Category Archives: dementia

The magical melodies bringing back memories Alzheimer's stole

August 20, 2013   Alzheimer’s, Carers, dementia

OLGA LOWE should have so many memories after starring alongside Richard Burton in Where Eagles Dare, working with Harpo Marx and high-kicking with Carmen Miranda.

By: Jane Symons

 As Gary King sings the opening bars of Love Me Tender, Olga recalls the words and joins him
She entertained troops during the Second World War, was on stage with Sid James when he died of a heart attack in 1976 and has even been part of an EastEnders love triangle.However, Alzheimer’s has stolen Olga’s past and left the 93-year-old trapped in a twilight world where there is no concept of time, let alone of those extraordinary times gone by.She is still able to recognise her husband Keith Morris but she cannot always recall his name.

She has no idea who the prime minister is and the name Kate Middleton means nothing. To her it could be the Thirties, when she toured the US as a showgirl, or the Swinging Sixties when she appeared in The Avengers.

Yet at the Gallions View nursing home in London where Olga lives that fog of forgetfulness begins to lift as soon as Elvis impersonator Gary King steps into the dementia unit and starts his set, which she matches word for word.

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Campaigner launches film telling dementia carers ‘it’s okay to ask’ for help

August 16, 2013   Alzheimer’s, Carers, dementia, Scotland

Date of article: 16-Aug-13

Article By: Laura McCardle, News Editor

A dedicated campaigner has launched a short film encouraging people who care for someone with dementia to ask for help.

Tommy Whitelaw with his mother Joan

Tommy Whitelaw put together ‘It’s okay to ask’ in order to reach out to carers in Glasgow and raise awareness of vital support services available in the city.

He has first-hand experience of the difficulties people face when they care for a loved one with the condition, having spent several years caring for his mother Joan after she was diagnosed with vascular dementia until she passed away in September last year.

In the film Mr Whitelaw says: “Caring for Mum was a full time occupation. It was the toughest experience of my life. For the first five years I did this almost entirely alone – yes we had friends, neighbours and family but slowly loneliness and isolation took their place, leaving us both struggling to cope.

“It wasn’t until I reached absolute crisis that I found myself on the phone asking for help. It’s okay to ask. It’s not something we are always taught to do, we are very private people keeping private matters to ourselves but the truth is, without help it can just become unbearable.”

Other carers who have found themselves in similar situations to Mr Whitelaw also share their experiences in the film, which was commissioned by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Glasgow City Council social work services, Alzheimer’s Scotland and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE.

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Test of famous faces 'helps to spot early dementia'

August 13, 2013   Alzheimer’s, Carers, dementia

Test of famous faces ‘helps to spot early dementia’

13 August 2013 Last updated at 01:30

 Recognising “the King”, Elvis Presley, would score points on the face test…

Asking patients to identify pictures of famous people, such as Elvis Presley and Diana, Princess of Wales, may help spot early dementia, say researchers.

Doctors currently use simple mental agility tests to screen for the disease, but US experts believe a face recognition test should be used too.

A small study in the journal Neurology found it could flag up the beginnings of one type of dementia in 30 patients.

Trials are needed to see if it works for other forms of the disease.

The research at Northwestern University in Chicago found that people with early onset primary progressive aphasia (PPA), a rare form of dementia, struggled to identify black and white prints of 20 famous people, including John F Kennedy, Albert Einstein and Martin Luther King.

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