If you or a loved one have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, it can be difficult to know how to proceed. What do you do first? What can you do to stay in control of your life and of your future? What can you do to prepare for the changes and challenges ahead?

Having a thorough understanding of the illness will help you manage and plan for these changes. Taking the necessary steps to ensure your or your loved one’s health and well-being is critical. There are several strategies that can help:

Learn all you can about the diagnosis

We all start our caregiving journey for different reasons. We each have our own story of how it came to be. Some come to caregiving out of a sense of love and devotion, some out of necessity and duty, and some because it is just the right thing to do. But no matter how you came to be a caregiver, it is only part of who you are. Over time, your stories and your loved one’s stories intertwine. You start to lose your sense of self.

“Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us. Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.” — Oprah Winfrey
 

One thing I hear consistently from folks across campus is how much they value the winter break. For many, it feels like an oasis in a busy season—extra days off, a pause between semesters, a time of reset and (hopefully) renewal. However, many of us also tend to have high expectations of ourselves during this time—catch up on sleep/rest, travel, get projects done, host guests and meet holiday demands.

The holidays are here. For those of us whose older loved one lives independently, this will be a chance to interact with and spend more time with them. It’s an opportunity to get a peek into their world; a chance to see for ourselves how they are coping with the onset of aging.

Everyone experiences changes to their physical and mental abilities as they age. These changes can come on gradually or happen quickly. When we notice a change in our loved one’s condition and ask about it, they often downplay and minimize any new symptoms.

Would you apply for the job of a family caregiver? According to an AARP to Congress report, there are 40 million Americans providing 34 billion hours of unpaid care to an older adult each year. A "Help Wanted" ad might look something like this. 
 
HELP WANTED: CAREGIVER
 
There is an immediate need for a caregiver to help a loved one in your family.
 
Caregiver duties

November is both National Caregiver’s Month and National Alzheimer’s Awareness Month.  To support our UK caregivers, UK HR Elder Care will be hosting a Senior Caregiving Week offering two great caregiving events November 1-3.   

The events

Virtual Dementia Tour   
Have you ever wondered what life with dementia is like? What would you see, feel, hear and comprehend? Why would you do the things you do?

With the new academic year, the campus is busy with all kinds of excitement.  New and returning faculty, students, staff and visitors will be transcending into Lexington and surrounding areas. This means more motor vehicles, foot traffic, and scooter riders.
 
Electric scooters, or E-scooters have surged in popularity as a relatively effortless and convenient means of avoiding traffic and getting from one location to another quickly. With the increase in popularity also comes an increase in injuries. According to published accident reports nationwide:

Many of us will be alone in our later years. We may have never married or married with no children, be divorced or widowed. We may have outlived or be estranged from our families. No matter the circumstance, aging alone requires a different set of resources and a different mental set than aging with an established supportive network.

Caregiving, in some capacity, is in all our futures. Rosalynn Carter said it best.