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By Danny Yarnall

Penn Memory Center Co-Director Dr. Jason Karlawish, MD, recently testified on the state of Alzheimer’s and dementia research and care in Washington, D.C. before the Senate Finance subcommittee on health care.

Dr. Karlawish spoke about the progress made in understanding Alzheimer’s disease in the past four decades, from a disease surrounded in confusion that developed into a “gothic horror story” to a disease that can be diagnosed non-invasively and understood by families and physicians alike. He was joined by medical professionals, researchers, and caregivers presenting the barriers and difficulties in Alzheimer’s care today.

“I am sad however that there are still too many persons living with dementia and their families who are telling the same stories told some 40 years ago,” he said in his remarks to subcommittee chair Patrick Toomey (R – PA) and ranking member Debbie Stabenow (D – MI), who led the hearing. The subcommittee on health care focuses on Medicare and Medicaid spending and health programs financed by a specific tax or trust fund. 

By Danny Yarnall

New research shows a unique strain on a generation of Americans caring for both adult parents and children in their home as they start their prime earning years.

The report comes from the National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC) in partnership with Caring Across Generations, dubbing the group of 11 million Americans “the “sandwich” generation of caregivers for their responsibilities juggling work, parenting, and caregiving, adding often unsupported financial and emotional strain.

Penn Memory Center (PMC) Executive Director Felicia Greenfield appeared on NBC10 recently for an interview with PMC patient and former Temple University professor Jeff Draine.

The two discussed his early-onset Alzheimer’s disease and the importance of positivity after receiving a diagnosis.

“Improving a person’s quality of life is the best thing we can do right now, not only for the person with the diagnosis but also for their family members,” Greenfield said.

All adults, regardless of cognitive status, should be a brain-healthy diet (“the more colors on your plate, the better,” Greenfield said) and should seek an evaluation if memory problems go beyond ordinary.

Click here to watch the complete interview.

By Jason Karlawish

Bill Lyon, the romantic, finally found his sunset.

It was the fall of 2017 when I went out to visit Bill at his home, not as “the man in the white coat,” as I’d been dubbed in his columns, but as an interviewer looking to understand what made him so fearless.

Fearless, not just to accept the Alzheimer’s diagnosis I had given him four years earlier, but to shout it out from the tallest tower he could scale.

Fearless, not just to live with the loss of his cognitive abilities, but to put them on display to a world that had so treasured his mind for decades.

Fearless, to celebrate the circle of life and acknowledge his place in it.

“You pass along the baton, and you hope you’re leaving behind you somebody who can pick up and follow,” he told me that day.

By Danny Yarnall

A contest from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) has pushed app creators to focus on ways technology can improve the care and management of Alzheimer’s patients.

The Eureka Prize from the NIA awarded three teams on their efforts to create new apps and software designed to improve dementia care and care coordination. The contest, launched in 2018 to drive innovation in the dementia care space, fielded 33 applicants with submissions ranging from mobile apps to software platforms to pick the three winners to share $400,000 in prize money.

By Sharnita Midgett

Ken Ford, 93, travels an hour from his home to the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine. He meets annually with his ABC coordinators and clinicians, saying “yes” to MRIs, PET scans and lumbar punctures. He has done this for 13 years, showing up for his appointments and and rescheduling when conflicts arise. Why? Ford is motivated, not by a family history of dementia, but a pure love for science. 

“Anything I can do that will contribute to research, I’m happy to do, as long as it’s not too intrusive or too time consuming for me,” Ford said. “I just do my duty. Anything for science.”

Credit: reneechenaultfattah.com

A new documentary from Renee Chenault-Fattah exploring the struggles of families affected by Alzheimer’s disease will have its television premiere 7 p.m. Nov. 30 on NBC10.

Chenault-Fattah, a former anchor for NBC10, told Philadelphia Magazine she began to see her friends either become caregivers or start to experience cognitive issues themselves shortly after turning 60. Then she came across an article detailing the disproportionate toll the disease takes on the African American and Hispanic communities. African-Americans are twice as likely as white people to develop Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias, while Hispanics are 1.5 times as likely.

“That spoke to me and said this is the story you need to do,” she said in the interview.