Who knew that music has the power to help stimulate the memory of patients with Alzheimer’s disease; help Parkinson’s patients learn to walk again; reduce blood pressure; help restore speech to a patient who has had a stroke? . . .
There are a number of risk factors for developing dementia. These can be thought of broadly in two categories: those that you can do something about and those that you cannot. Risk factors you can’t change include aging—risk dramatically rises with age, with more than 50 percent of those older than 85 being affected—and genetics.
Hospice care at home is not turning the home into a hospital, but making the home environment a safe and comfortable place to die. Hospice nurse Kimberly Hone explains how a hospice team educates caregivers on how to give the patient hands-on care; manages the patient's pain; offers crisis (emergency) care; and helps shepherd caregivers through their loved one’s dying process.
Approximately two thirds of the people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease in America are women. Women in their 60s have a 1 in 6 risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease over the course of their lives.