Since I wrote about the possibility of mandatory memory tests for seniors over a specific age (65 was mentioned) to determine a possibility of Alzheimer’s in Should All Seniors Be Tested for Alzheimer’s, I’ve seen more articles about the topic, like Memory tests raise concerns. 
Pickett [the woman mentioned in the article] is part of a growing national debate about whether older adults should be tested routinely for memory loss.
 This makes me wonder if society isn’t being programed for the idea that senior citizens should have memory tests.  If an idea is mentioned enough, the public becomes conditioned to accept it. 
 Is this what is happening to …read more

Alzheimer’sNotes.com 
By most standards, I’d be categorized a “senior.”  As I wrote the previous post, Should All Seniors Be Tested for Alzheimer’s?, I began thinking about how this would affect me personally,
  I asked for others to share their thoughts.  So I’ll begin:
Do I want to be tested?  More specifically, do I want someone to say, “You MUST be tested for Alzheimer’s or your likeliness of acquiring it?”
Because my aunt and mother had Alzheimer’s disease, someone could say, “You’re more likely to get it.  So in that case, you MUST be tested.”  Or they simply might consider it a good idea to be tested.
I …read more

An article in the Manchester (England) Evening News, “Plans to Tag Dementia Patients,” introduces the idea of tagging older, or dementia affected, people so they can be tracked by satellite.  This proposal has been met with mixed reaction.
Balancing freedom and safety becomes the issue.  If someone has cared for a family member with Alzheimer’s or some form of dementia, they would be more likely to favor a tracking monitor.  If a person never has, they might consider this restrictive and repressing the person’s freedom…a form of unnecessary control.
We had a friend, in the mid stages of Alzheimer’s, who left his wife …read more

With the growing need for assisted living and nursing home accommodations, families often are puzzled when it comes to making a choice.  They hear horror stores, as well as pleasing ones about treatment residents have received. 
I was fortunate that all my family members, and my husband’s parents, who needed either assisted living or nursing home care, received good treatment.  There were minor complaints…such as one person finding fault with the food and desiring to help the chef cook.  But she admitted she couldn’t taste food like she once did, whether at the assisted living, in restaurants, or when still in …read more