 Hello and welcome to Issues and Answers, a production of the Government Information Service. I'm your host for today, Jolene Beset-Joseph. World Alzheimer Day falls on September 21st this year, and it also, World Alzheimer Month is actually recognized throughout the month of September. Now with this in mind, I am joined today by Regina Posvar, who is the President of the St. Lucia, let me get this right, Alzheimer and Dementia Association. So thank you for joining us today. Thank you. Thank you. Now I'm glad you joined us, because not only do I want to ask you about the day and the month, I believe it's actually critical that even though some people might know a little bit about the disease, if they could know a little bit more. So before we even get into the fact that the month is happening in September, can you tell us a little bit about Alzheimer's, a little bit about dementia and what exactly does the disease entail? Okay. Dementia overall is an umbrella term for a collection of symptoms which affect our, could be our memory, our ability to problem solve, swallowing, thinking, movement. There's a whole list of areas that it affects. Now dementia is not a disease itself, it's a collection of the symptoms. Now Alzheimer's falls under that, which is the disease, so Alzheimer's is what's causing the dementia. Oh, okay. Now you see this, that's why I was saying, because I didn't even know that, because you even mentioned like swallowing in there, I didn't even know that was even part of it as well. Okay. Now is everybody actually susceptible to the disease or is it hereditary or you know? It's actually not prejudiced at all. There's no rhyme or reason of why people collect, receive the condition. There is some genetics, it's extremely rare, but it mainly hits people, the number one risk factor is after 65. So age is a factor, but it's not, you're not going to develop it just because you're 65 and older. Okay. There's a little bit about the disease, I mean, we might have loved ones, we might have loved ones who are at a certain age and maybe where, you know, they might just be a little bit forgetful and such likes, but how can we really, you know, what are the symptoms people should look out for to see that could actually signify that maybe a relative does actually have Alzheimer's? Well, there are symptoms and as we age, our brain slows down, but that doesn't mean it stops. So when we're having little problems with forgetting, we usually remember later. If we're not forgetting at all, I mean, if we're forgetting and not remembering at all, then that's a huge symptom. Like things that we normally do, for instance, when we're older, we still cook and do certain things in the kitchen, make certain meals. If we're starting to skip ingredients, then there's a problem even at 65 and older because that's something we just don't normally, that's an automatic, remember, that's an automatic memory. So that would be a sign, that would be a sign that something is going on. So anything that you normally do and then you're, you're forgetting how to do it, something that's normal. Okay. Now I have, I also have read up a little bit about Alzheimer's as well. And I believe there are things that they, that people suggest that maybe older people can do to keep their brains more active. What kind of things are those that they could, they say that could help, you know, Alzheimer's actually sign in. I mean, first of all, is that true that there are things that people can do? And if so, what are those kind of activities that might actually help? Okay. First, there is no cure at all for Alzheimer's. But there are things that we can do to strengthen our brain memory, no matter what age we are. It's simple things by learning something new and something that you enjoy to do. The brain activities, there's a lot of controversy on some of those. So the key thing in all of those brain activities is to like it. Okay. If you don't like it and you're doing it just for exercise sake, it's not going to have that much of a fact. Okay. Especially if we're aging, we want something to have a strong effect. So you really want to like it. Okay. Now, is it again, is it, as you mentioned, it's kind of like age related. Is that because we slow down as we get older though? Is that a case of, and maybe we're not as active, so we're not using our brain as much, or is it just a case of, as the brain gets older, this could actually say in. Well, it's not because of age that it's, the reason why age is probably a risk is because when we retire, you're right, we're not as active. We don't exercise the brain as much. We tend to want to sit down, watch TV more, go and relax more, not really do anything to challenge ourselves. There's lots of people in their 90s and 100s who are extremely active and very sharp and point on. So that's normal aging. Okay. Also, let me just ask you again, is there anything that's maybe you could advise people to do if they do see the symptoms within a relative, or if whether they think that maybe their relative may be suffering from Alzheimer's, what would be the first actions they could take? Go to the doctor and be tested because there's a lot of symptoms of dementia that mimic the disease, but things like vitamin deficiency, hormonal imbalances, all of those can contribute to the same type of symptoms. The challenge with that is if you leave it alone, even stress can cause that. If you leave it alone and let it fester and it just builds up and builds up, then it can develop into a type of dementia. And you don't want to ignore it just because you're just saying, oh, well, it's probably stress or something. If it's a hormonal, like thyroid, for instance, there are some thyroid conditions like hypothyroidism. Once you take care of that, you still have some symptoms, but at least you've taken care of the major part of it and it doesn't develop into dementia. And then, of course, removing the thyroid for those that are hyperthyroid and the symptoms can be relieved. Let's see. There's other conditions, vitamin D deficiency. You take care of that and the symptoms resolve. Alcohol related to dementia. You quit drinking, you do a therapeutic treatment of thiamine. You can reverse most of the symptoms. And those are all reversible, but doing something about it early on, not waiting till the condition is so far into it. Because once it's into the middle stages, it's hard to reverse all of that. And that's where you run into trouble and it just progresses as time goes by. OK, OK, all right, OK. Now let's move on to World Alzheimer's month and day. Tell us a little bit about the month and day. How did it come about that September was chosen to be recognized and even the 21st was chosen to be recognized? Well, it started probably about in the nineteen nineties is when when the disease was being associations were were collectively trying to bring the awareness about the disease. And so though Alzheimer's Disease International was trying to support other associations and they came together to bring awareness. And what they did was did interesting things in the month, which was like light, a whole building, purple and things like that, just to bring the awareness. And they were trying to find ways to collectively, globally bring awareness because they knew at that time there was probably 35 million people at that time who were who were affected by the disease. And so they just wanted to just I'm not sure exactly why they picked September. But they all decided that that was especially the Alzheimer's Disease International, they collected September as the month. And then they launched that probably the launch the day. I think in nineteen nineties, the middle nineteen nineties. OK, now collectively on a on a world scale, what kind of things actually done in recognition of? Well, there's walks. There's all the time there's walks. There's there's well, fundraisers, research. There's also while the World Health Organization, they're involved with a lot of awareness and dementia plans, trying to make it a more of a global, global effect because it is going to affect a lot of people. It is affecting a lot of people. So all right. Now, I know there's an initiative yourself that you want to talk about here. But before we do, I think it's time that we take just a small break. So please don't go anywhere and we'll see you after the break. Oh, you realize you step on my toe. Well, do something about it. That's right. Boosting diamond. All right. Trouble it. A message from Mission Boys Studio 758, Acid Creation and the Royal St. Lucia Police Force. Welcome back to Issues and Answers. I am Jolene B. Setjoseph. And today I am joined by Regina Posva, who's the president of the St. Lucia the president of the St. Lucia Alzheimer and Dementia Association. That's right. Very good. Yes. Now, we were talking before, again, about World Alzheimer Day and Alzheimer a month. You mentioned the color purple a couple of times. Yeah. Now, I know there's an initiative that you would like to even push here in St. Lucia as part of the St. Lucia Association. Tell us a little bit about that. Yeah. We would like to encourage people to wear something purple every Friday just to recognize and acknowledge Alzheimer's and other related dementias just to bring the awareness about. All right. Now, again, we talked about the whole month and day on a global scale. Is there anything that's actually, apart from the purple, that might be actually taking place in St. Lucia that we should know about? Well, we're doing information and memory clinics. Okay. We're having one Saturday and gross delay the Massey at the JQ Mall. So, we'll do blood pressures checks, blood sugar checks, because those are actually risk factors towards developing dementia. So, if you have uncontrolled diabetes or uncontrolled hypertensive, those are major risk factors of developing dementia. So, we like to check those, too. So, we will give out some information. The 10 warning signs, we have the warning signs that the Lyons-Clello-Grossele have really been helping us. And, yeah, so. There's a few things going on. Yeah, yeah. Okay. A couple memory cafes that we do, too. Okay. So, which is at the end of the month, which is where we invite people with dementia and their families. And they come into a social setting and we try to do an activity with them. Okay. So, it gives them a break. It gives them a break from care. Would you say, I mean, this is not even a question I have there, but as you just mentioned, people with dementia here in St. Lucia, would you say that the diseases as recognized here as maybe other places that people might go to? Whereas, if a family member is suffering, families are quick on the uptake to, you know, get something done in such likes? No. A lot of it is seen as normal aging. And I believe that in the Caribbean area, nine people out of 10 that are living with it go undiagnosed. And so, no support at all. And it's a problem globally, because even in the higher income countries, four of them are only diagnosed out of 10. So, it's a big, huge thing. So, getting the awareness about the symptoms and everything is real important to share so that doctors can pay attention more. And you might get doctors that might just call it normal aging because the doctors need to, the medical team, our medical team all over need to be educated on it as well. And so, you as an advocate really need to go back to the doctor and say, no, I'm worried about my memory. Can we do some more testing? Okay. Now, tell me about the St. Lucia Association as well, because I didn't even know there was one. So, tell me a little bit about the association. How long have you guys been in operation and who is involved and how, if I would like to get involved, for example, how could I go about that? Okay, we first started off with caregiving awareness with Angels of the West Indies. And we've been around since, for about five years, since 2013. And it eventually branched off into the association as more people were recognizing it and families were wanting some help and wanting to share the awareness as well. So, right now what we can do, I mean, what a person can do is just call, call in. We don't have an office per se, but what we normally do is when someone calls us, we go out, we talk to the family, and then we go out and we assess the person, see where they're at, and then make recommendations. A lot of times, I would say 90% of the time, they're unaware if it's dementia or not. So we give them advice and recommendations to go to a doctor and ask the doctor for certain types of tests or just to, depending on the doctor, some doctors know what kind of tests to do, to rule out memory problems and things like that. So that's the first thing. So when they have symptoms and they're worried, just calling us is a good step. All right, cool. All right then, now if I was just a person as well that just wanted to get involved in the association, for example, is there a way I could go about doing that as well? Yeah, you can let us know too. We have a volunteer and we would love volunteers. We appreciate that, that's the support of the whole association is the volunteers. Okay, all right. Now we're gonna be wrapping up very shortly, but before I go, I just wanted to know, is there anything that you would like to say to people out there in regards to the disease? Cause yes, we have the month, we have the day, and I mean, I'm sitting here with you because we are in September and it's the month and such like, but on a grander scale, what would you like to say to people about checking on their own health and checking on the health of their loved ones as they get older in regards to Alzheimer's and dementia? Well, I would like to really express that it doesn't affect just the person with dementia, it affects the family as well. It's a huge impact on the family. So it's no longer just a person disease, it's a family, it's a society, it's a global problem. And so I would like people to be a little bit more friendly in St. Lucia about it and ask for the presentations, the awareness will come out and do training. So we're more than happy to educate. That's a big thing for us as we like to educate people on it and make them more aware. Okay, now I'm putting you on the spot a bit here, but is there a website, is there a number, anything like that that people could actually use in regards to getting in touch with the association or even just to find out more information about the disease? Yes, Angels of the West Indies has a lot of information on the website. You just Google angelsofthewestindies.com. The phone number is 486-4509 and we're more than happy to send you information. The website has some and then they'll also link to the association. We're in the process of developing the one for the association specifically. But on Facebook there's a group, the St. Lucia Alzheimer's and so there's a list of information on there. There's lots of files, the warning signs and all of that and they can redirect you to where you need to go. Great, well thank you so much for joining us today and it's been a short time but to me we've been able to get a lot of information out there and that's what's important. So again, thank you for joining us. Thank you out there for tuning in to the National Television Network and tuning in to Issues and Answers. Do stay tuned however from all of us here at Issues and Answers, bye bye for now.