Alzheimer's Association Dementia Care Scholarships
Thank you from the Alzheimer’s Association
We are pleased to report that thanks to scholarships provided by Pebble Hill Presbyterian Church, the Alzheimer's Association was able to send seven non-professional caregivers to Dementia Care 2018.
We are pleased to report that thanks to scholarships provided by Pebble Hill Presbyterian Church, the Alzheimer's Association was able to send seven non-professional caregivers to Dementia Care 2018.
Caregiver A
Caregiver A is the primary caregiver for her loved one who currently resides at VanDuyn Nursing Home. Her days are eaten up by everyday responsibilities on top of traveling to VanDuyn to care for her husband. The stress of being a full-time caregiver for someone with vascular dementia as well as being a wife, a friend and an advocate have her, looking forward to new tool to de-stress, leading to better overall health. Many days she worries if she is making the right decisions for her husband of if she is doing enough.
Always a crusader for her husband’s care, she attends Dementia Care 2018 to learn the basics and history of dementia care to ensure he is being properly cared by professional staff. She was particularly interested in Dr. Christopher King’s lecture in order to improve her communication with her husband’s doctors. She wanted to know what to ask and how to ask it for the best results.
Caregiver A is the primary caregiver for her loved one who currently resides at VanDuyn Nursing Home. Her days are eaten up by everyday responsibilities on top of traveling to VanDuyn to care for her husband. The stress of being a full-time caregiver for someone with vascular dementia as well as being a wife, a friend and an advocate have her, looking forward to new tool to de-stress, leading to better overall health. Many days she worries if she is making the right decisions for her husband of if she is doing enough.
Always a crusader for her husband’s care, she attends Dementia Care 2018 to learn the basics and history of dementia care to ensure he is being properly cared by professional staff. She was particularly interested in Dr. Christopher King’s lecture in order to improve her communication with her husband’s doctors. She wanted to know what to ask and how to ask it for the best results.
Caregiver B - Person living with disease - DB
DB is the husband of Caregiver B (report in last week) who is living with Alzheimer’s disease. He wanted to attend the conference to support his wife and to learn what might be needed to prepare himself and family for the future. He wants to be able to take care of them as much as can with the time he has.With the information he gained from Dementia Care 2018. He will reevaluate plans in place, arm himself with coping techniques, and communicate better with his family and friends as well as his doctors.
He also hopes to understand a bit more as to what is happening to him. He wants to prepare himself for potential hardships since DB has noticed recent struggles to maintain close bonds with his family and friends. Throughout his conversation with staff, he explained his determination in learning how to be more actively engaged in research. DB closed with saying how this is just another step towards the future with his wife by his side.
DB is the husband of Caregiver B (report in last week) who is living with Alzheimer’s disease. He wanted to attend the conference to support his wife and to learn what might be needed to prepare himself and family for the future. He wants to be able to take care of them as much as can with the time he has.With the information he gained from Dementia Care 2018. He will reevaluate plans in place, arm himself with coping techniques, and communicate better with his family and friends as well as his doctors.
He also hopes to understand a bit more as to what is happening to him. He wants to prepare himself for potential hardships since DB has noticed recent struggles to maintain close bonds with his family and friends. Throughout his conversation with staff, he explained his determination in learning how to be more actively engaged in research. DB closed with saying how this is just another step towards the future with his wife by his side.
Caregiver C is a relatively new full-time caregiver who recently had her mother move in with her better care for her. Since the move, their relationship has been strained. Caregiver C is battling with cancer making caregiving especially difficult for her. She works to maintain positive outlook, but with financial constraints from both her mother’s and her own medical expenses, and strained communications with her mother she experienced extreme stress.
Her mother has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and struggles with daily living tasks. While on the phone with the Alzheimer’s Association of Central New York Chapter staff, Caregiver C tried to balance talking to staff at the same time as taking care of her mother (i.e. reassuring her mother that the stove was off.) Caregiver C was relieved by the end of the phone call, stating that if not for the scholarship she would not have been able to attend due to the cost of attendance being too much at this point. Caregiver C’s goal for attending Dementia Care 2018 revolved around finding available assistance within her area for her mother and understanding the disease, particularly how to communicate with her mother again. Being unable to talk to her mother has been a great loss for Caregiver C; she hopes The Best Friend Approach, David Troxel’s lecture will provide some insight.
Her mother has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and struggles with daily living tasks. While on the phone with the Alzheimer’s Association of Central New York Chapter staff, Caregiver C tried to balance talking to staff at the same time as taking care of her mother (i.e. reassuring her mother that the stove was off.) Caregiver C was relieved by the end of the phone call, stating that if not for the scholarship she would not have been able to attend due to the cost of attendance being too much at this point. Caregiver C’s goal for attending Dementia Care 2018 revolved around finding available assistance within her area for her mother and understanding the disease, particularly how to communicate with her mother again. Being unable to talk to her mother has been a great loss for Caregiver C; she hopes The Best Friend Approach, David Troxel’s lecture will provide some insight.
Caregiver D is caring for two loved ones with dementia: his aunt as well as a friend. He is primarily worried for his aunt who has experienced loss due to her disease, including her vision and mobility. She is the reason he wanted to attend Dementia Care 2018 and worked to travel over 2 hours to attend this conference in order to find support for her. Caregiver D mentioned how it was going to be a challenge since he lacks reliable transportation, but they deserve the best care possible from a knowledgeable caregiver.
He wanted to get a better understanding of the development of the disease in order to look for signs for himself and is generally interested in the anatomy and physiology of Alzheimer’s disease. He has witnessed the physical and cognitive decline of his friends and aunt and is curious as to what exactly occurs in the brain that causes such an onslaught of loss. In response to his loved ones’ diagnosis, Caregiver D has thrown himself into books, scholarly articles, and conferences to make sense of what he has witnessed firsthand. He does not want to fail them.
He wanted to get a better understanding of the development of the disease in order to look for signs for himself and is generally interested in the anatomy and physiology of Alzheimer’s disease. He has witnessed the physical and cognitive decline of his friends and aunt and is curious as to what exactly occurs in the brain that causes such an onslaught of loss. In response to his loved ones’ diagnosis, Caregiver D has thrown himself into books, scholarly articles, and conferences to make sense of what he has witnessed firsthand. He does not want to fail them.
Caregiver E stumbled upon the Alzheimer’s Association at a health fair and talked to the attending staff member about Dementia Care 2018, feeling a sense of renewed hope after hearing about this scholarship. Her spouse was diagnosed this year with an unspecified dementia after displaying concerning signs and felt overwhelmed with feeling the need to learn as much as she could as soon as possible before something happened. She recalled leaving the doctor’s office with her husband in a daze and never truly asked the next step options or what to expect. No direction was given to either of them and they were truly lost.
Her husband’s diagnosis only confirmed what her family feared when they first noticed signs, Their grandson quit his job to in order to help care for his grandfather, causing him to be unemployed for a good deal of the time, Caregiver E was worried what that decision would do to his career and felt that it was simply not fair for him to have to go to such lengths to assist with care. She urged him to seek employment despite protests of wanting to help. He gained employment earlier in May but still comes over routinely after work to do as much as he can. He took the 23 off so Caregiver E could attend the conference without having to worry about her husband alone at home.
Caregiver E said she was going to talk to staff about the development of the disease and pay close attention to Dr. King in order to prepare for her husband’s next appointment. She wanted to be ready with a list of questions and feel confident asking them. She was nervous about the change in relationship with her husband, that transition into being a caregiver but felt hopeful that the conference could ease that fear. At registration, she thanked all registration staff with tears, introducing herself as she thanked them for their dedication to all affected by Alzheimer’s or other dementias.
This scholarship again gave a caregiver an opportunity to receive help. Caregiver E’s only source of income is her social security benefits, and is terrified of financially supporting herself and her husband. The scholarship provided her a chance to obtain knowledge about the disease, identify resources within her area, and ended up finding a community that would support her through her journey. This story is a great reminder of why we do what we do.
Her husband’s diagnosis only confirmed what her family feared when they first noticed signs, Their grandson quit his job to in order to help care for his grandfather, causing him to be unemployed for a good deal of the time, Caregiver E was worried what that decision would do to his career and felt that it was simply not fair for him to have to go to such lengths to assist with care. She urged him to seek employment despite protests of wanting to help. He gained employment earlier in May but still comes over routinely after work to do as much as he can. He took the 23 off so Caregiver E could attend the conference without having to worry about her husband alone at home.
Caregiver E said she was going to talk to staff about the development of the disease and pay close attention to Dr. King in order to prepare for her husband’s next appointment. She wanted to be ready with a list of questions and feel confident asking them. She was nervous about the change in relationship with her husband, that transition into being a caregiver but felt hopeful that the conference could ease that fear. At registration, she thanked all registration staff with tears, introducing herself as she thanked them for their dedication to all affected by Alzheimer’s or other dementias.
This scholarship again gave a caregiver an opportunity to receive help. Caregiver E’s only source of income is her social security benefits, and is terrified of financially supporting herself and her husband. The scholarship provided her a chance to obtain knowledge about the disease, identify resources within her area, and ended up finding a community that would support her through her journey. This story is a great reminder of why we do what we do.
Caregiver G
This caregiver was a walk-in at the conference and confessed that she does not know exactly what is happening to her mother but knows that it is not typical aging due to the extreme behaviors being displayed. Caregiver G participated in this scholarship to attend Dementia Care 2018 to help decipher what type of dementia her mother might be experiencing. In order to receive a formal diagnosis. Caregiver G was looking forward to gaining some clarification as to ask her mother’s primary care physician. She needed to know how to make the most out of future doctor appointments.
This caregiver was a walk-in at the conference and confessed that she does not know exactly what is happening to her mother but knows that it is not typical aging due to the extreme behaviors being displayed. Caregiver G participated in this scholarship to attend Dementia Care 2018 to help decipher what type of dementia her mother might be experiencing. In order to receive a formal diagnosis. Caregiver G was looking forward to gaining some clarification as to ask her mother’s primary care physician. She needed to know how to make the most out of future doctor appointments.
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Pebble Hill Presbyterian Church
5299 Jamesville Road DeWitt, NY 13214 315-446-0960 Office hours: Monday: 9:00 am - 1:00 pm Tuesday: 9:00 am - 1:00 pm Wednesday: 9:00 am - 1:00 pm Thursday: 9:00 am - 1:00 pm Closed Friday Email: [email protected] 10:00 a.m. - Worship Service |
