Welcome to the November newsletter!
Donna Surges Tatum, PhD, CAE, CAEd™
Founder, NCBAC™
We have included a new interview feature. This month’s interview is one of a series of print interviews conducted by NCBAC™. The series includes leaders in the area of healthcare, aging and dementia. Some have conducted research, some are business leaders and others are experts in the best methods of day to day care.
Our first interview is with Dr. Donna Surges Tatum who is the founder and president of NCBAC™. Click here to read.
Our standard 3 articles and CEU quiz follow below.
The Diagnosis Is Alzheimer’s. But That’s Probably Not the Only Problem.
Allan Gallup, a retired lawyer and businessman, grew increasingly forgetful in his last few years. Eventually, he could no longer remember how to use a computer or the television. Although he needed a catheter, he kept forgetting and pulling it out.
It was Alzheimer’s disease, the doctors said. So after Mr. Gallup died in 2017 at age 87, his brain was sent to Washington University in St. Louis to be examined as part of a national study of the disease.
Will We Ever Cure Alzheimer’s?
It’s a rare person in America who doesn’t know of someone with Alzheimer’s disease. The most common type of dementia, it afflicts about 44 million people worldwide, including 5.5 million in the United States.
Experts predict those numbers could triple by 2050 as the older population increases. So why is there still no effective treatment for it, and no proven way to prevent or delay its effects?
Why is there still no comprehensive understanding of what causes the disease or who is destined to develop it?
A Brain Scan May Predict Alzheimer’s. Should You Get One?
Juli Engel was delighted when a neurologist recommended a PET scan to determine whether amyloid — the protein clumps associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease — was accumulating in her mother’s brain.
“My internal response was, ‘Yay!’” said Ms. Engel, 65, a geriatric care manager in Austin, Tex., who has been making almost monthly trips to help her mother in Florida. “He’s using every tool to try to determine what’s going on.”