Foundation helps Alzheimer’s patients cope

Daniela Mohor

Friday, Oct. 5, 2001 | 4:28 a.m.

When he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease two years ago, Gordon Hyde knew he would have to learn to live with loss. He was told he would lose his memory, his ability to work and eventually his independence.

But nothing had prepared him and his wife, Evan, for the loss of friends.

"A lot of my friends, when I said I had Alzheimer's, just disappeared," said Gordon, who will turn 81 in November. "People don't know what Alzheimer's is, so they are scared. ... They think it's contagious."

Alzheimer's is a progressive brain disease that leaves patients forgetting everything they have learned. They first lose memory of the most recent things, and in the end their body even forgets how to breathe. Currently, 4 million Americans are affected, but the figure is expected to reach 14 million by 2050, as the Baby Boom generation ages.

For support, the Hydes turned to their doctors and to the Alzheimer's Association.

Created in 1984, the Southern Nevada chapter of the Alzheimer's Association is a nonprofit organization assisting the 32,000 people with Alzheimer's in the Las Vegas Valley, as well as their families and caregivers.

The association gives money for research, provides a telephone hotline and offers support groups. It also provides training sessions for professional and nonprofessional caregivers.

One of the association's main focuses, however, is education. Because Alzheimer's has no cure, the best way to fight it is to treat it at an early stage, said Myra J. Davis, the association's executive director.

Researchers have discovered a number of drugs that slow down the progression of Alzheimer's disease.

But they work, she said, only if the disease is caught early, and that can happen only if the public has enough information to recognize the symptoms soon.

That approach worked for the Hydes.

Gordon was diagnosed three years after feeling the first symptoms of the disease: loss of concentration, disorientation and aphasia, or using the wrong words. After two years of treatment, Gordon can still stay at home by himself, have a normal conversation and perform daily tasks on his own.

But the Hydes know that will not always be the case. So far information is all they have needed from the Alzheimer's Association, but Evan said it helps her to know that she can count on it for other services.

"I know that they're there for me," Evan said. "I know that there is a resource that I can call and they will do their most to help me solve whatever the problem is."

With the $450,000 it gathers every year through federal grants and fund-raisers, the association has developed a number of services designed to relieve those who take care of the patients at home. Last week it collected more than $75,000 during a Memory Walk at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Through a referral service, staff members help families find the appropriate day-care center, nursing home or doctor for their loved ones.

The association also created the Respite Care program, which offers families up to $1,000 a year for caregiving assistance.

Respite care, Davis explained, gives caregivers enough money to put the patient in a nursing home for a few days. That gives them time to take care of their other responsibilities, or simply to rest.

"When you're caring for someone with Alzheimer's, you have more problems than you have when you care for a child," Davis said. "Your freedom is extremely limited ... the emotional, financial and physical burden that you carry is extremely heavy."

But Evan Hyde says she is not there yet. She and her husband know what they may go through in the future, she says, but their philosophy is to take things one day at the time.

"The best attitude for us is to do the best we can every day -- for Gordon and I to have a good laugh, to spend some meaningful time together and not to look down the end," Evan said. "The end will take care of itself."