forced to confront difficult situations like this when their aging parents display signs of dementia.  It’s best to see your doctor for help and a diagnosis. According…

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Walk for Memories: meet Walker Kim Zuliana

Walk for Memories: meet Walker Kim Zuliana

Alzheimer’s affects me both personally and professionally. The Walk For Memories is a great way to gather many who are affected by this disease to help promote awareness, raise funds and to just support each other by sharing stories. Everyone is affected one way or another and with an aging population. This walk allows us to take the next steps to help cure Alzheimer’s disease or related Dementias. I walk for my beautiful Grandmother Cecile Bertuzzi. She has always been…

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Tips caregivers can share at a holiday gathering

Tips caregivers can share at a holiday gathering

The holidays are all about spending time with friends and family.  Including a person with dementia in these events is important because it helps them connect, through familiar faces and objects, to their past.  And create new memories too. Including people with dementia in a social gathering, especially a large one, can be challenging.  The extra stimulation may be difficult to manage. Most people with dementia still enjoy socializing.  Sometimes it is friends and family that may feel uncertain in…

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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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Why you should walk for the Alzheimer Society

Why you should walk for the Alzheimer Society

It’s devastating to lose someone while he is still alive. I watched my father deteriorate from Alzheimer’s disease and my mother struggle to care for him. During that difficult time, the Alzheimer Society of Kitchener-Waterloo supported them through its programs and services. That is why I’ve walked for the Alzheimer Society these last eight years. And that’s why I’m doing it again this year. At the Walk, people with the disease, their caregivers, friends and family come together to show…

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