November is Alzheimer's Awareness month and on the next Connections, Renee and a panel of guests discuss the disease, medical advances, the role of caregivers and the impact of the disease on minorities. Guests include Allison Caban-Holt, assistant professor with the University of Kentucky Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Elisa Freeman-Carr with the Alzheimer's Association of Greater Kentucky and Southern Indiana; and Sheri Estill, primary caregiver for her mother. The program airs Friday, Nov. 21 at 4/3 p.m. CT on KET2 and Sunday, Nov. 23 at 1:30/12:30 p.m. CT on KET1.
Caban-Holt gives brief definitions of Alzheimer's and dementia in general, including symptoms, effects of the disease and risk factors. While people as young as 39 have been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, such cases are very rare, Caban-Holt explains, and the biggest "risk factor" for developing the disease is living beyond the age of 70.
Freeman-Carr outlines the services the Alzheimer's Association provides for patients and their families and caregivers. The organization's resources include a comprehensive Web site, a lending library, a phone hotline and listings of all Alzheimer's related services available in more than 120 counties. The association also encourages caregivers and loved ones to attend support groups, providing online community chat rooms for those who are unable to participate in person due to time restraints or the patient's needs.
And, Estill provides insight into the life of a family caregiver as she describes the daily life, difficulties and rare lucid moments experienced by her mother, who is living with advanced dementia.
Connections with Renee Shaw is a KET production, produced by Shaw and Carolyn Gwinn. More information about Connections, including streaming video, is available at www.ket.org/connections.
