Group items tagged

In the war against aging, Alzheimer's disease is one of our biggest foes. But while we seem to be losing the battle, we may finally have found some chinks in its armor. The most common form of dementia already affects an estimated 5.2 million Americans and 45 million others worldwide, and these numbers are projected to triple by the year 2050 as the baby boomer generation reaches retirement.

Even though Alzheimer's disease fell into our psycho-social class, it still is a huge component of the ageing process for many people, and a condition that we will most likely be dealing with.

Here we discussed Dementia stages & symptoms. Dementia is a wider category of brain diseases. Long term memory loss causes Alzheimer's

This is a tip sheet I discovered on the AOTA website.  It provides very useful tips for helping your older parent remain at home and age in place safely, as well as ways to approach the topic with them.  I really loved the idea of presenting home modifications as gifts. This tip sheet is of particular interest to me as my mother slowly descends into the world of Alzheimer's disease.

A Taiwanese designer named Sha Yao began her project in creating tableware for Alzheimer's patients due to her grandmothers deteriorating condition. She based her designs and color usage due to a study finding that the use of bright colors increased the amount of food and liquid consumed by patients. Every piece of the tableware is designed with dementia patients in mind. Some of the adaptive silverware and plates with lips should look familiar from our pediatrics class!

Extensive list of articles covering many types of disabilities

This page from the AOTA website contains links to various topics associated with the aging adult. These are tip sheets that explain different conditions and how OT can help. These include aging in place, living with Alzheimer's, fall prevention, hip replacement, home modification, low vision, driving and stroke. In addition to the tip sheets, there are links to videos for aging in place, home modification and precautions the elderly can take to prevent falls in the home. This is a great place to look to obtain a lot of good information on a variety of problems the elderly can face and how occupational therapy can help this population.

I found this article to be very interesting. It supplies tips on bathing for patients that have been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. These patients tend to be resistant to a bath but I feel many clients are. When you think about someone bathing you it takes away all your dignity and privacy. This article gives us tips to make this a more comfortable situation for our clients.

This is a very interesting read, discusses new tool that is more accurate for doctors to help diagnosis forms of dementia. It goes into more depth on the two most common types. :)

It used to be that Alzheimer's could only be determined for certain by autopsy. I believe that's changed now, with scanning techniques and biomarker testing. Tests like the one in your article give me a lot of hope that within the next generation, we'll be able not only to better treat dementias, but maybe even prevent them.