Caregivers Find Comfort At Alzheimer’s Seminar Nation Needs To Accept Dementia In Old Age As Fact Of Life, Speaker Says

There’s nothing evil about hoping a loved one with Alzheimer’s dies peacefully.

That statement caused most of the 100 people attending an emotional Spokane conference on the insidious disease to nod in agreement.

The disease, which kills off nerve cells in the brain, afflicts an estimated 13,000 people in Eastern Washington and 4 million nationwide. There’s no cure or consistently effective treatment.

Dr. Stephen Post, an Alzheimer’s expert from Case Western Reserve University in Ohio, said 2 to 3 percent of the population is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at age 65. At 80, half the population has it.

As life expectancies grow, Post said, society should accept dementia as a fact of life. And the medical industry should lend more support to caregivers instead of focusing on drug treatments.

“A touch on the shoulder is very important,” Post said. “Sometimes the best expression of love comes in the simplest way. Rather than be judgmental, hold their hand. Just be there.”

Americans are too intolerant of the disease, Post said.

In Asia, it is more accepted that elderly people go through what is called “a second childhood,” he said.

But in America and parts of Europe, coming down with Alzheimer’s is much more traumatic. In the Netherlands, where physician-assisted suicide is legal, 20 percent of people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s want to die, Post said.

At Saturday’s conference at Sacred Heart Medical Center, a panel of experts answered wide-ranging questions. People asked for tips on shouldering the financial burden of caring for an Alzheimer’s patient, and the stress of deciding whether he or she should stay home.

Marcia Magnuson of Spokane found the advice comforting.

Her father, Richard Miller, was a professor of philosophy at Eastern Washington University for 35 years. He spoke Greek, Latin and Finnish fluently.

Four years ago, at age 80, he suddenly wasn’t able to put together a simple birdhouse.

The family knew something was wrong and suspected it would get worse. It did, Magnuson said, with her father wandering from their home, banging his head out of frustration over a faulty memory and “behaving like a 4-year-old.”

The decision to put her father in an Alzheimer’s care center in Cheney last November was made with a combination of guilt, sadness and relief, Magnuson said.

“It’s hard. But they really still need to be treated with dignity.”

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: ALZHEIMER’S The disease, which kills off nerve cells in the brain, afflicts an estimated 13,000 people in Eastern Washington and 4 million nationwide. There’s no cure or consistently effective treatment.