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Seniors raising Alzheimer’s awareness
11/16/09
BY SAM COOPER
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
SOUTHBURY — Memory, the mind’s link to the past, is easy to take for granted.
On Sunday, about 30 seniors gathered at the retirement community The Watermark at East Hill to light a candle in homage to those suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. November is national Alzheimer’s disease Awareness Month, and similar ceremonies were held across the country.
It’s a disease that affects patient and caregiver alike, said award-winning poet Alvin M. Laster, 87.
Laster, whose wife, Hannah, died earlier this year after battling dementia, read a poem he’d written for her titled “The Final Goodbye.”
“You are gone, now. The long nightmare of your twilight mind has passed, leaving me bereft in our mutual release,” he read. “The demons have lost their hold on both of us, as well as their dwelling in your wild delusions. I had become a benign stranger who attended you to the very end, inconsolable, yet grateful for your final merciful release.”
The annual event was meant to raise awareness of the degenerative disease, said Denise Julian, director of health services at the care facility. But for the tight-knit community, it means more than that.
“It’s really an opportunity for all of us to come together and spend some time reflecting on the people we’ve lost in our personal lives,” she said.
An estimated 5.3 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, which is the seventh-leading cause of death in the nation, according to the Alzheimer’s Association, a support and research organization dedicated to reducing dementia by promoting brain health. But with proper diagnosis, individuals suffering from the disease can get the care they need, as well as have input on financial and legal decisions that can affect their lives.
Retta Fagin, 91, whose husband suffers from dementia, said the disease is so prevalent it’s like an epidemic. Fagin said she sees her husband, who lives at the care facility, as much as she can.
“I feel like I’m still with him, and I am,” she said. “My heart and mind are always with him.” Sunday’s event also featured a guitar performance by Joan Sprung, and the presentation of a quilt sewn by Helen Frisbie, Heloise Wilkerson and Elsie Mannerweiler, with the help of Marti Bullard, supervisor of assisted living. Each patch of the quilt, they said, was designed to trigger specific memories for seniors. One patch depicted a lighthouse on a sandy shore, another a small dog, and another ribboncandy; a Christmas treat that brought smiles to the faces of the quilt’s creators with a mere mention.
FREE MEMORY SCREENINGS
Free memory screening will be available on Tuesday at The Watermark at East Hill in Southbury. The face-to-face screening takes 15 minutes or less. Proper diagnosis of issues affecting memory is critical, since some causes, such as thyroid problems, are reversible. Space is limited.
For information, call The Watermark at East Hill at (203) 262-6868.
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