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Community DC Jenni Chase with Chartese Berry NCAC Alzheimer's Association · Community D.C.

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Hi, good morning. Thank you for listening.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: This is Community DC, heard on all iHeart radio stations
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: in the DC area. Jenny Chase is my name, and
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: our topic this morning is one that is near and
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: dear to my heart, the Alzheimer's Association, and there are
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: big fundraisers that are coming up. We're I am so
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: thrilled to have two very incredible ladies with me this
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: morning who have very close ties to the National Capital
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  Speaker 2: Area chapter of the Alzheimer's Association. First off, it's Executive
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: Director Chartise Berry.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Hi.
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  Speaker 3: Morning, Jenny. It's so nice to be with you.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: I'm thrilled to have you.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: We've also got a wonderful Alzheimer's Association volunteer with us. Tracy,
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: let me make sure I don't butcher your last name.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: Is it Chyfetz?
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: It is Chyfetz.
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: Yay!
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Okay, so gals, we've got a lot to talk about
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: this morning.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: But first of all, let's just start with the basics.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: People hear the term Alzheimer's.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: Can we talk about the difference between those two, for starters?
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: Sure, Jenny. So I'll just, I'll chime in. And certainly, Tracy,
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: whenever you want to chime in, you've been involved and
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: certainly impacted personally. But I will just share that Alzheimer's
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: is the most common form of dementia. There are four
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: primary forms of dementia, Alzheimer's being the most prevalent form.
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: And I will also just say, you know, why Alzheimer's
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  Speaker 3: is such a critical and urgent health crisis in our area,
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: and certainly nationally, Jenny, is that nearly 7 million folks,
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: approximately 7.4 million Americans, are living with Alzheimer's in this country,
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: which means there's almost 14 million caregivers who are providing
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: unpaid care for their family, their loved ones, their spouses,
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: their partners, their friends. And then in our area, there
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: are over 300,000 people living with Alzheimer's. And that means
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: in DC, Maryland, and Virginia, the DMV, they're living with
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: this disease and almost 600,000 caregivers providing care.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: Chartiste, the caregiver aspect really hits home for me and
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: my family. We watched my stepmom take care of my
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: father 24-7 after his diagnosis, and it was difficult. When
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: a person gets the Alzheimer's diagnosis, what all are they facing?
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: But before that, what exactly is going on in the brain?
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: I will explain it in my non-clinical terms because I'm
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: not a clinician. And Tracy, please feel free. I know
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: Tracy's husband is a physician, but certainly Tracy's mom had
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: been diagnosed. So she certainly has some history with the disease.
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: But I will say in very general terms, there's amyloid,
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: there's plaque buildup in the brain that causes the confusion,
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: the memory loss, the cognitive decline. And so really, it's about,
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: in very simplistic terms, this amyloid plaque that builds up
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: in the brain that causes... the symptoms that eventually, of course,
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: create significant health issues within individuals. Tracy, I don't know
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: if there's any other medical or clinical additional information around that,
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: but that is the most simplest way that I can
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: describe the disease.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: Let's talk about when folks could start to see this
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: type of decline. I only.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: you.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: Know, recently in the last couple years became familiar with
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: early onset. And personally, that is something that I am
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: quite concerned with, because my father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: disease about six months before we lost him. So it
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: is something I think about quite often. Chartise, at what
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: age could people start to notice cognitive decline?
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  Speaker 3: So, Jenny, first of all, let me just say thank
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: you for sharing your personal story. And I think there
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: are probably some myths around this disease that it's for
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: people who are older. It's an old person's disease. It's
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: people over 65. And I'll talk a little bit about
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: why research is so important. We know that people can
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: show signs or symptoms of disease. In fact, Nick's story
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: that we'll talk a little bit about, you know, well
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: before they're actually diagnosed, which is why, one, it's important
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  Speaker 3: that we now have, there are now four blood tests
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  Speaker 3: that can help accurately detect Alzheimer's in people who are
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: showing signs of cognitive decline, you know, confusion, memory loss,
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: things like that. And so what that does is if
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: people are accurately diagnosed soon, sooner because of the two
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  Speaker 3: current therapies that the FDA has approved to slow progression
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: or that have been shown to slow progression in this disease.
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  Speaker 3: They only work if people are diagnosed sooner with what
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: we call early onset or early stages, excuse me, early stages.
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: Early onset is before 65. Early stages is the stage
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: at which the disease has progressed. So the sooner you
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  Speaker 3: are diagnosed with this disease, the sooner you can become
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  Speaker 3: perhaps on a disease modifying therapy. So that's why research
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  Speaker 3: is important. And certainly these blood tests that can accurately
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  Speaker 3: detect the disease. We do know that there can be
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  Speaker 3: a genetic predisposition to the disease. So certainly your concern, Jenny,
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  Speaker 3: over your future is certainly, we understand that. It doesn't
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  Speaker 3: mean that you will because you have it in your family,
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  Speaker 3: But the fact is that we have detection mechanisms for
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  Speaker 3: those who have had this disease in their family to
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  Speaker 3: be able to be diagnosed sooner if in fact they
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  Speaker 3: will recover. have a diagnosis of Alzheimer's. So very, very
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: good question.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: Chartise, in your experience with the Alzheimer's Association, what is
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: the youngest patient that you've come across or heard about?
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: How early can this happen?
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: Absolutely. You know, we just hosted a few months ago,
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: our large AIM advocacy forum where we brought in advocates
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: from all over the country over over a thousand advocates
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  Speaker 3: to go to Capitol Hill to speak to legislators on
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: our public policy priorities. And at that forum, I met
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  Speaker 3: too many people who had been diagnosed earlier on in
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  Speaker 3: their 40s. There was someone who spoke on stage about
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: their husband, who they lost, and he had been diagnosed
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: in his 40s. I mean, he was a military veteran,
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: but just sad, sad stories. And I think this is
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: why it's so important to, one, recognize the symptoms. Two,
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: take care of your brain, which we're now in the
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: brain health space and really wanting to be the experts
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: in brain health and making sure that people understand what
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: that looks like, brain healthy habits, so that we can
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: work on the possibility of preventing or mitigating the risk
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: of having dementia.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: What are some examples of what you would consider to
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: be concerning behaviors when it comes to changes? In a
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: person's actions or or moods, if somebody is constantly like,
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: you know, misplacing their keys, that's one thing. But then
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: I feel like there are bigger, you know, markers that
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: that people might go, wow, that's that's kind of that's
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: unusual for me. Should I be worried about this? Using
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: myself as an example, I have this new thing that's
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: been happening. If I have a thought and I don't
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  Speaker 2: either write it down or speak it, the moment it
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  Speaker 2: comes in my head, a few seconds later, I can
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: try to retrieve that thought.
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  Speaker 1: And it's not there. And I mean, I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: be real. That scares me.
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  Speaker 2: What other things would you be looking for when it
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: comes to me and a cognitive behavioral decline?
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: And I'm going to speak to that, Jenny, because I
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: want to talk and be vulnerable here, too. But Tracy,
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: I'd love to hear maybe your personal specifically about your mom.
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: But I will just say, Jenny, I'm quite a bit
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: older than you.
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  Speaker 1: So you don't at all.
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  Speaker 3: I will just say, well, thank you very much. But
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  Speaker 3: I will just say that it is scary. And I,
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: you know, I think, you know, one, there's so much
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: information influx these days that I think all of our
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: brains are just overloaded with information, information. And we're all
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: over the place with our devices.
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  Speaker 2: That's a huge part of the problem. I think that's
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: one of the biggest contributors to what we're seeing. It's just,
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  Speaker 2: it's too much.
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  Speaker 3: Too much. And I tell my kids all the time,
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  Speaker 3: I'm scared, right? They're like, mommy, it's just because, you know,
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  Speaker 3: you're doing a lot and you're busy. And so, and
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  Speaker 3: in part, that is in fact the truth and the case.
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  Speaker 3: There are normal signs of aging, right? We all are
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: going to forget our keys. I think what is probably
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  Speaker 3: more concerning, and maybe you might want to take notice,
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  Speaker 3: is if you... Put your keys in the refrigerator or
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: you try to turn on your television with, you know,
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  Speaker 3: instead of the remote, your cell phone. Or if you
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  Speaker 3: forget to do some of the things that are your
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: daily routine, your tasks.
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  Speaker 2: Right.
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  Speaker 3: And certainly I've heard stories of folks getting lost, going
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: to the grocery store and kind of being confused about
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  Speaker 3: how to get there. A store that you go to
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  Speaker 3: all the time. Doing things that you do all the
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: time that now you're a little bit confused about doing
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  Speaker 3: or how to even maybe I've heard stories of folks
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  Speaker 3: where someone was sharing that she asked her husband to
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: go change the baby's diaper and they just didn't know
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: where to begin. Right. So it's those normal daily tasks
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  Speaker 3: and or common tasks that you're confused about. Tracy, were
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  Speaker 3: there things that your mom did? behaviors that cause concern
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: for you.
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  Speaker 5: All so my mom was diagnosed at 69 so she
• 9:47
  Speaker 5: was kind of young and what we saw was so
• 9:51
  Speaker 5: she lived with us she would walk in from her
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  Speaker 5: side of the house into our side of the house
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  Speaker 5: to ask us what time the games were the next
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  Speaker 5: morning for our three.
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: Boys So we would go through it all.
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  Speaker 5: She'd walk back to her house and 10 minutes later,
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  Speaker 5: she was back in saying, so what time are the
• 10:05
  Speaker 5: games tomorrow?
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  Speaker 3: And we would say, did you know that you were just.
• 10:10
  Speaker 5: Here a minute ago asking this? And that was what
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  Speaker 5: she didn't know. So it was, she couldn't remember that
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  Speaker 5: she had just come in and had this same conversation.
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  Speaker 5: It wasn't the loss of the conversation. It was the
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  Speaker 5: loss of the entire, you know, walking in and the actions.
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  Speaker 5: And we did start to see it disrupt her daily
• 10:32
  Speaker 5: life with finances. That was probably one of the biggest things,
• 10:36
  Speaker 5: like not that she would forget a bill, but she
• 10:39
  Speaker 5: forgot she even paid a bill about a, you know,
• 10:42
  Speaker 5: and she's calling credit card companies to tell them these
• 10:45
  Speaker 5: are not her charges when they were her charges. And
• 10:49
  Speaker 5: it's there was financial and then the disruption of daily
• 10:55
  Speaker 5: life was what we saw.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: Tracy, do you want to talk a little bit about,
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: you know, I mentioned that my stepmom cared for my father.
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: Do you want to share a little bit of what
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: you guys have gone through?
• 11:07
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, my mom was, like I said, 69.
• 11:10
  Speaker 5: She lived with us at the time. I had three
• 11:12
  Speaker 5: young boys who were very active at the time. She
• 11:17
  Speaker 5: was a nurse for 45 years. So when she got
• 11:19
  Speaker 5: her diagnosis, she knew what it meant. And I think
• 11:22
  Speaker 5: she was actually more concerned with how it was going
• 11:24
  Speaker 5: to impact me and my family. So we had a
• 11:28
  Speaker 5: lot of good conversations on her good days about how
• 11:31
  Speaker 5: we would face the next day. But it's challenging. And
• 11:36
  Speaker 5: it is probably the hardest thing I ever did. You
• 11:41
  Speaker 5: begin to feel like you're parenting your parent. And there
• 11:45
  Speaker 5: were times that my mom's cognitive ability would say, don't
• 11:48
  Speaker 5: treat me like your child. And I couldn't figure out
• 11:52
  Speaker 5: how not to. She didn't look both ways when she's
• 11:55
  Speaker 5: walking through a parking lot. I couldn't not hold her hand.
• 12:00
  Speaker 5: There were a lot of those instances. And because of that,
• 12:05
  Speaker 5: I started participating in the Walk to End Alzheimer's with
• 12:08
  Speaker 5: my mom. But Further, I now facilitate a support group
• 12:13
  Speaker 5: in the Fair Lakes area because I feel like it's
• 12:16
  Speaker 5: an isolating disease, both for the person who has it
• 12:19
  Speaker 5: and the person who cares for them. Because the person
• 12:22
  Speaker 5: who cares for them, it's not their story to tell.
• 12:25
  Speaker 5: So they walk around dealing with all of this stuff
• 12:28
  Speaker 5: in their home, and they really can't ask for help
• 12:32
  Speaker 5: because they don't want to disclose, hey, my mom has Alzheimer's.
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: Sure.
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: It's probably the most challenging thing I've ever done.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: I am in awe of you. And I know I'm
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: sure your mom was so grateful. Now you've kind of
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: dedicated your life in a way to this disease and
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: awareness and helping to get us to a cure. I
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: want to get into all the blood testing and things
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: like that. But on a daily basis, Chartise, what can
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: we do to maintain our brain health?
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I appreciate that. And I don't think anything's going
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: to surprise you. But what I will say is, is
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: that much like the American Heart Association is at the
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: forefront of stroke and heart health, the Alzheimer's Association is
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: positioning itself and rightfully so as the expert in brain health.
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: We've been doing a lot of work in this space.
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: We actually funded the U.S. Pointer Study a few years.
• 13:28
  Speaker 6: Ago that really was, that provided scientific evidence around how
• 13:34
  Speaker 6: everyday lifestyle changes can reduce your risk of dementia and
• 13:38
  Speaker 6: certainly improve and protect your brain health.
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: So there are things like eating a heart healthy diet.
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: And some people will say, you know, the Mediterranean diet.
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: And I think we've heard a lot about what heart
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: healthy diets and what healthy diets are. I would say, um,
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: you know, sometimes diet gets, you know, dieting, um, has, um, is,
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: is a bad word and, or it's daunting for many folks, but, um,
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: it's really about healthy eating habits, right? Um, regular exercise.
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: And what that means is just moving your body, getting out, moving, right.
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: Just You don't have to do all of these fancy
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: workouts and things like that. It's really just moving your body.
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: We know that that's important and healthy for your brain.
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: Getting enough sleep. I think sometimes sleep is not... is, is,
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: is underrated, but it is so true. You know, it's
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: hard for us. And the interesting thing is, I don't
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: know about you, Jenny, but the older you get, the
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: less sleep you kind of feel like you need, because
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: I know a lot of older people, they're like, I
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: don't need eight hours. I sleep five hours and I
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: feel fine. But I think we have to create those,
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: those sleep, those habits that get us in where we
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: are getting seven to eight hours of sleep. And we
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: know there's a whole thing around creating, um, healthy sleep habits. Right.
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: And then I would also say, certainly staying socially engaged,
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: you know, staying socially engaged, you know, intellectually engaged, even
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: if you're retired, you know, so for example, I'm not retired.
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: I'll be working for a long time. Um, hopefully, cause
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: I love what I do and this work is amazing. Um,
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: but I just joined a Mahjong group and I'm talking about,
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: you talk about working your brain. Yes. So it seems
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: like that doing things that maybe you haven't done before,
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: maybe like studying a new language or, you know, doing a,
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: you know, participating in a group or a game or
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: social activity. So it's all those things. And I would
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: say for people to learn more, if you go to
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: ALZ.org slash healthy habits. It'll talk a lot about the
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: study that we did, that we funded and that, you know,
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: and also about our brain health initiatives.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: Sounds great.
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: Can I throw out two other things on that? Yeah, Tracy.
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: So the other thing to the line, what's good for
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: your heart is good for your brain.
• 15:55
  Speaker 5: We need to pay attention to that, I think, especially
• 15:57
  Speaker 5: as women, as we lose our estrogen in our 50s.
• 16:01
  Speaker 5: You should be watching your cholesterol, your blood pressure. Those
• 16:04
  Speaker 5: two things could have more impact than you can imagine,
• 16:08
  Speaker 5: not only on your heart health, but on your brain health.
• 16:12
  Speaker 5: And the doctors will say, oh, you could wait a
• 16:14
  Speaker 5: few years for your statin.
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: Maybe you shouldn't.
• 16:18
  Speaker 5: You know, maybe you should have that discussion and say,
• 16:20
  Speaker 5: this is a thing that I'm concerned about. Well, what
• 16:22
  Speaker 5: do you think of a baby dose?
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: That is excellent, excellent advice. Can we get please into
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: the blood testing and the new ways of determining if
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: someone is, you know, predisposed to Alzheimer's or not? you know,
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: for whatever reason it's going to affect their lives. I'd
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: love to let folks know about these new advances.
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: So, I mean, just a few months ago, there were
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: two blood tests that were FDA approved that can help
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: accurately detect Alzheimer's disease and people who are showing signs
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: of cognitive decline. And then, you know, fast forward just
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: a few weeks ago, there were two more that came
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: to the market because we know how important it is.
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: Just it was as it was important to for folks
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: to get mammograms, right, for early detection. We know that
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: when any disease, any chronic or life-threatening illness is diagnosed sooner,
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: the sooner you can, it can be treated, the sooner
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: you can start making plans. And we know that with
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: that come better health outcomes, that we can save lives.
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: So those are critical. And I won't get into the
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: details of, you know, one of our legislative priorities, but
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: we have, it's called the ASAP Act. And on Capitol
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: Hill was one of the priorities that our advocates went
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: to their legislators with during our forum this year. And
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: the ASAP Act is the Alzheimer's Screening and Prevention Act.
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: And it was to urge Congress to allow Medicare to
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: take care of or to pay for these tests, right?
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: Because if there are tests there, but people don't have
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: access to those tests, then what good are they? So
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: we called it our mammogram moment as it relates to
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: this opportunity to allow or to have Medicare take care
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: of these tests for our senior patients. our senior community.
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: So it's critically important, but super exciting, obviously, to have
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: these kinds of biomarkers available. So I don't know, Tracy,
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: did you want to say anything else around that?
• 18:26
  Speaker 5: Well, the only thing I would add is what these
• 18:28
  Speaker 5: tests are basically allowing people to do is instead of
• 18:32
  Speaker 5: having an invasive spinal tap or getting an expensive PET scan,
• 18:40
  Speaker 5: we can detect whether their symptoms that they are experiencing
• 18:44
  Speaker 5: are caused by Alzheimer's instead of doing those other tests.
• 18:49
  Speaker 5: So it is not at this point, hey, let's all
• 18:51
  Speaker 5: run out and get screened. It is you have symptoms.
• 18:55
  Speaker 5: Let's see if we can test for this with a
• 18:58
  Speaker 5: blood test instead of a spinal tap or a PET scan.
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: So in the end, it will be cheaper, quicker, faster.
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: We'll have the results.
• 19:07
  Speaker 5: We can then proceed and figure out what is the
• 19:10
  Speaker 5: treatment for this person.
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: Well, gosh, I certainly hope folks will hear this and
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: think about talking to their doctor if they.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: Have any concerns about themselves.
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: Anything else medical wise you want to get into before
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: we talk about the walks?
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, the one thing I would I did want to
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: mention as it relates to when we talk about statistics,
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: since you were interested, Jenny. Tracy talked about women and
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: I would just say that we know that this disease
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: impacts women twice as twice twice as like women are
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: twice as likely to be diagnosed than men. And so,
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: you know, as with a lot of a lot of diseases,
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: here we are. Right. So I'm glad that you mentioned, Tracy,
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: the importance. of, you know, the things that we need
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: to do as women because of that.
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: Absolutely.
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: Well, there are going to be a lot of women
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: and men. taking part in all the big DMV area
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: walks to end Alzheimer's.
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: Let's get into them.
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: Absolutely. We've got quite a few. We have six in
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: our chapter, in our market, in our footprint. We just
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: had Prince George's County a couple of Saturdays ago. This
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: past Saturday, we had our walk to end Alzheimer's on
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: the National Mall this past Saturday. And of course, we
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: have Prince William and Fauquier Counties on October 10th, a
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: doubleheader that day in Southern Maryland, down in Waldorf, we'll
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: have on the same day, um, that walk. And then, um,
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: we of course have Northern Shenandoah Valley in Winchester, October 24th.
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: But the next one on tap is the one that
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: Tracy is a huge part of, and that's our walk. Um,
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: actually it's in between, it's the two weekends from now, sorry, Tracy, um,
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: October 18th, um, at the Reston town center. That's our
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: Reston or Northern Virginia walk.
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: You know, I wanted to ask you something about the
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: walk just now, but see, here we go. I just
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: had a moment. As we're having this interview, these are
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: the things that are happening. Like I go in to
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: ask you a question and then it disappears.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: It's not fun. I'm just telling you, it is not
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: fun at all.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: So obviously, Tracy, your association makes sense, but you have
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: really left your footprint on this walk. Tell me how
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: long you've been involved and what your capacity is and
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: just anything you want us to know about the walk
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: to end all's.
• 21:19
  Speaker 5: So I did my first walk with my mom in
• 21:21
  Speaker 5: 2018 and she carried her blue flower. I can tell
• 21:26
  Speaker 5: you all about these flowers in a little bit, but
• 21:28
  Speaker 5: my mom carried a blue flower. She put her name
• 21:30
  Speaker 5: on it. She made her donation and she felt like
• 21:32
  Speaker 5: she was doing something. She felt like she had some power.
• 21:37
  Speaker 5: I was carrying a yellow flower, which is what the
• 21:38
  Speaker 5: caregivers carry. And I could see in this crowd of
• 21:42
  Speaker 5: people that.
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: I was not alone.
• 21:44
  Speaker 5: And that was really emotional. And I have to say
• 21:48
  Speaker 5: it still is to this day. But what I think
• 21:52
  Speaker 5: is great about the walk is you're all doing something.
• 21:57
  Speaker 5: It is sometimes called the world's largest support group. In
• 22:01
  Speaker 5: a disease that is so isolating, you get this moment
• 22:04
  Speaker 5: where you're together. Prior to the walk, we have a
• 22:08
  Speaker 5: lot of fun. There are tables set up for family activities.
• 22:11
  Speaker 5: There's a DJ. If you come to the resting walk,
• 22:14
  Speaker 5: you'll get to see my team, Amy's Army. We do
• 22:17
  Speaker 5: the YMCA to remember my mom's joy instead of her disease.
• 22:22
  Speaker 5: And so it is a wonderful day. The walk is
• 22:26
  Speaker 5: about a mile long, and there are information from the
• 22:30
  Speaker 5: Alzheimer's Association that's there. You can find some of the
• 22:34
  Speaker 5: sponsors who have maybe provided some services that you're looking for.
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: I tell people... and see what it is.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: It is an incredible sight.
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: And I got to tell you, the feeling that I
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: feel each year when I walk up to the starting point,
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: I feel sad, obviously, yes, but I also feel feel
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: the sense of community and the hope and the optimism
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: and the love. It really is amazing. Can we please
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: talk about the flower ceremony? Because I think that is
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: probably the most impactful part of the day.
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so everybody carries a flower that's there.
• 23:10
  Speaker 5: If you're carrying a blue flower, it means that you
• 23:13
  Speaker 5: have Alzheimer's or another type of dementia. If you're carrying
• 23:16
  Speaker 5: a purple flower, you have lost somebody to Alzheimer's. The
• 23:19
  Speaker 5: yellow flower signifies that you are caring for somebody with
• 23:23
  Speaker 5: Alzheimer's or another dementia. Orange, you support a world without Alzheimer's.
• 23:28
  Speaker 5: And then we hope one day we will add a
• 23:29
  Speaker 5: white flower to our garden that will be the first
• 23:33
  Speaker 5: survivor of Alzheimer's. And you know, you had asked me before,
• 23:36
  Speaker 5: and I did the whole brain thing too, and how
• 23:40
  Speaker 5: did I get involved? So after doing the walk with
• 23:43
  Speaker 5: my mom and then losing her in 2022, my brother
• 23:48
  Speaker 5: and I decided that we needed to create a team.
• 23:52
  Speaker 5: And call it Amy's Army. And we have the purple camo.
• 23:55
  Speaker 5: It's what I wear everywhere I go. And it is
• 24:00
  Speaker 5: not a road that I now walk alone. Like I
• 24:03
  Speaker 5: have probably 40 something people every year show up for
• 24:06
  Speaker 5: me and they're not always the same people. And I
• 24:10
  Speaker 5: think you can bring your friends, you can bring your family,
• 24:13
  Speaker 5: you can create a team, and then you have that
• 24:16
  Speaker 5: on top of this whole bunch of strangers that are
• 24:20
  Speaker 5: also now part of your team. And I've stayed involved
• 24:24
  Speaker 5: by becoming a member of the Community Engagement Committee, and
• 24:28
  Speaker 5: I've been chairing that for two years now. So if
• 24:31
  Speaker 5: that's something that interests any of the listeners out there.
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: We would love to have you. We are a fun
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: group and we.
• 24:38
  Speaker 5: Do a little bit of tabling and a little bit
• 24:42
  Speaker 5: of having dinner.
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: And, you know, we try to spread the word and
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: get people to come to our walks.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: How do our listeners register? How do they get signed
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: up to participate?
• 24:50
  Speaker 5: So they can go on to the ALZ.org forward slash
• 24:55
  Speaker 5: walk and sign up to walk with us there. Register there.
• 25:00
  Speaker 5: You can start your fundraising page if you want to.
• 25:03
  Speaker 5: You can create your own team on that site. And
• 25:06
  Speaker 5: then send that link out to people and have them
• 25:08
  Speaker 5: join your team. I have found that the use of
• 25:13
  Speaker 5: it allows you to go right into Facebook. You can
• 25:15
  Speaker 5: send out a message on your social media platforms. And
• 25:19
  Speaker 5: I think people would find how surprising it is that
• 25:23
  Speaker 5: so it affects, as we just said, seven million Americans.
• 25:27
  Speaker 5: Many of your neighbors are going through this and they're
• 25:29
  Speaker 5: doing it quietly. So when they see your post, they
• 25:33
  Speaker 5: will say, I.
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: Want to join that.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: Right on.
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: All right, ladies, our time is winding down. Anything else
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: you want to share?
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: I just wanted to, one, say thank you to Tracy.
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: She is an amazing volunteer. And board members, she and
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: her husband have been huge supporters. They do everything and
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: all the things. I did want to mention, you know,
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: we obviously love volunteers like Tracy to be a part
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: of our community. It's also important that we get the
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: corporate community involved for a lot of reasons. One, we
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: need their financial support. They are force multipliers for the
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: work and our mission. And we need leaders in that
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: space to be able to bring in other corporate folks
• 26:11
  Speaker 3: to be a part of, to either form teams, to
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: be a part of our executive leadership teams. And so
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: I just want to say a huge thank you to
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: Forvis Mazars and Nick Dulo. They are our presenting sponsor
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: for our Rest and Walk on October 18th. And Nick
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: has his own story. He got involved, like many people,
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: and certainly Tracy. because of his personal connection, Nick Nosta's mom.
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: She was only 67 years old. She showed symptoms five
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: to 10 years before she was actually diagnosed in 2015.
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: And unfortunately, they lost her. in 2020. So I just would,
• 26:50
  Speaker 3: you know, I want to just share if anyone, any
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: of your listeners want to get involved because they are
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: leaders in their, in their organization, in their company, they
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: want to be involved with us, whether financially supporting us,
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: forming a team within their workplace or inviting us in
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: to provide a free education awareness program, because that is
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: part of the work that we do. I know people
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: talk about research. But we actually provide free programs, education
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: and awareness programs. We can come into a community or
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: corporate organization and provide information about caregiving, provide information about
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: brain health, provide information about signs and symptoms. So, that
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: is a free service. And that is where funds go,
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: like the funds that Tracy and her team raised for
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: us and certainly the rest of our work. So, it
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: is important that we get the corporate community behind us.
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: And we're just so grateful for Forbis Mazars and their partnership.
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: Absolutely.
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: Well, ladies, I feel like I owe you an apology,
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: quite honestly, because not at all. No, but here's the thing.
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: When I did this interview last year, I wasn't struggling
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: with this.
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: And you're not struggling, Jenny. It's just so much to
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: talk about because we have amazing Tracy, who has a
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: lot to share. And the Alzheimer's Association is doing so much.
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: So it's not it's not you at all. I know
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: you were trying to fit in a lot of information
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: in a short time. So no apologies necessary. Well, I
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: just want to.
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: Say, for me, it serves as kind of a stark
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: realization that this is actually happening to me. And I'm
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: not going to lie, it's upsetting. And it's really kind
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: of gotten worse over the last maybe six months, I
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: would say. So I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get emotional,
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: but this is a very emotional subject, whether you are
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: a caregiver, whether you are a patient, whether you are
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: someone who is, you know, maybe looking at family history
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: and this impacting them, you, me.
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: So it is it is such an important topic. And
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: I want to thank you both for coming on today
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: and sharing the word.
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: And let's have some great walks over the next couple
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: weeks in the DMV. I can't wait to see you
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: guys on Sunday, the 18th in Reston. Yeah, just ALZ.org
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: is the best way to get all the info.
• 29:02
  Speaker 3: I can't wait to meet you and just know that
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: we are here for you and your family.
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: And can I add one last thing? Of course, Grace.
• 29:12
  Speaker 5: The Alzheimer's Association has a toll-free helpline. It is staffed
• 29:16
  Speaker 5: by master's level clinicians. If you are somebody who has
• 29:19
  Speaker 5: questions or you're caring for somebody and you don't know
• 29:22
  Speaker 5: what to do with the behavior or you're looking for
• 29:24
  Speaker 5: resources or a support group in your area, that phone
• 29:26
  Speaker 5: number is 800-272-3900.
• 29:31
  Speaker 4: Don't let biased algorithms or degree screens or exclusive professional
• 29:37
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• 29:43
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• 29:46
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• 29:50
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• 29:53
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• 29:55
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