Hope for the Coming Year
Happy New Year! We are starting a new year and reflecting on the past one.
I’ve just celebrated my 75th birthday, which brings many memories to reflect on. As a Baby Boomer, I was raised during the shadow of polio, just as Sputnik was preparing to launch the space race between the U.S.S.R. and the U.S. Polio was once one of the most feared diseases in the United States. Thanks to the polio vaccine, the poliovirus was eradicated here in 1979. I lived through the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the 1980s, which claimed 32 million lives worldwide and over 700,000 here in the U.S. Then came COVID-19, which resulted in the deaths of 1.2 million Americans.
I’ve always wanted to write about the AIDS pandemic, but it felt too personal and heartbreaking, so I kept postponing it again and again. Today, I opened the Sunday Denver Post (November 30) and read an article from the Chicago Tribune titled, “We need an urgent and unified response to the coming Alzheimer’s crisis.” Dr. Robert R. Renfield, a former CDC director, discussed both HIV/AIDS and Alzheimer’s, focusing on their early, silent stages. As a doctor at Walter Reed Medical Center in the early 1980s, he saw patient after patient coming in with a devastating new disease, people bedridden and dying before they reached the hospital. It was many years later before researchers developed multiple therapies to control HIV/AIDS (HIV being the early stage of AIDS). Now we know HIV can be a manageable chronic condition, which, with treatment, allows people to live normal lives.
I, like many others, remember how frightening AIDS was. For a long time, people didn’t understand how it spread, so they naturally feared it. Parents hesitated to send their children to school if there was even a chance of another child with AIDS attending. I was scared too. I remember visiting my friend Will, who had just been diagnosed with AIDS, in Key West and asking if I should take precautions, like bringing my own towels. He very clearly said, “You are much more of a danger to me than I am to you, Mary.” Those 15 words taught me an important lesson – find out everything you can from reliable sources and don’t listen to fear.
Dr. Redfield says that, “… the generation that survived that crisis is aging into the next public health emergency.” More than 90,000 people in Colorado are living with Alzheimer’s disease today, and the number is expected to double in the U.S. by 2050. There is more hope now than during the emerging AIDS crisis. We have already spent billions on research and made significant discoveries. After discovering that undetected HIV was actually the early stage of AIDS, we realized that early detection of Alzheimer’s is also essential. A national response to Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia must focus on early diagnosis. Dr. Redfield believes there will come a time when Alzheimer’s becomes a manageable condition, just like HIV is today.
Alzheimer’s has a silent phase that can last 20 years or more, during which “…amyloid proteins in the brain begin to misfold and form neuron-killing plaques.” The good news is that recently, it was discovered that these plaques can be detected in blood tests. Researchers can now identify the disease before symptoms appear. Just as the HIV test opened the path to understanding AIDS, this new blood test can do the same for Alzheimer’s. Early detection allows for the most effective intervention.
Multiple lines of research find that other, non-medical forms of interventions may also offer promise in reducing dementia risk factors and improving cognition and memory. Interventions with blood pressure control, hearing aids, multivitamins, and personalized health coaching can reduce dementia risk in specific populations. One recent National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded study sought to maximize the potential of tai chi, which has been shown to improve memory and slow mild cognitive impairment. This recent study compared the effects of traditional tai chi, which consists of physical movement and breathing exercises, to a cognitively enriched form that adds mental puzzles and challenges. The research findings suggest that cognitively enriched tai chi was superior to the standard form.
There are new studies on the link between diet and dementia risk. As one example, NIH found that individuals who consumed a modified Mediterranean ketogenic diet for six weeks had significant changes in both blood and spinal fluid biomarkers associated with Alzheimer’s risk. This study is the first exploration of diet-related metabolic changes and provides evidence of the effects of diet on Alzheimer’s.
While dementia changes memory and cognition, it does not erase a person’s humanity, their capacity for joy, or their ability to connect with others. Even when words fade, music, touch, and familiar routines can spark recognition and comfort. Dementia-friendly initiatives, day centers, and volunteer programs create spaces of dignity and belonging. Research into treatments, prevention, and care strategies continues to advance, offering optimism for the future.
May your new year be filled with hope and gratitude. I am certainly walking in gratitude that Estes Dementia Day Center will be opening in the coming year and hold hope that dementia in all its forms can be eradicated like polio, or at least, make it a manageable chronic condition like HIV. To learn more or make a donation, visit estesdementiadaycenter.org.
Peace,
Mary
