Alzheimer's Foundation of America provides tips, strategies, and educates caregivers and funds research to help families with loved ones with Alzheimer's feel supported at every stage of life Established over 22 years with the purpose of
Charles Fuschillo, president and CEO of the foundation, said attendees will be able to attend three different educational sessions at the conference, which will be held in West Valley City.
“We’re going to start with Donna Kraus, who is an associate professor at the University of Utah,” Fuschillo said. “And she's going to be talking about new treatments and strategies for Alzheimer's disease. And we're also going to have a senior lawyer coming, and we're really looking forward to having Eric Burns come. We'll talk about what you don't want: advanced planning, long-term assets, protecting long-term care. And we'll conclude with a discussion about frontotemporal dementia FTD, which people are reading about.”
More than 6.7 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's disease, and more than 34,000 of them are here in Utah, he said.
The disease was discovered in the early 1900s when Dr. Alzheimer presented cases of people with cognitive impairment at a conference. Since then, there have been new treatments to treat the disease, but there is still no cure and no one knows what causes the disease, other than age-related changes in the brain that occur in some people. Apparently not, Fuschillo said.
He says it's important to be aware of signs and symptoms of the disease, such as confusion about time or place, and changes in mood or personality. He said a free 10-minute screening will also be offered at the conference.
“Not all of these problems are due to Alzheimer's disease,” he explained. “We have people with vitamin deficiencies, depression, alcoholism, thyroid problems, all of which are treatable, if not fixable, but you won't know it if you don't address it. So we We always encourage people to take action immediately. Another benefit of attending the conference is that we also offer a free memory test. We like to call it an above-the-neck test.”
Click here for more information or to register for the free conference.