 Health & Nutrition
Thoughts on
Aging
Alzheimer's Disease and Housing Options
(2 minutes: 24 seconds)
 MP3 (audio
only)
Audio/Video Script:
Dr. LaVona Traywick
Assistant Professor - Gerontology
[Announcer] Welcome to Thoughts on Aging with Dr. LaVona Traywick,
Assistant Professor of Gerontology with the University of Arkansas Division of
Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service.
[Dr. LaVona Traywick] Even though American's are living longer and more American's are living with
Alzheimer's disease or AD, Alzheimer's disease is not a normal part of aging.
This fatal and progressive disease begins with signs of forgetting, but it is
the continual and worsening loss of memory that has become defining
characteristics of the disease. AD gradually destroys a person's memory, and
ability to learn, make decisions, communicate and carry out activities of daily
living.
As the disease progresses, individuals will also experience changes in
personality and behavior. Because of these behavioral and functional
disturbances, it is common for individuals to relocate to multiple residences in
order to receive increasing levels of care. Relocation can be distressing and
difficult for both the individual living with AD and his/her caregiver.
The Alzheimer's Association is trying to make it easier with their online
housing guide, CareFinder. CareFinder identifies appropriate care options
according to a person's needs, in addition to providing recommendations and
questions to ask when screening a caregiver or a residential care facility. CareFinder also helps families identify what constitutes good care, a plan and
pay for care, and additional local support. Upon identifying the appropriate
care setting, Senior Housing Finder is a dementia-specific data base that
provides detailed listings of licensed housing options throughout the U.S. For
more information on CareFinder, go to
www.alz.org, the
Alzheimer's Association web site.
I'm Dr. LaVona Traywick and those are just a few "Thoughts on Aging".
[Announcer] Thank you for listening to Thoughts on Aging with Dr. LaVona
Traywick. To learn more about this and other topics, contact your local county
Cooperative
Extension Service office.
Reference:
www.alz.org
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