Alzheimer’s and Care Partners

People coping with a recent diagnosis of Alzheimer’s struggle to find messages of hope. Conventional medical practice has been to focus more on the deficits than the brain skills that may be preserved. The Center’s approach to dementia emphasizes the life still left to live and ways to extend its quality.

Hundreds of families have participated in our Alzheimer’s Discovery ™ program over the last 20 years, and our research shows that a strengthsbased approach enriches the lives of families adjusting to a diagnosis. This program serves families living with a recent diagnosis by empowering them with strategies that will enhance quality of life. Our program supports both the diagnosed and the care partner. For the diagnosed, we focus on engagement. For the care partner, we focus on empowerment. In addition to education about the diagnosis, care partners need to remember the underlying importance of cognitive self-care. Taking care of a family member

BvB Dallas

with Alzheimer’s brings about increased social isolation, emotional and physical stress, and overall risk of cognitive decline, too often diminishing quality of life for both the diagnosed and the care partner.

Alzheimer’s Discovery is intent on rewriting a more purposefilled narrative.

The young professionals of BvB Dallas helped launch a study benefitting care partners and people with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s or mild cognitive impairment. Utilizing BrainHealth’s virtual platform, this study measures and supports brain health among care partners, a group at increased risk of cognitive decline.

BvB Board of Directors member Holley Caldwell said, “BvB Dallas is in awe of the amazing work being done at the Center for BrainHealth and so honored to partner in our fight to tackle Alzheimer’s. BrainHealth’s work is integral to maintaining and improving our cognition, which will be of the utmost importance for generations to come.”

Participant Testimonials

I had been scared to death of getting Alzheimer’s for a long time. When I got the diagnosis, for me, it was a relief. I spent a lot of time wondering if I was losing my mind altogether, but then I had a name for what I had and could do something about it.

Tom Grimsley

The Center for BrainHealth has given us a connection to a new community that certainly helped us move into acceptance. BrainHealth has been a lifeline.

Ronda Grimsley

The future of caregiving faces several challenges – the number of people who will need long-term care is projected to increase dramatically in the coming years. Care providers are often unavailable due to demands on their time. In addition, most are not using technology to its full potential. Focusing on brain health is a critical component of treating both the person with the diagnosis and their care partner. This mission reaches beyond education to creating a community of support and an environment where the diagnosed and their care partners can find ways to thrive in the midst of a challenging diagnosis. To broaden the scope of our impact, we plan to move trainings online and equip professionals across the nation, providing a template for scalable

Alzheimer’s Discovery programming than can be replicated within localized communities throughout the country.

How You Can Make a Limitless Impact

Your gift could:

• Give individuals adjusting to a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s and their care partner access to a strengthsbased intervention shown to reduce anxiety and depression and increase social connection and meaningful engagement.

• Connect care partners to a oneof-a-kind program that offers personalized measures of brain health, specialized cognitive training, creation of a brain health action plan, and supportive coaching and guidance from an experienced clinician.

• Provide ongoing education and support for families living with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s through one-on-one consultations and monthly meetings for care partners and people with a diagnosis.

• Increase and refine our delivery of programming, as we leverage our experience alongside new technologies in a longer-term effort to reach this growing community across the globe.

Learn more about Alzheimer’s Discovery at centerforbrainhealth.org/alzheimers-discovery