New Resources for Dementia Patients, Their Caregivers

According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, more than 460,000 Texas residents are living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia and other neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s disease. According to the same estimates, more than 1.5 million family members and friends serve as informal, uncompensated and often unsupported caregivers for these patients. For many, the task of caring for a family member can be a daunting one that can cause them to develop their own health issues.

This spring, the Garrison Institute on Aging (GIA) at TTUHSC, partnering with the Grief and Response to Illness into Late Life Lab at Texas Tech University, opened the GIA Comprehensive Memory Clinic. Jonathan Singer, PhD, TTUHSC assistant professor and the clinic’s director, helped create the clinic with Volker Neugebauer, MD, PhD, the GIA’s executive director and chief scientific officer. Singer says the goal is to support patients, families and friends with the many challenges of Alzheimer’s and other memory disorders.

“Our mission is to provide comprehensive services to Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia patients and their family members,” Singer says. “This includes focusing not only on the patient with dementia, but also the entire family.”

The list of services currently provided to patients includes comprehensive assessments, care plan development, speech language pathology, care navigation, individual therapy for family caregivers, medication management and respite services.

When a patient and their caregiver first come to the Memory Clinic, they meet with a clinician to discuss the patient’s medical history. Caregivers can help fill in memory gaps the patient may experience.

Following a physical examination to assess the patient’s reflexes, muscle strength, sensations and coordination, the patient and clinician conduct memory testing. At the end of the testing, the care team, including a neurologist, neuropsychologist and geriatric psychologist, discusses the case and builds a comprehensive care plan based on the diagnosis. The plan is then presented to the patient and the caregivers.

Singer says these unpaid family members and friends also are a focus, as they often feel they have lost their identity and have experienced a noticeable decrease in their ability and desire to engage in social activities such as spending time with friends or traveling. These changes have been shown to impact the caregivers’ psychological functioning, causing them to develop severe anxiety and major depressive disorder. Evidence also shows that caregivers experience strains in their relationship with the patient, who, Singer points out, often is a spouse.

“Caregivers may also face changes in their physical health, including higher inflammation and cardiovascular problems,” Singer adds. “So, if we can impact one person, there are positive downstream effects on the whole community.”