HEALTH
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Alzheimer's: Dedicated People
Battle A Destroyer Of Families
JACKIE KLEIN
Special to The Jewish News
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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1989
851-3590
lzheimer's disease is
called a destroyer of
families, a process of
daily mini-deaths.
First, the memory starts to
fail, followed by a steady
decline in abilities. The
disease is devastating to both
victims and caregivers.
About one out of every 11
persons will become victims
of the disease, said Marjorie
Fuller, program coordinator of
education and training for
the Detroit area chapter of
the Alzheimer's Disease and
Related Disorders
Association.
"A segment of the Jewish
population denies that the
disease has struck their fami-
ly," Fuller said. "A wife might
say, if only her husband
would listen to her she could
get through to him. She won't
admit he can't remember.
"When a family member
with Alzheimer's acts inap-
propriately in a restaurant,
it's embarassing. Jews aren't
supposed to act that way. But
it doesn't matter if the
disease affects the brain of a
Jewish kop or a non-Jewish
kop."
The association educates
the public and provides a sup-
port system for patients and
their families through
counseling, respite and day
care programs, a telephone
hotline and support groups.
Fuller is concerned that the
message isn't getting out to
enough members of the
Jewish community.
`Some Jewish people hold
on to the firm belief that Jews
take care of their own," Fuller
said. "But when you get the
elderly taking care of the
elderly, they need all the help
they can get. Jewish parents
are used to giving, not taking.
They don't want to be a
burden?'
Fuller has been through the
nightmare herself. Her
mother, an Alzheimer's vic-
tim, died at the age of 71.
Fuller's father died two
months later of a stroke. Both
parents were then living with
Fuller and her husband.
Fuller has a degree in
guidance and counseling and
worked with Alzheimer's pa-
tients. But when her mother
became ill, she didn't im-
mediately recognize the
symptons. Even a profesional
can miss the "insidious
onset" of the disease, Fuller
said.
Marjorie Fuller:
Professional and personal
experience.
Servides now available
through the Alzheimer's
Association weren't in place
during that difficult period.
Patients and caregivers lived
in virtual isolation, Fuller
said. Too late for the Fullers,
the association's programs
have been a godsend to Jack
Gold and his wife Shirley, a
victim of Alzheimer's disease.
Shirley gold, an outgoing,
vivacious actress and model,
began showing symptoms of
the disease 10 years ago when
she was 53.
Although most victims are
over 65, Alzheimer's can
strike in the 40s and 50s.
Diagnosis is a long process of
ruling out other possible
illnesses.
"Shirley goes through the
motions of living," Jack Gold
said. "She paces the floor,
follows directions and shows
little response. She can recite
her social security number
but if you ask her a question,
she'll simply say 'yes' or 'no? "
It took a year to rule out
other causes of his wife's
forgetfulness and personality
change, Gold said. "I was los-
ing patience with Shirley. I
couldn't cope with her hostili-
ty to me and her friends. She
was like a different person.
She wasn't taking care of the
house. She kept bouncing
checks until we had to take
away her checking account."
A respite care volunteer
from the Alzheimer's Associa-
tion comes to the Gold's home
at a charge of just $5.50 for
four hours. Shirley goes to the
association's adult day care
program every Saturday at
the Barnum Health Center in
Birmingham. The cahrge is
$3.50, "cheaper than a
babysitter," Gold said.
The Gold's son, Bill, a
33-year-old attorney, planned
to attend law school in Boston
where he lived for three years.
But he decided to take his law
courses at Cooley Law School
in Lansing so he could come
home weekends to relieve his
father.
"Dad likes to play golf on
Sunday mornings and I'd
babysit during his only time
off," Bill said. "He was in a
trauma?'
Bill Gold lives with his
parents now. He's been help-
ing for five years, but he
doesn't complain.
"People need to unders-
tand," he said. "Friends
disappear. My mother took
care of her folks. I guess it
rubs off when you live around
it. It's like somebody dies. The
person you knew is gone."
Bill is a volunteer for the
speaker's bureau of the
Alzheimer's Association. He
does pro bono legal work for
patients and their families,
often dealing with nursing
homes.
Jack Gold is on the fund-
raising committee for the
Chocolate Jubilee, an annual
event for the Alzheimer's
Association that will be held
Dec. 3 at Somerset Inn. And
he talks to other people who
are going through the pain,
many of them still in denial.
Shirley Gold isn't a can-
didate for a nursing home, her
husband said. About 70 per-
cent of families care for
Alzheimer's patients at home.
Gold estimates the cost of
long-term care in a nursing
home at about $30,000 a year,
usually not covered by in-
surance. The cost of home
care is about $18,000 a year.
Alzheimer's hurts grand-
children too. Marge Fuller
and her daughter, Liz, con-
duct an Alzheimer Disease
Youth Support Group for 9-17
year olds. The kids ask Liz
how she coped with the
disease that struck her grand-
mother before her death.
It's tough," Liz says. "My
grandma needed constant
care. Sometimes she recogniz-
ed us; sometimes she didn't.
There were times she knew
we were related. It depended
on where she was in her
illusion.
"That was the hardest part.
I grew up seeing how she us-
ed to be. Then she was a dif-
ferent person. You have to
grin and bear it and help take
care of your grandparents. I
had no group like this to go to.
It would have helped.
❑