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By CAROL WRIGHT
Traveler Correspondent

Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia. While some symptoms may vary from person to person, dementia signifies the loss of mental ability that eventually upsets the course of daily functioning.m Medicalodges (Post-Acute) Center in Arkansas City is just one of many skilled Medicalodges health care providers in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas.

The facility offers specialized care and activities form Alzheimer's patients, or "residents," as nursing care professionals prefer to call them.

Erik Hatten, Medicalodges (Post-Acute) Center administrator, said that currently eight residents have Alzheimer's disease. Four are men and four are women, all above age 60. Hatten said that the residents have shown no improvement ...

"...Just a steady decline," he said.

But, there are ways in which the staff can help the Alzheimer's residents cope as best they can. Though a cure has not yet been discovered for Alzheimer's and the disease is not yet reversible, the Medicalodges staff can still provide residents with comfortable living without confinement or certain kinds of restraint.

"The staff make signs to indicate where (the resident's) room is," Hatten said. "There's one-on-one interaction.Familiar items are kept in their rooms and the same staff is assigned to them daily. They play hands-on games and activities (in a) quieter environment."

According to the Medicalodges (Post-Acute) Center's Web site, all Alzheimer's residences at these facilities are within self-contained units, which are designed to care for Alzheimer's residents or individuals with related illnesses. Whether they realize it or not, the residents are free to move inside and outside of the unit. Medicalodges discourages the use of chemical restraints.

In some Medicalodges centers residents can relax in a carefully furnished, quiet atmosphere. Colors are light and seem to radiate a calm feeling within the special facility. In this serene environment, Alzheimer's residents can participate in "reality orientation," reminiscing and memory strengthening exercises.

At the Arkansas City Medicalodges (Post-Acute) Center, located at 2575 Greenway, the skilled staff tries to involve Alzheimer's residents in different activities.

"Some of the activities that help strengthen memory and language are music, sensory stimulation, the serenity room (designed for calming activities), reading, hands-on puzzles and word games," Hatten said.

Hatten, who has been with Medicalodges (Post-Acute) Center for more than five years, said that some possible causes of the disease can be attributed to genetics and lifestyle.

According to medical research and the Medicalodges Web site, Alzheimer's is the "leading cause of death in adults after heart disease, cancer and stroke ....And it's cause is unknown."

National Institutes of Health statistics reveal that Alzheimer's disease causes approximately 150,000 deaths per year. The Institute has found that the disease usually affects those over 65, but it can inflict its damage in others who are in their 40s. What many of these findings support is that the real risk factor is age.

Alzheimer's is difficult to diagnose because the early stages are similar to other dementias. The Web site reported and listed some symptoms of the disease:

- Deterioration of the brain's nerve cells.

- A slow, gradual onset that fights and destroys short term memory.

- Difficulty remembering familiar tasks and following directions.

- Less capable of following directions, finding words and/or finishing thoughts.

Eventually, individuals who are afflicted with Alzheimer's will no longer be able to do anything for themselves. Independence will totally vanish.

It's a sad and unforgiving disease that makes people withdraw, confused, bewildered and frightened. In the end they become bed-ridden and can't recognize the faces of loved ones anymore.

Skilled health units like Medicalodges (Post-Acute) Center can give back some of the dignity of Alzheimer's residents through positive methods of planning and social and medical management.

Medicalodges offers family members and friends helpful reminders about Alzheimer's disease, which include the following:

- Health care decisions should be made while the patient has his or her mental capacity to make such decisions.

- Safety is always an important concern.

- A calm environment may encourage a resident to continue functioning.

- Physical exercise, social contact and good nutrition are vital.

- Distracting a resident can help manage difficult circumstances.

- Changing the subject, the environment and tone of voice can help a resident relax.

- Giving food or drink to a patient usually eases behavioral problems expressed by the person with Alzheimer's.

In many cases, doctors, researchers and pathologists see a genetic link to Alzheimer's. Yet the National Institutes of Health has found that persons "with a family history of Alzheimer's have only about a one percent greater chance of developing the disease than those without any affected family members."

The only method today that can give a true diagnosis of whether someone had Alzheimer's is by examining the person's brain during an autopsy.

Until a cure is found and the brain is studied indepth for links tom Alzheimer's disease, the only thing that loved ones can do for those who have this terrible disease is to be supportive, loving, positive and reassuring. These actions can at least give Alzheimer's patients something to live for with the amount of time they have to be with their family and friends.