Registration is now open for the 2013 Walk to End Alzheimer’s. Regional Walks will be held throughout Massachusetts and New Hampshire in September. For more information and to register your team visit http://www.alzwalkMANH.org.
Promote Alzheimer’s awareness by wearing purple throughout the month of September, and especially on September 21, Alzheimer’s Action Day!
There are just a few more weeks until the Worcester County Walk to End Alzheimer’s, which will take place September 30 at Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester, but a few weeks is more than enough time to get involved! Start your own Walk team or join Team Hudson. The more the merrier!
Need some motivation, or even just some more information? Amanda and Mike, captains of Team Hudson, will be at the Hudson Public Library Tuesday, September 18, 5-7pm, for an informal Q&A on the Walk to End Alzheimer’s.
Like pizza, pasta, salads, or sandwiches? Support Team Hudson by dining at the Hudson Papa Gino’s on Thursday, September 20, between 4 and 9 pm (flyer required–please email teamhudsonma@gmail.com).
Want to celebrate Alzheimer’s Action Day with your sweet tooth? Pick up a purple-frosted donut at Dunkin Donuts on September 21.
Visit our EVENTS page for more details on these events and others. Thanks for your support!
Today at the Hudson Senior Center, Julie McMurray (Regional Manager of the Alzheimer’s Association of MA/NH Central Regional Office) gave another fantastic presentation on Alzheimer’s disease. This presentation, Memory, Aging & Alzheimer’s: What You Should Know, addressed some of the most common questions people have about Alzheimer’s disease. Among other things, the audience (another full house!) learned the differences between the kind of memory loss that is a normal part of aging and the kind of memory loss that should raise a red flag. (Hint: Losing your keys occasionally is a normal kind of memory loss; finding them in the fridge should be a red flag.)
Thanks again to Julie for the informative and interesting presentation, to Janice Long (Director of the Hudson Senior Center) for scheduling the program, and to everyone who attended the event. An extra-special thank you to those of you who purchased purple bracelets and to those of you who have already signed up for the Walk. If you have any questions about registering for the Walk, please feel free to email us (teamhudsonma@gmail.com) or visit our Join a Team page for step-by-step instructions.
We had a great time at the Hudson Applebees on July 31! Thank you so much to everyone who participated in this fundraising event, and to the manager and staff at Applebees who made it so easy! The food was fantastic and the atmosphere was laid-back and cheerful.
Please see our Events page for more fundraising events in August and September!
Thanks so much to all of you who attended today’s presentation, Know the 10 Signs: Early Detection Matters, held at 10am at the Hudson Senior Center. I hope you will join me in sending an extra thank-you to Janice Long, Director of the Hudson Senior Center, and Julie McMurray, Regional Manager of the Alzheimer’s Association’s MA/NH Central Regional Office. Without their commitment to Alzheimer’s education, today’s presentation would not have been possible.
I was very impressed with the turnout and with how committed attendees were to learning more about Alzheimer’s disease. Almost every seat was full, and the audience was inquisitive and energetic. Attending today’s presentation not only taught me more about Alzheimer’s disease, but also reaffirmed that this is a cause important to our community. I am reinvigorated in my fight against Alzheimer’s disease!
Whether you attended today’s presentation or were unable to, I hope you will join us for the next presentation we have scheduled: Memory, Aging & Alzheimer’s: What you Should Know. This presentation will be held Wednesday, August 8, from 10 to 11am at the Hudson Senior Center. If you plan to attend, please RSVP to Janice Long (978-568-9638) by August 3.
If you have any questions about the upcoming presentation or joining the Walk to End Alzheimer’s, feel free to contact us!
–Amanda
My involvement with the Alzheimer’s Association began 3 years ago, when I supported my sister in her fundraising efforts. Our grandmother had recently passed from the disease, and it was a meaningful way to honor her spirit. I know she would have been proud. Last year was the first time I was able to participate more physically in the walk. I found it a very moving experience, to make a Memory Garden with all our loved ones represented on nylon and plastic flowers, spinning in the breeze on a hillside. Each time I neared the garden, tears filled my eyes.
It is not an easy thing for me to get emotional about Alzheimer’s, as it is really a part of my everyday. To some degree you could say I am hardened to it a little bit. I have worked in nursing homes for almost ten years, and as an occupational therapist my role has been from caregiver to educator, problem solver to listener. Most of what I do for the individual is trying to retain a sense of normalcy and independence. Helping to find a room, remember how to feed oneself, or maintain comfort in a specialized wheelchair. For the families, I listen to their concerns, acknowledge their guilt of “putting Mom in a nursing home”, and help them identify ways for them to still connect with their loved ones. It is not always easy, especially when people’s behaviors and personalities are stolen by this disease. I went to a course a few years ago on Healthy Aging and the idea that struck me most strongly was when the MD said, to paraphrase, Other diseases, cardiac disease, diabetes, even cancer, affect the person’s routines, change his/her life immensely. But dementia, that changes the Person.
I try to recall this when I am the recipient of negative behaviors. I am hit, sworn at, or spit upon by people who had taught their children to behave nicely, who sang in the church choir. Families are appalled and embarrassed by their loved ones. And eventually they cannot even communicate, and therefore many stop visiting. And it is the truth of what Alzheimer’s can do to a person, and to a family. For this reason I walk. For my grandmother, for the wonderful person she was and for the fact she was taken away from us far too young– and many years before she physically passed. And for all my patients over the years, who have wandered, confused and scared. No one deserves a future like that.
I would like to send a sincere thank-you to the Hudson VFW, the Hudson Senior Center, and the Friends of the Hudson Sentior Center for the warm welcome they gave me at their meat and lobster shoot Friday, June 1. They let me say a few words and hand out Walk flyers at the beginning of their fundraising event and, even though I was a fish out of water, everyone there made me feel welcome.
I left the Hudson VFW with more than a few lobsters and some marinated sirloin tips–I left with a better appreciation for some of the amazing people in our community. We are all connected in some way or another and I am ever more confident that we can build Team Hudson and really come together as a community to end Alzheimer’s disease. Join us!
–Amanda
