Inside the Dementia Epidemic: A Daughter's Memoir (46 page)

socialization,
60
,
296

Social Security,
51
,
77
,
83
,
266

Social Services, Dept. of,
244

social workers,
140
,
157
,
162
,
205
,
246
,
249
,
322

     
see also
Eden at Home
;
Green House Project

soiling,
see
incontinence

speech,
see
language function

spend down,
see
Medicaid

spinal fluid tests, for Alzheimer’s,
290

spoon-feeding,
78
,
173
,
234-235
,
253
,
256
,
259
,
278
,
284

Stanford University,
289

stem cell treatments,
304

Strange Relation: A Memoir of Marriage, Dementia, and Poetry,
276

stress:

     as risk factor for dementia,
304

     in caregivers,
see
caregivers

stroke,
10
,
15
,
42
,
53
,
105
,
120-122
,
128
,
162
,
233
,
280
,
289
,
295-296
,
300
,
305
,
308
,
314

     
see also
multi-infarct dementia

student volunteers,
77
,
87-88
,
99
,
103

sugar,
see
diet: food and eating

sun-downing,
142

support:

     books for caregivers,
40
,
238-239
,
283

     for people with dementia,
311-312
,
321-323

     groups for caregivers,
39-40
,
57
,
60
,
150
,
205
,
254
,
284
,
312
,
322

surgery,
116-117

swallowing difficulties,
19
,
43
,
197
,
235
,
279

swimming,
147

tangles,
see
tau protein tangles

Taubes, Gary,
308

tau protein tangles,
276
,
290
,
301-302

tests, for Alzheimer’s disease,
43
,
289-291

The 36 Hour Day
,
40
,
204

Thies, William,
3

Thomas, Jude,
244

Thomas, William H.,
244-249

toenails,
112

toileting,
18-19
,
43
,
57
,
106
,
113
,
155
,
175
,
185
,
194
,
208
,
220
,
266
,
284

     scheduled,
222

     
see also
incontinence

Toronto Rehabilitation Institute Sleep Research Laboratory,
300

training, of dementia care staff,115,
172
,
206
,
284
,
322-323

transferring,
57
,
145
,
155
,
173
,
243
,
266

transitions in care,
122
,
133
,
137
,
164-167
,
173
,
175
,
284
,
318

transportation,
13
,
58
,
60
,
99
,
133
,
265-267
,
270

triglycerides,
308

tube feeding,
see
feeding tube

twelve-step programs,
10
,
23
,
51
,
66
,
68
,
71
,
129
,
132
,
198
,
207
,
266
,
273
,
275

type III diabetes,
305

University of California, San Francisco,
299

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center,
305

University of Rochester Medical Center, Memory Care Program,
310

urinary incontinence,
see
incontinence

urinary tract infection,
see
infection

usefulness,
153

vaccines,
301

vascular dementia,
see
multi-infarct dementia

Vienna Boys’ Choir,
207-209

violence,
114
,
203-206
,
222

viruses,
304

vision checkups,
see
eye care

vitamin B12,
283

vomiting,
115

walkers,
108
,
113-115
,
143
,
145
,
155
,
163-164
,
237
,
265

walking,
19
,
57
,
87-88
,
105-106
,
111-112
,
115
,
123
,
127
,
185
,
193
,
235
,
237
,
266

wandering,
19
,
145
,
162
,
166
,
172
,
179
,
247

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis,
299

Washington University’s Sleep Medicine Center,
299

weight:

     as a risk factor for dementia,
51
,
106
,
306-308

     loss,
see
diet and food

     training,
296

wellness visits,
311

Weston A. Price Foundation,
308

wetting,
see
incontinence

What Are Old People For? How Elders Will Change the World
,
249

What If It’s Not Alzheimer’s?: A Caregiver’s Guide to Dementia
,
274-276

wheelchairs,
143
,
162
,
265-266
,
278
,
281
,
285

Why We Get Fat, and What to Do About It
,
308

withdrawing,
53-54
,
269
,
277

Woodside,
136-137
,
139-146
,
161-164
,
254-267
,
270
,
278-282

work-life balance,
see
caregiving, and job demands

writing, as emotional release,
31
,
95-96
,
115

Yee, Robert,
313

Zeisel, John,
239
,
255

Mom at 62, and me at 30, in 1995

Mom, 77, with Suzanne, a massage therapist who specializes in bodywork for elders, in 2010

(photo by Jason Kates van Staveren)

Mom, 79, in 2012

M
artha Stettinius is a “sandwich generation” mom; an editor and writing instructor with a master’s in English Education from Teachers College, Columbia University; and an advocate for the needs of family caregivers. She serves as a volunteer representative for New York State for the National Family Caregivers Association.

For fourteen years she’s lived with her husband and two children in an intentional community where they share some common space and community meals. She’s grateful that nearly each day she learns something new from her neighbors about how to live a full life.