What Al Left Behind: Life after Alzheimer's

Did you know that history is being rewritten in your neighborhood?And it’s happening in surprising ways.People without dementia are taking care of people who have dementia. And they are experiencing that time differently and telling those stories differently than they were initially told over twenty years ago when the subject began to grab the national consciousness.Inside neighborhood homes traditions and long-held opinions are being questioned. Minds are being changed and lives improved because of the shift in thinking about dementia care and how to react to the diagnosis that someone you love has it.That awakening is happening to people very easily dismissed as caregivers, and it’s happening because of heroic neighbors who are winding down in their lives from a condition called dementia.There is a slow head-shaking moan of sorrow that erupts automatically at the sound of that word. And it’s that reaction that a new generation of veteran caregivers and professional healthcare workers are trying to modify, to ease—to change.For the story of dementia and its effect on others is real, but it’s not without good times and benefits that can be a part of the process and a reward for the time spent housebound with someone who has special needs.People with dementia have special needs, but they don’t need the stigma often assigned to this condition. What they do need is understanding from the people around them.Special needs for dementia patients require patience, energy, imagination to put yourself in their position, a desire to try and translate what they are saying by providing what will help them, and a willingness to stay the course by asking for and receiving the kind of help that is now available in senior citizen centers and in faith-based organizations like the Respite centers being planted all over my home state and beyond by the Methodist church.Unlike 20 years ago when some of us were being introduced to the special needs of dementia patients, these resources didn’t exist. Neither did the stories written by s