Memory Care

Along with American Alzheimer’s Association, Abcor Home Health, Inc. is a proud member of the family helpline network of licensed home services agencies in the state of Illinois. Due to substantial impact of Alzheimer’s disease on families, Abcor serves senior home care as a community resource by linking families with available resources with National Institute on Aging and American Alzheimer’s Association.

Abcor is a proud member of National Private Duty Association and Private Duty Homecare Association by committing and adapted client’s rights and responsibilities in a manner necessary to contribute to lawful and effective homecare services for Dementia clients in Chicago, Illinois.

Abcor Home Health, Inc. homecare supervisory and field staff supports quality senior home care services through continuing education and memory care seminar training by Life Services Network and Illinois Homecare Council.

Abcor Home Health, Inc. supports American Hospice Foundation by supporting Hospice as a choice for loved ones with ailing diseases and Dementia. Abcor provides information to families about hospice care, including many helpful articles on hospice, caregiving, grief and hospice resources. Abcor is acknowledged by the National Association of Homecare and Hospice as a leading home services provider in Illinois.

Facts

More than 5 million American’s have Alzheimer’s disease.
Every 70 seconds someone develops a new case of Alzheimer’s disease.
Millions of people over the age of 65 are affected by Alzheimer’s.
In 2000, there were an estimated 411,000 new (incident) cases of Alzheimer’s disease. By 2010, that number is expected to increase to 454,000 new cases per year; by 2029, to 615,000; by 2050, to 959,000

Alzheimer’s disease can affect different people in different ways, but the most common symptom pattern begins with gradually worsening difficulty in remembering new information. This is because disruption of brain cells usually begins in regions involved in forming new memories. As damage spreads, individuals also experience confusion, disorganized thinking, impaired judgment, trouble expressing themselves and disorientation to time, space and location, which may lead to unsafe wandering and socially inappropriate behavior. In advanced Alzheimer’s, people need help with bathing, dressing, using the bathroom, eating and other daily activities. Those in the final stages of the disease lose their ability to communicate, fail to recognize loved ones and become bed-bound and reliant on 24/7 care.

Alzheimer’s disease is a degenerative disease of the brain and most common type of dementia. This ongoing loss of brain’s nerve cells means that thinking, remembering, relating to others, and the ability to care for one’s self will disappear over time. At this time, there is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease. Although research has produced treatments that may slow the progression of early Alzheimer’, there is currently no treatment that will reverse the damage or stop it altogether.

Types of Dementia

Alzheimer’s disease
Vascular dementia
Mixed dementia
Dementia with Lewy bodies
Frontotemporal dementia
Parkinson’s disease
Creuzfeldt- Jakob disease
Normal pressure hydrocephalus

Alzheimer’s disease- Most common type of dementia; accounts for 60 to 80 percent of cases. Difficulty remembering names and recent events is often an early clinical symptom; apathy and depression are also often early symptoms. Later symptoms include impaired judgment, disorientation, confusion, behavior changes, and trouble speaking, swallowing and walking. Hallmark abnormalities are deposits of the protein fragment beta- amyloid (plaques) and twisted strands of the protein tau (tangles).

Vascular dementia - (Also known as multi-infarct or post-stroke dementia or vascular cognitive impairment.) Considered the second most common type of dementia. Impairment is caused by decreased blood flow to parts of the brain often due to a series of small strokes that block arteries. Symptoms often overlap with those of Alzheimer’s, although memory may not be as seriously affected.

Mixed dementia- Characterized by the presence of the hallmark abnormalities of Alzheimer’s and another type of dementia, most commonly vascular dementia, by also has other types such as dementia with Lewy bodies.

Dementia with Lewy bodies- Pattern of decline may be similar to Alzheimer’s, including problems with memory and judgment and behavior changes. Alertness and severity of cognitive symptoms may fluctuate daily. Visual hallucinations, muscle rigidity and tremors are common. Hallmarks include Lewy bodies (abnormal deposits of the protein alpha-synuclein) that for inside never cells in the brain.

Parkinson’s disease- Many people who have Parkinson’s disease develop dementia in the later stages of the disease. The hallmark abnormality is Lewy bodies (abnormal deposits of the protein alpha-syunclein) that form inside nerve cells in the brain.

Frontotemporal dementia- Involves damage to brain cells, especially in the front and side regions of the brain. Typical symptoms include changes in personality and behavior and difficulty with language. No distinguishing microscopic abnormality is liked to all cases. Pick’s disease, characterized by Pick’s bodies, is one type of frontotemporal dementia.

Creutzfeldt- Jakob disease- Rapidly fatal disorder that impairs memory and coordination and causes behavior changes. Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is believed to be caused by consumption of products from cattle affected by mad cow disease. Caused by the misfolding of prion protein throughout the brain.

Normal pressure hydrocephalus- Caused by the buildup of fluid in the brain. Symptoms include difficulty walking, memory loss and inability to control urine. Can sometimes be corrected with surgical.