January is Alzheimer’s Awareness Month
Sometimes the library acts as a place where the topics are light and entertaining, while other times we act as a forum for talking about challenging topics of interest to our library users and the communities we serve. One of these topics is Alzheimer’s disease.
As we mark January on our calendars as Alzheimer Awareness month it is our hope that people who are living with, caring for, or have a connection to the disease turn to the library for accessing resources that might help them through some challenging times.
By 2031, nearly a million Canadians will have dementia. For those unfamiliar with the differences between dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, dementia is an umbrella term for a variety of brain disorders.
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form. It is a progressive, degenerative and fatal disease. It is irreversible and destroys brain cells, causing thinking ability and memory to deteriorate and is not a normal part of aging (http://www.alzheimer.ca/en/ns).
Personal Stories
The provincial theme for this year’s Alzheimer’s awareness month is titled “Let Us Help You Understand.” The Alzheimer Society of Nova Scotia’s campaign, launched in January, features Nova Scotians who live with dementia. Anne, Faye and Sandra are three remarkable women in early stage dementia who talk in a video series about their symptoms and the strategies they use to live well.
Their videos can be found online at http://www.alzheimer.ca/ en/ns under the ‘Get Involved’ section. Darce Fardy will also be featured in a commercial this month about how he remains active, including writing a column in the Chronicle Herald, while living with dementia (http://www.alzheimer.ca/en/ns).
Resources available to borrow
At public libraries locations throughout Pictou and Antigonish counties we have a wide variety of resources to borrow in various formats. Our website, in our subject resources section under health and wellness, links to various online resources. For reading material available to borrow, some take a more scientific approach to explaining Alzheimer’s disease while others are very personal; written by caregivers, family members and those living with the disease themselves.
On Pluto (Codfish Press, 2014) is an autobiography of writer and journalist Greg O’Brien who was diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer’s several years ago. Working off a cognitive reserve and notes he has taken since his diagnosis, he offers an illuminating, raw blueprint of strategies, faith, and humour that he feels is needed to fight the disease. Another graphic memoir from the perspective of a family member is Tangles: A Story about Alzheimer’s, My Mother, and Me (Freehand Books, 2010), written by Sarah Leavitt. In this powerful graphic memoir with black and white drawings and clear, candid prose, Sarah Leavitt reveals how Alzheimer’s disease transformed her mother Midge- and her family- forever.
Also new to our shelves is Jann Arden’s Feeding My Mother: Comfort and Laughter in the Kitchen as my Mom lives with Memory Loss (Random House Canada, 2017). Based on her hugely popular Facebook posts and Instagram photos, Feeding My Mother is a frank, funny, inspirational and piercingly honest account of the transformation in Jann Arden’s life that has turned her into the primary “parent” to her mom, who is living with Alzheimer’s disease. Her mom finds comfort in her daughter’s kitchen, not just in the delicious food but also just sitting with her as she cooks. And Jann finds some peace in caring for her mom, even as her mom slowly becomes a stranger.
Connecting with others Sometimes meeting people, or reconnecting with others, is something that people come to the library to do. Whether it’s to talk to others, attend one of our regular weekly and monthly programs or find a spot to carry on with aspects of their daily routine; our spaces and resources are here for everyone to benefit from.
For more information on upcoming library programs, special events and services, please drop by your local library branch, follow us on Twitter, find us on Facebook, or visit us online at www. parl.ns.ca.
Holly MacLean is the Community Outreach Assistant for Pictou County.