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Category: Research

Canadians do something AMAZING for Alzheimer’s during World Alzheimer’s Month

Canadians do something AMAZING for Alzheimer’s during World Alzheimer’s Month

My mother had Alzheimer’s disease and I saw firsthand its impact on my family. That’s why I believe research into the cause and cure is critical. With over 47 million people in the world living with Alzheimer’s disease or another dementia, this is a problem that touches everyone. This year, the Alzheimer Society encouraged Canadians to do something AMAZING for Alzheimer’s research during September, the global World Alzheimer’s Month™ campaign to raise awareness and challenge stigma. I stepped up as…

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Les Dakens is our matching research donor in September

Les Dakens is our matching research donor in September

Les Dakens, Alzheimer Society board member, advocate and matching donor for the 2015 research campaign, knows how difficult Alzheimer’s can be on families. “I saw firsthand the impact Alzheimer’s disease had on my family and especially the life of my mother. I wanted to do something.” And so he did. Not only has Les stepped up to challenge Canadians to double the impact of their donations by matching his $25,000 donation for research this month, but he has also made…

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Dr. Larry Chambers comments on large European dementia study

Dr. Larry Chambers comments on large European dementia study

In August, an exciting new research study was published that drew on the results from five population studies from four European countries—the UK, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden, which had two population studies sampled. The results have significance for governments and dementia researchers across the globe, but also here in Canada. One of the most important findings was that all five studies examined showed remarkable similarities in dementia prevalence (total number of cases per population) by age, sex and years…

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Introducing the 2015 Alzheimer Society Research Program (ASRP) Community Representatives / Des représentants de la collectivité participent au Programme de recherche de la Société Alzheimer (PRSA)

Introducing the 2015 Alzheimer Society Research Program (ASRP) Community Representatives / Des représentants de la collectivité participent au Programme de recherche de la Société Alzheimer (PRSA)

This year the Alzheimer Society celebrates 27 years of funding research through the Alzheimer Society Research Program (ASRP). The peer review panel meetings were held in February 2015 in Toronto, Ontario, and included the role of Community Representatives. Community Representatives are members of the general public who are not currently involved with research who are given the opportunity to comment on the intent, purpose and on the clarity of the language used within the lay summaries of research applications that…

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Cracked: New Light on Dementia combines research, dementia and the arts

Cracked: New Light on Dementia combines research, dementia and the arts

In the spring and fall of 2013, I worked with a team of artists and researchers on the play Cracked: New Light on Dementia. I was brought onto the project because of my theatre background and because of my personal and professional experience working with people who have dementia. The play is intended to inspire alternative ways of seeing people living with dementia, instill the importance of maintaining strong relationships with them, and reinforce the imperative for good ethical care….

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Up close and personal with Dr. Dawn Guthrie

Up close and personal with Dr. Dawn Guthrie

I was able to help care for my father-in-law in the last year and a half of his life and I have to say it was a real eye-opener. He had dementia – probably related to a stroke. But here was someone who had been very, very sharp and very independent who increasingly needed more of our help in terms of meals, housework and making sure he took his medications correctly. We were very blessed in the sense that we…

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Up close and personal with Dr. Frank Rudzciz

Up close and personal with Dr. Frank Rudzciz

I’ve loved robots for as long as I can remember. When I watched Star Wars as a kid, I didn’t want to be Luke Skywalker or Han Solo – I wanted to be the guy who built R2-D2. So I am thrilled that today that what was once science fiction is becoming reality. Google is building cars that can drive themselves, and the best chess and Jeopardy! players in the world are computers from IBM. I’m especially enthusiastic about the…

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Up close and personal with Dr. Krista Lanctôt

Up close and personal with Dr. Krista Lanctôt

I remember very clearly that moment when I knew what I wanted to do for my PhD. It was 1994 and I was visiting a long-term care facility as part of my studies. I met some really agitated patients with dementia. When I asked the doctor with me what caused the agitation in some patients but not others, he said no one really knew. I thought to myself we need to understand this. There has to be a better way….

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Up close and personal with Dr. Tom Schweizer

Up close and personal with Dr. Tom Schweizer

I interact with a lot of patients at St. Michael’s Hospital’s memory clinic and at the stroke and brain tumour clinics. Often, the first words out of people’s mouths isn’t about their condition, but about their driver’s license. They want to know when they are going to get it back. At first, it was mind-boggling for me that they wouldn’t begin with questions about the possibility of their tumour coming back, or the results of their memory tests. Obviously their…

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Recording what people with dementia and their caregivers experience

Recording what people with dementia and their caregivers experience

Often times when our families and friends begin to need elder care supports, services and information about dementia, we don’t know where to begin looking for help. By the time we know we need help, we are in knee-deep in the crisis, having to make life changing decisions without enough information. It is a frightening and exhausting time for individuals, their families and care partners. Three years ago the week before Christmas, my frightened and delirious 82-year-old mother arrived –…

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