On Tuesday 2/13, our guest speaker was Kelly Loeb, Community Engagement Coordinator for the KU Alzheimer's Disease Research Center!
Kelly started by explaining the difference between dementia and Alzheimer's. Do you know the difference? Kelly shared dementia is the overarching term for symptoms affecting cognitive ability, while Alzheimer's is actually a specific type of dementia. There are other types of dementia as well.
Kelly also explained that we shouldn't confuse normal aging with dementia. Things like forgetting a name, misplacing your keys, or forgetting why we walked into a room aren't necessarily indicative of dementia, especially if they are one-off or infrequent occurrences. Signs of dementia that should be watched for include difficulty with everyday tasks, repeating the same stories or questions, communication challenges, personality changes, etc.
The good news is there are MANY different ways to learn more about what the KU Alzheimer's Disease Research Center is doing to support patients and families through treatment and prevention!
Interested in participating in a research study? KUMC is looking for people 65-85 years old to join an avocado study. The study includes compensation, as well as a free 12-week supply of avocados! Click HERE for more on that.
KUMC also has other research study opportunities as well. Those can be found by clicking HERE.
You can also join their weekly webinar (hosted on ZOOM) where they talk all about Alzheimer's, including prevention research, understanding risk factors, and much more! You can learn more about their webinars by clicking HERE.
