June is Alzheimer's and Brain Awareness Month in the Western
New York chapter of the Alzheimer's Association is asking people
to take charge of the brain health.
Right now we are joined by Chelsea Turkowski,
an education program manager with the Alzheimer's Association.
Chelsea, it is so great to have you here.
Thanks for coming in and thank you so much for
having me.
We're excited to get the word out there about Alzheimer's
disease and what people can do to protect their brains
as they age.
So what is this month all about?
What does it mean to take charge of your brain
health?
So what it means is looking at all the different
things that we can do to not only,
like I said, protect our brains as we age,
but also what we can do to take action against
Alzheimer's disease as well.
So what are some of those first steps?
Because I imagine there could be people out there.
We hear about this, unfortunately all the time.
I am honored to be a member of the board
of directors of the Alzheimer's Association Western New York Chapter.
And we hear these things.
Most of it is families right at the beginning of
what can be a very long and painful journey.
And sometimes people don't know what the resources are out
there and,
and, and how to even take that first step.
What are some early things that families can do if
they're concerned about a loved one?
So one of the main things that I encourage people
to do,
and even if you don't have someone that you're you're
concerned about is learn the warning signs of Alzheimer's disease.
There's some that I think people mostly know about,
like short term memory loss and things like that,
but there's other ones that aren't as easily detected or
as talked about as others.
So learning the warning signs
is a big one. Learning about how you can protect
your brain and age healthy not only with your body,
but your brain as well.
So things like stopping smoking,
having a healthy diet, getting your heart pumping,
getting moving on a daily basis,
getting adequate sleep and reducing stress,
things like that. And such a big part of it
too is just education in general.
Why is that so crucial?
It's so important as of now,
there are many things that we can do to support
people in the early stages of the disease,
but as the disease progresses,
education, support, knowing what your loved one is dealing with
and how it's going to progress is really one of
the biggest actions you can take.
So knowing just what's to come ahead of time,
but also knowing about it beforehand so we can get
people diagnosed earlier and have them get the most beneficial
treatment possible.
And we're seeing the hotline number that is on the
screen right now for folks.
Write that down or we'll have this interview on our
website after it's completed if you happen to miss that
number.
But that often is the easiest step that you can
take.
If you have some concerns about a loved one or
maybe you just have questions yourself,
that phone call can get you hooked up with the
resources that you need,
right? Absolutely. So our 24/7 helpline is for anyone who
has questions,
big or small, please call us.
If we talk about things from I have concerns about
my loved one to I have concerns about myself
from, you know, concerns about communication strategies or behavioral concerns.
So we're ready and willing to talk with
you, get a live person right away.
So we really aim to just support people and what
they're going through and be able to spread awareness and
answer questions.
And we're talking about, you know,
raising awareness during this important month,
whether it's someone out there,
their family, or it's maybe it's not in their family
at all.
What are some ways they can support?
I think I saw people could wear purple this month.
What are some little things they could do?
There's a lot of great ways that you can support
us during this month and raise awareness about Alzheimer's disease.
So you can go casual for A cause and wear
purple at your job
or wherever you volunteer or you gather with your community.
People can look at clinical trials.
They can take a look at our website.
We have a lot of great ways that people can
volunteer and get involved with us.
And June also, a lot of people hold events in
honor of what we call the longest day
in memory of someone in honor of caregivers or like
I said,
just to raise awareness. And then of course,
we have our walks to end Alzheimer's coming up this
fall.
We have 6 all across Western New York.
So we're very excited to bring those back and be
going out to all the different communities each weekend.
Lots of information from an organization that is certainly near
and dear to my heart,
but also one that has
a major impact on on this community.
So a lot of opportunities to support the Western New
York Alzheimer's Association.
This is a major problem in Western New York.
Sadly, our numbers are very,
very high when compared to other parts of the country.
So we're all working together to try to fix that.
Thank you, Chelsea, for being here.
Thanks for having me, Dave.
Thank you.