{"id":193,"date":"2016-02-25T20:12:41","date_gmt":"2016-02-25T20:12:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/district-three.org\/wordpress\/?page_id=193"},"modified":"2020-11-16T19:21:57","modified_gmt":"2020-11-16T19:21:57","slug":"caregivers-newsletter","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/district-three.org\/index.php\/caregivers-newsletter\/","title":{"rendered":"Caregivers Newsletter"},"content":{"rendered":"

IT MAY NOT BE WHAT IT SEEMS: DON\u2019T ASSUME A CONFUSED ELDER HAS ALZHEIMER\u2019S DISEASE <\/strong>
\nWhen someone appears to be so confused that they need assistance with daily activities don\u2019t automatically assume that it is Alzheimer\u2019s disease. There are many other causes of dementia. Dementia is a general term of symptoms applied to several diseases or medical conditions. These symptoms could include a change in an individual\u2019s orientation, ability to remember, reasoning, and judgment. The ability to learn new information, personality, language skills, and a person\u2019s perception can also be affected. There are a number of diseases that can have dementia symptoms including depression, Parkinson\u2019s disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and Huntington\u2019s disease. Alzheimer\u2019s is the most common. There are also medical conditions that can cause dementia symptoms. Among them are medications, infections, dehydration, poor appetite, fluctuating blood sugar, thyroid dysfunction, loss of hearing or sight, and head injuries.<\/p>\n

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Many of these conditions can be treated. Encourage your friends or family members to schedule a doctor\u2019s appointment. A thorough diagnostic workup is important to determine the causes of the dementia symptoms. The longer treatable medical conditions go unrecognized the more difficult it is to treat them. If the diagnosis is Alzheimer\u2019s disease, there is medical, legal, and financial planning that should be initiated immediately. The manner in which you communicate with the person with dementia symptoms is also very important to their well-being.<\/p>\n

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The following suggestions will promote effective communication: Treat the confused person as an adult and with respect, approach in a calm manner, do not argue, confront or correct, maintain eye contact when talking with the person, keep all directions simple, speak slowly, clearly and use short sentences, do not talk about the person in front of them as if they were not there, and be patient - a person with dementia may take longer to perform daily activities.<\/p>\n

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From Kansas Advocates for Better Care, Kansas Senior Press Service.<\/p>\n

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ALZHEIMER'S\/DEMENTIA CAREGIVER SUPPORT GROUPS<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Carroll County<\/strong>
\nFourth Tuesday of Each Month
\n10:00 am
\nCarroll County Senior Center
\n(Downstairs)
\n449 Training Center Road
\nHillsville, VA 24343<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Smyth County<\/strong>
\nFourth Thursday of Each Month
\n6:00 pm
\nDistrict Three Senior Services
\n4453 Lee Highway
\nMarion, VA 24354<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Washington County<\/strong>
\nFirst Thursday of Each Month
\n10:00 am
\nCommonwealth Assisted Living at Abingdon
\n860 Wolf Creek Trail, NW
\nAbingdon, VA 24210<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Washington County<\/strong>
\nThird Monday of Each Month
\n6:00 pm
\nPleasant View Methodist Church
\n(across from Highlands Airport on Lee Hwy)
\nAbingdon, VA 24210<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Wytheville-Bland<\/strong>
\nThird Thursday of Each Month
\n5:00 pm
\nFranklin House
\n(Behind St.Paul United Methodist Church )
\n195 Franklin Street
\nWytheville, VA 24382<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

IT MAY NOT BE WHAT IT SEEMS: DON\u2019T ASSUME A CONFUSED ELDER HAS ALZHEIMER\u2019S DISEASE When someone appears to be so confused that they need assistance with daily activities don\u2019t automatically assume that it is Alzheimer\u2019s disease. There are many other causes of dementia. Dementia is a general term of symptoms applied to several diseases…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":679,"parent":0,"menu_order":11,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"full-width-page.php","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-193","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/district-three.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/district-three.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/district-three.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/district-three.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/district-three.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/district-three.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3708,"href":"https:\/\/district-three.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/193\/revisions\/3708"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/district-three.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/district-three.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}