Living With Alzheimer’s Disease: How to Stay Involved in Your Community

Alzheimer’s Disease is frightening. At first, a person may not even realize something is “off.” She simply forgets things. But then, as the disease progresses, most people begin to realize that their mind is going through changes. Yet, they may not be willing to admit that to others or even themselves.

Virtually everyone has heard of dementia and Alzheimer’s, and we know it gets progressively more severe and involves loss of memory. So, that loss of certainty – the fear that a person may not be able to trust even herself or what she believes she knows to be true – leads many people to withdraw from life, if for no other reason than the safety of not getting lost or causing embarrassment by not remembering someone’s name.

Yet, that reduction of human contact and overall activity can lead to depression and issues with physical health. More to the point, a person with Alzheimer’s Disease has much to offer and can still enjoy many activities. Further, at Turnagain Social Club, we believe everyone has the right to get out, interact with our world, and enjoy life.

Turnagain Social Club has our own transportation system, and our wonderful staff has specialized training in caring for people with Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias, which means we can take our guests on fun outings into the community. From volunteer work and shopping to fishing and strolling in the park, let’s take a look at how we can help you or your loved one can stay active in the Alaska community you love.

Ready to talk about our specialized care for people with dementia? Learn how we can help at Turnagain Social Club.

What Is Alzheimer’s Disease?

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, Alzheimer’s Disease is the most common form of dementia, which rather than being one specific disease, describes a number of degenerative brain symptoms. Approximately 50 million people in the world are living with Alzheimer’s Disease.

The medical conditions resulting from damaged brain cells trigger a decline in thinking ability, which can affect a person’s behavior, cause memory loss, and even degrade motor skills. A person can go through several stages of the disease, from barely affected to totally debilitated.

You can read more about the stages of dementia here.

Stay Active for Better Health

When a person withdraws from normal life, she becomes less active in many ways, one of which is simple physical activity. It is important to overall health and longevity to maintain physical health through exercise, outdoor activities, and healthy diet. Furthermore, studies have shown that maintaining – or improving – overall health through good diet and exercise may improve brain health. Keep in mind there is no cure for Alzheimer’s Disease, but taking actions to improve brain health may likely change the disease’s progression and symptoms.

With Alzheimer’s, it’s all about managing the disease. That means doing things that reduce the disease’s negative effects on a person and developing safe, smart ways to live as full a life as possible. The brain is not a muscle, so it cannot be strengthened in the same way, but the brain’s functions can be improved through intentional activities.

In addition to physical activities and healthy diet, it is also important to engage in mental activities. Science has long known that “exercising” our brain through mentally challenging activities, such as learning a musical instrument or new language or picking up a hobby, may have both short- and long-term benefits for brain health. We believe that playing games with others that require strategy – and, hopefully, some good conversation – are enormously beneficial to brain health, in addition to a general feeling of not being so alone and lifting one’s spirits in the company of others. As they say, laughter is the best medicine.

Doctors are still studying Alzheimer’s Disease, but more and more, it looks like one of the best ways to manage it is a powerful combination of physical health, cognitive activities, and socialization.

Get Out and Enjoy Life

Turnagain Social Club is designed to be a safe place for people to gather during the day, particularly people experiencing cognitive decline, and socialize under the care of professionals trained to guide them through therapeutic activities intended to enrich their lives.

An important part of enriching people’s lives is going out to explore our wonderful city and find enjoy even more activities. We have our own, staffed transportation system to help increase our guests’ social engagement in ways they likely could not if left on their own at home.

As it turns out, studies have shown that, like overall health and mental activities, social engagement is associated with less depression and less disability. We encourage our patients with Alzheimer’s to attend social clubs, volunteer activities, even just walking together along a coastal or greenbelt trail.

The Importance of Socialization

Socialization means interacting with other people. It can be conversation or board games or experiencing a new place together, such as a museum. Being together gives us a stronger sense of belonging, friendship, self-worth and reduces the sense of isolation. As mentioned, brain health can be improved through overall health, brain health, and socialization; and studies have shown that emphasizing the socialization aspect may be even more important. People with larger social networks in the disease’s early stages may experience slower progression of memory loss.

Socialization is also comforting, providing a sense of normal structure, of connection to time and place, to someone who is feeling more and more disoriented. Keeping one’s brain engaged through socialization also helps a person with Alzheimer’s Disease distinguish between daydreaming and reality, which helps them function normally and accomplish daily tasks.

So, we have designed our transportation system to increase opportunities for more – and more frequent – socialization by taking groups of our guests out where they can enjoy walks, visit shopping centers, or do special activities such as visit the Alaska Native Heritage Center or Anchorage Museum.

By doing so, we greatly expand Turnagain Social Club to be both a “homebase” where people can gather on a regular basis with the same friends and a sense of safe, familiar routine, but also help them engage in more activities of mind, body, and spirit.

A Sense of Pride

We mentioned at the opening that many people are reluctant to admit that they are experiencing cognitive decline, and one leading reason for that is they don’t want to feel like they’re a burden on their families.

Turnagain Social Club provides them with a place to go during the day so they can know they’re freeing up their family members during the day. But it’s more than just a place to go. Being able to get out and do fun social activities can give our guests a sense of being productive, that they were able to, for example, enjoy a day downtown without asking for help. And that leads to a sense of accomplishment. When a person living with Alzheimer’s Disease is able to have a more positive feeling about herself, she is usually able to manage her condition better and, overall, be in happier spirits.

Would you like to know more about our specialized care for people with Alzheimer’s Disease? Please give us a call.