Category filter: Caregiver Resources > Dementia, Alzheimer's & Mental Illness

Today was a very hard day for me as a gerontologist and case manager. I have a client who has Alzheimer’s Disease. It’s been five years since her diagnosis. She is on the highest dosage of Aricept and is well supported in Assistive Living. She is very functional and maintains a high level of independence… Read more…

Many caregivers ask, “What’s the difference between dementia and Alzheimer’s disease?” Dementia is an umbrella term that refers to the many different types of dementia. Alzheimer’s Disease is the most common type of dementia, accounting for approximately 64% of all cases in Canada. Other types of dementia include vascular dementia, Pick’s Disease, Lewy-Body and Creutzfeldt-Jakob… Read more…

I was about six years old when I remember visiting a nursing home. That’s what my parents called Long Term Care in the 70s. Our family drove on Christmas day to visit with our elderly neighbours, the Coppers, who had move into a nursing home in North Toronto the year before. I remember consciously trying… Read more…

A lot of caregivers ask me, “What’s the difference between dementia and Alzheimer’s disease?” Dementia is an umbrella term that refers to the many different types of dementia.  Alzheimer’s Disease is the most common type of dementia, accounting for approximately 64% of all cases in Canada.  Other types of dementia include vascular dementia, Pick’s Disease,… Read more…

The pain was so unbearable, that had there been a shotgun in the house, I would have put myself out of misery.” For some of us, reading such a statement might surprise, horrify or shock us. Yet, thoughts about and committing suicide among seniors is more common than most people think. Take Robin Williams’ suicide… Read more…

A big thank you to Evelyn Gillespie from Laughing Oyster Bookshop for generously giving me a copy of the book, “Tangles: A Story about Alzheimer’s, my Mother and Me” by Sarah Leavitt. The unconventional comic format of the book, I think, is its greatest asset. It takes a very difficult topic to digest and breaks… Read more…

When I was 34 years old, my Nana Cumming died after very slow death from Alzheimer’s disease. I was 36 weeks pregnant at the time and was unable to travel back to Ontario. In many ways, I said my “goodbye” many years before her death. I remember grieving most when her dementia was progressing and… Read more…

  With trepidation, I enter the long-term care facility. Bounding up a flight a stairs, I pause before opening the door to the second floor. The pause is two-fold. I need to search my memory bank for the code to enter the special care unit and secondly, to take a deep breath as I prepare… Read more…

Caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia can be challenging and, at times, overwhelming. We remind our clients that their feelings of frustration and anger are normal and valid emotional responses to caring for their loved ones. A certain degree of irritation is normal for anyone in a caregiving role… Read more…

Caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia can be challenging and, at times, overwhelming. We remind our clients that their feelings of frustration and anger are normal and valid emotional responses to caring for their loved ones. A certain degree of irritation is normal for anyone in a caregiving role… Read more…