Knowing the difference between someone intoxicated and someone with a brain disorder affecting memory and behavior will now be easier for West Virginia first responders.
Knowing the difference between someone intoxicated and someone with a brain disorder affecting memory and behavior will now be easier for West Virginia first responders.
David Zielonka, Public policy manager with the Alzheimer;s Association West Virginia Chapter said more than half of the 40,000 West Virginians with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia will wander off at some point.
Gov. Jim Justice signed Senate Bill 570 into law Tuesday. It requires all new law enforcement and correction officers to undergo specialized training in how to identify and communicate with those living with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
West Virginia Sheriff’s Association Executive Director Rodney Miller said there have been some challenging incidents, and the training will be helpful for all involved.
“If they can easily recognize what folks are going through, we can let them handle them better,” MIller said. “Get them back to their caregivers easier and be a resource for caregivers as well.”
Miller says all current law enforcement personnel as well as firefighters, emergency medical technicians and dispatchers will be offered the specialized instruction as well.
The training includes understanding the risks associated with Alzheimer’s, including elder abuse and exploitation. The Alzheimer’s Association West Virginia Chapter will assist the state in designing and teaching the courses.
On Alzheimer’s Advocacy Day at the Capitol Wednesday, many celebrated a bill with full bipartisan support that highlights first responder training.
In the house chamber, a citation was read recognizing the work of the West Virginia Alzheimer’s Association. Its public policy director, David Zielonka recognizes the need for HB 4521.
The bill requires all state law enforcement and correction officers undergo training to deal with those living with dementia and Alzheimer’s. Zielonka said more than half of the 40,000 West Virginians suffering the brain disorder affecting memory and behavior will wander off at some point.
“They can be showing erratic signs, they can be lost, we want to make sure the officers understand how to identify someone with Alzheimer’s, how to communicate with them and return them to their caregiver,” Zielonka said.
The specialized instruction also includes understanding the risks associated with Alzheimer’s, including elder abuse and exploitation.
Del. Ruth Rowan, R-Hampshire sponsors the house bill. She said she appreciates the term ‘respectfully treated’ included in the legislation.
“A lot of these people suffering from Alzheimer’s were productive citizens, very active in their communities, and all of a sudden their families are faced with the fact that they are not making the decisions they were making a few years ago,” Rowan said, “So it’s very important that the office understand and realize the backgrounds they are coming from.”
Sen. Ron Stollings, D-Boone is a physician specializing in geriatrics. Stollings sponsors similar Alzheimer’s legislation, SB 570.
“We don’t want any of our seniors being wrestled out of their car, or put to the ground because they don’t know how to obey what a police officer asks them to do,” Stollings said.
SB 570 passed unanimously, providing education and understanding for treating a unique and challenging disease.
An epidemiology professor at West Virginia University School of Public Health is studying the potential benefits of simple meditation or music listening for improving memory and cognitive functioning in adults exhibiting warning signs for Alzheimer’s.
Warnings sign for Alzheimer’s can include losing one’s train of thought, forgetting the content of a movie soon after the credits roll and feeling overwhelmed when making plans or coordinating events.
Yet there are no approved therapies for subjective cognitive decline, and effective treatments to delay, halt or reverse Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias remain elusive.
Patients in the six-month WVU study either meditated for 12 minutes a day or listened to instrumental selections by classical composers.
Researchers assessed participant memory and cognitive performance, as well as mood, stress, sleep and quality of life at three points: when the study began, halfway through and at the end of the six months. At three months, participants in both groups showed significant improvement in all measures of memory and cognitive performance. These gains were sustained—or, in some cases, even increased—six months out.
Epidemiologist Kim Inns said the findings suggest simple mind-body practices may be helpful with those who have concerns about their memory.
Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Marshall Health, Charleston Area Medical Center and WVU Medicine.
A new study out of Rush University Medical Center found that eating just one serving a day of green, leafy vegetables may be linked to a slower rate of brain aging.
The study found that people who ate at least one serving of green, leafy vegetables a day had a slower rate of decline on memory tests and thinking skills than people who rarely or never ate those vegetables. Green leafy vegetables include kale, broccoli, mustard greens, collards and spinach.
The cognitive difference between the groups who did and didn’t eat those vegetables regularly was about 11 years, according to study authors.
The study involved 960 people with an average age of 81 who did not have dementia and were followed for an average of 4.7 years. Participants completed a questionnaire about eating habits and had thinking and memory skills tested yearly.
The study was published today in the online issue of the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Marshall Health, Charleston Area Medical Center and WVU Medicine.
The church choir in bright blue robes swayed and testified on a hot summer Sunday.
Pastor Anthony Everett, in his own robe of orange and brown, preached to his “saints” of Wesley United Methodist Church and they called back their approval with a staggered chorus of “Amen!”
But this Sunday, Memory Sunday, was different. Half way through the high-energy service was a quiet call to remember families coping with Alzheimer’s disease. From the pulpit came a call for the names of the suffering and after a brief silence, the response rolled through the pews.
Today nearly everyone knows someone with Alzheimer’s. But decades after the disease first came into the public consciousness, the Alzheimer’s Association calls the high rates among African-Americans a “silent epidemic.”
There are several things at work, according to Fred Schmitt, a researcher at the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging at the University of Kentucky. First, there is a lack of research. Studies have shown that African-Americans have consistently higher rates of Alzheimer’s than whites. Study findings, however, range from 14 percent higher to 100 percent higher.
Part of that is due to an ugly cultural legacy perhaps most widely known because of an infamous study involving the Tuskegee Airmen, Schmitt said. According to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, hundreds of black men were part of a 40-year study of syphilis but were never fully made aware of the true purpose of the study and did not receive adequate treatment.
Those kind of ethical breaches continue to keep some African-Americans from volunteering for medical research, Schmitt said.
There are also other more quantifiable challenges, said Schmitt.
In general there are lot of barriers for health care in African-Americans. And there are lot of health disparities as a result,” he said. Some of the health factors that can contribute to Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and high blood pressure are also found in high rates among African-Americans.
Spreading the Word
That’s where Memory Sunday comes in. University researchers partnered with a national non-profit called Balm In Gilead which creates education programs for African-American churches. It also operates the Brain Health Center for African Americans. Schmitt had hoped one or two churches would participate in this first year. There were more 60 churches from Los Angeles to Orlando, including more than a dozen in Kentucky and Ohio.
Memory Sunday’s sharpest focus is reshaping how African-American communities view Alzheimer’s.
Credit Mary Meehan / Ohio Valley ReSource
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Ohio Valley ReSource
Wesley United Methodist Church Pastor Anthony Everett with a congregant.
Everett said that African-Americans too often simply accept dementia and Alzheimer’s as a natural part of getting older. He is hoping Memory Sunday will help education people to recognize Alzheimer’s for “the actual disorder that it is.”
He said his congregation includes several professors at the University of Kentucky, including his wife, and medical research opportunities are often announced from the pulpit or in the church newsletter. But he said the fear of not being treated fairly by the medical community lingers.
That may be where the prayer really comes in,” he said.
Everett said his own grandmother had Alzheimer’s and he has several members of his congregation who are caring for parents. He knows people within his congregation are suffering.
Memory Sunday will continue to grow as an annual event, he said. The University of Kentucky and Balm in Gilead have also created a downloadable, online workbook to help churches help both the sick and their caregivers. It includes information on Alzheimer’s, specific strategies to help caregivers, and suggestions for relevant prayers and scripture to create a supportive network.
That’s a role the pastor said seems uniquely suited to tight-knit congregations like his.
Our focus is to nurture and to always be the type of congregation that Jesus called us to be.”
New research shows that formal education, work that stimulates the brain and social interaction may help protect the brain from Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
The research was presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Toronto this week.
The first showed that people who work closely with other people may have a healthier brain longer and be able to delay the onset of dementia or Alzheimer’s.
Another showed that working out the brain with challenging tasks may counteract the negative effects of a bad diet.
This research adds to a growing body of data that suggest mentally stimulating lifestyles, including formal education, social interaction and intellectually challenging work may help keep the brain healthier as it ages.
In 2016 Alzheimer’s affected more than 37,000 West Virginians and cost Medicaid more than 386 million dollars.
Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Benedum Foundation.
