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Real Life Dementia Experience: Try AlzConnected.org

Join the Civilian Corps for Aging
One of my goals for ElderAuthority.com is to have it be a FREE and SHARABLE repository for grassroots wisdom about all things aging.  We are not there yet.   ElderAuthority receives lots of private comments and thank you’s.  These are great, but we can only share the comments you provide through the site.  One of the greatest gifts you can give your fellow Boomers is the benefit of your experience.
We live in a world with 78 million Baby… More

2012 Walk to End Alzheimer’s: T-Shirts Talk

On Saturday, September 22, caregivers who care for those who have Alzheimer’s, people who have lost a loved one to Alzheimer’s, those who have Alzheimer’s disease, and those who advocate for a cure became a unified army during Dallas’ 2012 Alzheimer’s Association Walk to End Alzheimer’s.  The T-shirts told the story better than I ever can.
   
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
       … More

Innovative Technology for the Elderly: GPS Shoes

PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF TECHNOLOGY
I love stories about technology that is invented without a consumer use in mind.  NASA and 3M created products that later found practical uses never imagined by their brilliant inventors.  Velcro, memory foam, and Post-Its are  just a few examples. Here is another one for a new product called, “The Ambulator.”
Andrew Carle, specialist in the elderly and technology at George Mason University, found that tracking accessories… More

Ideas for Contented Dementia

DON’T LEAVE DECISIONS TO OTHERS
Several weeks ago I attended The Silver Tsunami conference here in Dallas.  The keynote speaker was Jolene Brackey.  She is the founder of Enhanced Moments, a business that helps families through Alzheimer’s.   She had several suggestions that are simple, practical, and new for me.  
Ms. Brackey urges us to give adult children and friends permission to NOT take care of us.  If you leave it up to the children to make decisions,… More

ALZHEIMER’S TEST IS MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH

Great news for those wondering if they possess a brain condition known to frequently cause Alzheimer’s: You no longer have to undergo an autopsy to learn the results.
ELI LILY TEST APPROVED BY FDA
The presence of brain amyloid plaques are known to be consistent with Alzheimer’s disease and up until now their development could only be determined during the autopsy of someone suspected of having Alzheimer’s.  Now they can be detected in a test developed by Eli Lilly &… More

2012 ALZHEIMER’S ASSOCIATION ADVOCACY FORUM

ElderAuthority GOES TO WASHINGTON
Next week ElderAuthority will be reporting from the 2012 Alzheimer’s Association Advocacy Forum in Washington D.C.  We will be tweeting as @ElderAuthority using the hashtag #AlzForum.
Attendees will benefit from

Learning about Alzheimer’s-related legislative issues
Learning how to persuasively make our case for action on Capitol Hill
Networking with fellow advocates from across the nation
Working to advance our legislative… More

EMPOWERED ELDERLY DRIVERS

OLDER DRIVERS ARE GETTING SAFER
One of the most traumatic crisis of aging is having to stop driving.  Increasingly, seniors are taking control of their driving futures.  They want to be the ones who determine when it is time to hang up the keys.
A three-year study from Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows that older drivers are becoming safer drivers.  Between 1996 and 2008, seniors 75 and older showed declines of 45% or more in fatal accidents.   This decline was… More

WHAT IS SUPPORTIVE HOUSING?

Supportive Housing for the homeless has lessons to teach us as we work on better ways to house seniors without assets or family, especially those with depression or dementia.  Supportive Housing creates a safe place to live with a full continuum of supportive services to help a resident manage his/her day-to-day living situation.
This video focuses on supportive housing in San Diego, but it covers the basics of supportive housing in any location.… More

ALZHEIMER’S UPDATE 2012

SCARY ALZHEIMER’S STATISTICS
This week, Amy Vanderoef of Good Morning Texas (WFAA)  interviewed Dr. Mary Quiceno and David Downey, from the Alzheimer’s Association of Greater Dallas, for an update on Alzheimer’s disease in Texas.
Those with Alzheimer’s lose memory first and then the ability to walk, talk, and function independently.  It is a fatal disease for which there is no cure and the 6th leading cause of death in US. The statistics are frightening:… More

HOW MEMORY WORKS

MINDSHARE LECTURE SERIES: DR. JOHN HART, JR.
Each year, the Greater Dallas Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association presents its MindShare lecture series featuring notable speakers from various backgrounds. The topics they cover are all of interest and concern to those dealing with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.  Opening the season this year was Dr. John Hart, Jr., a noted neurologist and practitioner of the science of neurotherapeutics.
Dr. Hart… More