November is National Alzheimer’s Month
This month marks National Alzheimer's Month, a disease that according to Alzheimer Society of Canada afflicts 564,000 Canadians currently, with 25,000 new people diagnosed each year. That means every hour roughly 3 new people will be diagnosed. This is a number that does not seem to be slowing down, but research continues. This diagnosis can be difficult to process not only for the patient, but for their family as well. For that reason here are some non-fiction materials, fictional account and movies that tackle this neurological disease.
Non-Fiction Books
Canadian Home Care Handbook: A practical, visual guide for the home caregiver
Reliable, straightforward advice and specially commissioned images provide helpful visual explanations for topics from basic nursing techniques and first aid emergencies to room-by-room improvements to make home care easier. Fully adapted for Canada to include useful information on federal and provincial benefits for caregivers, tips on funding and useful contacts.
Many of us are unprepared and confused about how to proceed when our paren't begins to suffer the effects of old age. If your paren't has been diagnosed with a cognitive illness, 'Supporting Paren'ts with Alzheimer's' will arm you with the knowledge to meet your paren't’s psychological and physical needs so that he or she can continue to live comfortably and safely, without feeling like a burden.
Alzheimer's Disease: a complete introduction
Alzheimer's Disease: The Complete Introduction is a comprehensive guide to the disease and its effects: getting a diagnosis, the ways it can progress and be managed, strategies for supporting sufferers and accessing care, legal concerns, and more. This guide addresses every aspect of the disease from the first doctor's visit to the long-term measures that can drastically improve the lives of sufferers and those close to them.
Fiction Books
Alice Howland, happily married with three grown children and a house on the Cape, is a celebrated Harvard professor at the height of her career when she notices a forgetfulness creeping into her life. As confusion starts to cloud her thinking and her memory begins to fail her, she receives a devastating diagnosis: early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Fiercely independent, Alice struggles to maintain her lifestyle and live in the moment, even as her sense of self is being stripped away. This was also made in a movie.
Admitted to a home for the elderly because he suffers from Alzheimer's disease, Emilio's community life feels like an ordeal. But soon he accepts his new environment and decides to fight to escape from giving in to his awful destiny. Even as his memory flutters, he and new friend Miguel, an overconfident ladies' man, invent creative ways to enliven their daily routines and strike a blow for personal freedom. It all culminates in a foolhardy, madcap, nighttime joyride… of sorts.
A man recently diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease takes a road trip to visit his ailing, estranged father, along with his troubled teen-aged son.
Documentaries
Alzheimer's disease ravages the minds of over 40 million victims worldwide. The cause of Alzheimer's and whether it can be stopped is one of the greatest medical mysteries of our time. Join courageous patients participating in clinical trials, and then go behind the scenes of the major drug trials to see how researchers target and test therapies that may slow and even prevent Alzheimer's.
The Alzheimer's project features a four-part documentary series (The memory loss tapes; Grandpa, will you remember me?, Caregivers, and Momentum in science), 15 short supplemental films, a website, and a nationwide community-based information and outreach campaign, to capture what it means to experience the disease, to be a child or grandchild of one who suffers, and to care for those who are affected.
The Forgetting: a portrait of Alzheimer's
Provides insight into the mysterious illness called Alzheimer's and its effects on the friends and family of the patient. Weaves together the real-world experiences of patients and caregivers, the history and biology of the disease, and the struggle to cure the disease.
Feature Films
This touching film directed by Canadian Sarah Polly follows a loving couple who are separated for 30 days after his wife admits herself to a care home due to her Alzheimer's. When they meet again she seems to have forgotten her husband of 40 years and is showing affection to a fellow resident.
Jon and Wendy Savage (Hoffman and Linney) are two siblings who have spent their adult years trying to recover from their abusive father, Lenny (Bosco). Suddenly, a call comes in that Lenny's girlfriend has died and he cannot care for himself. Lenny suffers from dementia and her family dumps Lenny on his children. Despite the fact Jon and Wendy have not spoken to Lenny for twenty years and he is even more loathsome than ever, the Savage siblings feel obliged to take care of him. Now together, brother and sister must come to terms with the new and painful responsibilities with their father. The siblings are forced to face the struggle with their own personal demons.
When he takes a job in order to be near his ill grandfather and grandmother, Duncan begins to find purpose. The newfound sense of being needed, plus a budding romance with Kate, begins to change Duncan profoundly.
There will also be a discussion on November 17, 2016 from 7-8:30 PM at Richview library. Dr. Ian Cohen will discuss a memory program with Canadian researchers in the field. As with all medical related things, please check with your own physician if you have concerns about yourself or a loved one.
6 thoughts on “November is National Alzheimer’s Month”
Great post – and such a timely and important topic. Here’s another great book – a mystery where the ‘detective’ is a woman battling the early stages of Alzheimer’s. Highly recommended. https://blogs.tpl.ca/bookbuzz/2014/09/elizabeth-is-missing-fiction-featuring-alzheimers-disease-.html
Thanks for the comment and recommendation V. I just want people to know there are resources available at the library with information to help them navigate this disease.
I really liked Trust No One by Paul Cleave. A mystery writer with dementia begins to confuse his real and fictional worlds–tragically confessing to crimes that he’d written about in his books.
http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDM3304256&R=3304256
Great book choice. It’s an interesting way to demonstrate what can happen to someone early on when they have trouble believing what is happening around them.
Thank you for all these references. The more we read about it, the more we learn about this devastating disease. I would like to bring to your attention that the national Alzheimer’s months in Canada is in January and not November as stated in the title.
You are totally right Noa, this month is recognized in the United States as Alzheimer’s month and not here in Canada until January. In the future I will be sure to use Canadian sources for recognized month events.