The University of Kansas Health System is treating a total of 17 COVID patients today, 15 Friday. Other significant numbers:
• 8 with the active virus today, 4 Friday
• 1 in ICU, 0 Friday
• 0 on a ventilator, 0 Friday
Key points from today’s guests:
Alexis Del Cid, father lives with Alzheimer’s
- Alexis and her family recently had to make the difficult decision to move her father Jim, who has Alzheimer’s, into a memory care facility.
- It is difficult for family members to also be full-time caregivers and that is challenging on the caregiver and the one getting care.
- She made a series of posters for her dad and a list of things for the staff to ask him about to keep him engaged and active with conversations.
- Alexis credits her mom for managing this difficult situation, along with Michelle and her co-workers for providing guidance and support.
- She uses writing as an outlet on her blog AlexisDelCid.WordPress.Com.
- There are so many other people going through this and she wants to provide information, resources, and hope for others.
Michelle Niedens, director, Cognitive Care Network
- The Cognitive Care Network in the clinic is a team of social workers who work with families.
- The team also partners with many practices to build an architecture in which they work to diagnose early and to introduce support and counseling early on in the disease so that people are better prepared and have a chance to really process what they need to in this journey.
- The decision to transition into a care facility is very individualized. Every family member should understand there is not an answer that fits everyone.
- In all my years of talking with people who are diagnosed with the disease, they want their families to be okay.
- When it gets to a point where the family becomes the caregiver instead of the wife, or the daughter, or the son, then we need to do something else because that familial relationship needs to be preserved and that person needs to be honored.
- We really like an active environment that helps stimulate the brain and keep people keep people going, so a place with well-trained staff is really important because you want people who know how to react in situations when people have memory problems.
Dr. Jeff Burns, co-director, Alzheimer’s Disease Center, The University of Kansas Health System
- We are on the verge of new drugs. In fact, we’re days away from full approval of a brand new drug – it’s not a cure – but it’s a step forward. For patients in early stages, this drug can slow down the disease.
- There are numerous changes that are happening in the brain when somebody has Alzheimer's and two key changes that we've known a long time are the buildup of something called amyloid plaques in the brain, which are little microscopic changes that we can see under the microscope, and then something called neurofibrillary tangles.
- It’s a really complex disease and that's why we're going to need new drugs and go after multiple angles.
- Clinical trial patients are very important to furthering this research.
- It's a whole new era for Alzheimer's disease research and we're on the verge of new diagnostics where we can recognize the disease earlier and provide new treatments.
- I don't think it's a question of IF we cure it, I think it's a question of WHEN we cure it.
Wednesday, June 21 at 8 a.m. is the next Open Mics with Dr. Stites. Palliative care improves the quality of life for patients facing a serious or life threatening disease. Technology is fast becoming a part of that therapy. We’ll show what the telemedicine revolution has meant for both doctors and patients, especially those who can't come into the hospital.
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