Understanding Alzheimer’s: Warning Signs, Brain Health, Caregiving, and Finding Support

Dan Drews: There we go. In three, two, one. Hello everyone, and welcome to Aging in Place, the Greater Naperville area’s family guide. Our goal is to help the sandwich generation, which is middle-aged adults, typically in their 40s to 60s, who are squeezed by the responsibility of simultaneously supporting their aging parents while also raising their own children.

We want to help parents age as gracefully as possible and reduce stress through education and community connection. It takes a village, folks, and there are a lot of great resources and ideas that we try to uncover through expert guests that know the local area very, very well. … I am your host, Dan Drews, and with me today is my co-host and sponsor, Brennan Roberts, the owner of Seniors Helping Seniors for the greater Naperville area. And we wanna thank one of our other supporters, the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce, who’s a great advocate for all businesses that support [00:01:00] seniors in the Naperville area.

Brennan, good to see you again. Tell us a little bit about what’s going on with Seniors Helping Seniors.

Brennen Roberts: Yeah. Well, it’s, uh, glad to be here. Obviously, this is a, a great educational platform for us. You know, we help seniors sort of age gracefully as possible and live independently as long as they want. Uh, and we do it through providing, you know, home care, uh, services such as transportation, companionship, personal care.

Um, and you know, we help families with memory and Alzheimer’s issues all the time. So this is a great topic. Many of our caregivers are very mature, often seniors themselves, who have helped care for family members, and that kind of brought us into the fold. Uh, so this is obviously a super relevant topic for us, and we’re glad to be here to learn more and help educate people.

Dan Drews: Well, Brennan, thank you again for sponsoring such a great show. We really appreciate it. And folks, our show today is going to focus [00:02:00] on the tragic diseases of Alzheimer’s and dementia, and how to navigate this with our loved ones. And in order to help us with that, we have two fantastic leaders from the Alzheimer’s Association.

Hadi Finnerty is the director of community engagement for the Alzheimer’s Association Illinois Chapter based in the greater Chicago area. She has spent over a decade providing vital education on dementia, brain health, and caregiving resources to the local community. Locally, Finnerty is heavily involved in outreach and educational events.

She regularly hosts seminars such as Healthy Living for Brain and Body and discussions on new treatment trials- At venues like Hinsdale Public Library, on regional broadcasts like WGN Radio, and now our show. Uh, Tom Hennigan is the senior walk manager for DuPage. He participated in his first walk a [00:03:00] few years ago in honor of his friend’s mom, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

He also lost his grandmother to dementia, seeing firsthand and from afar what Alzheimer’s and dementia havoc, uh, has made on the impact on him. He’s proud to be a part of this organization and to work together so that one day we will have a world without Alzheimer’s and dementia. Thank you both for joining us today.

We can’t thank you enough for sharing your information on this terrible disease that affects so many people, and, uh, we really appreciate having you here today, too. So with that being said, why don’t we kind of start big picture with, uh, Alzheimer’s in general, and kind of talk to us about the disease- Mm-hmm

and then we’ll just drill down on all the ways that your organization helps folks with it.

Hadi Finnerty: Okay. So you can see, um, the Alzheimer’s Association, oftentimes people don’t really know what we do, and our main focus is really driving that, like, global research. [00:04:00] So what is that? That’s, um, coming up, actually.

July 12th is the, um, Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, and this year it’s held in London. So every year it brings thousands of scientists, researchers, um, students to this site, and every year it changes. Um, and everybody has a passion, right? They’re here to find some kind of prevention, treatment, hopefully one day a cure, um, to this disease.

So it’s a phenomenal, um, place to be. The energy’s very high. So when we talk about that, we are talking about that global research front. Um, and then also really focusing on that early detection, right? Because as people get older, we… And we’ll talk about that, I’m sure, later, we don’t always remember everything.

So what is things to be concerned about? And w- really focusing on, like, if you’re starting to forget, it’s okay. Talk to your doctor about it. It might not be Alzheimer’s or dementia. And then our quality care and [00:05:00] support. So what that really means is our education programs in the community, our support groups, our, um, 1-800 helpline.

Those are all of the things that we focus on to bring to the community, is our quality, uh, care and support. And then of course, my favorite is our vision, which is a world without Alzheimer’s and other dementias, because wouldn’t that be wonderful when we do see our first survivor holding up their white flower at our Walk to End Alzheimer’s?

Dan Drews: Yeah. That, that would be amazing. I mean, and, and Tom, in our intro, we kind of talked about your personal connection- Yep … to this disease. Can you talk a little bit more about that and how this hits home for you personally?

Tom Heneghan: Yeah, for sure. So, uh, going to my first walk a few years ago was actually in McHenry County, and, uh, my friend’s mom, she has since passed, but she had a, um, early onset, and she was, you know, a teacher, you know, full of life, and just saw the devastation of that disease.

And then my own grandmother, um, she is from Ireland. Her first language is not English, [00:06:00] and towards the end of her life she didn’t know English, and I don’t know Irish that well. So we had the same question, “Hi, how are you?” And you know, eventually, you know, she didn’t know who I was, but, uh, right now, um, it’s actually my dad who was diagnosed with vascular dementia.

Mm. So now we’re, we’re, like, battling that on the home front. Luckily my mom was a caretaker for a while, so she, like, to your point, Brennen, is, like, very experienced in bringing in that knowledge. But now we’re dealing with it with my dad and going to his appointments and learning a lot about that. So we see the devastation firsthand, and at this point, almost everyone is touched in a certain way by the disease.

And- The best part about what we do in the community that we’ve built is that we’re all able to help each other-

Dan Drews: Mm-hmm …

Tom Heneghan: and share our experience and knowledge, and it’s great seeing that. I see it from the volunteers sharing with amongst each other, and then just, like, even us at the home office and at the, uh, local office here in Lisle talking about it.

Brennen Roberts: Yeah. I think it’s so important to have, like, a peer community when you’re going through that. Either- Mm-hmm … helping a family member or even [00:07:00] people at early stages of the disease to know they’re not alone. These are things that other people experience, you know, and just getting that support going through it.

Mm-hmm. So I think that’s a, a, a great resource for it. So I also appreciate you guys stopping by before your trip to London here, I

Dan Drews: assume. I assume you’re gonna be- Oh,

Brennen Roberts: man. I wish. We

Dan Drews: tried, but we were denied, yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, let’s talk a little bit about kind of the disease overall and, and Alzheimer’s and dementia, and are they, are they same?

You know, kind of talk to us a little bit about maybe the similarities or differences kind of between the two.

Hadi Finnerty: Yeah. So the best way is, I like to say it’s like an umbrella term, right? We have dementia, and underneath it is our list of symptoms. And those symptoms, and we’ll see a little bit more about that, is more like our…

You know, when people are thinking about, “Okay, what am I experiencing?” It could be something like our navigation, right? Someone who’s driven to the same place for many, many years one day forgets how to [00:08:00] go there.

Brennen Roberts: Mm.

Hadi Finnerty: Or, you know, recently learned information, where you’re telling them something and then you’re noticing five minutes later you’re repeating yourself, and then 20 minutes later you’re repeating yourself.

That recently learned, that short-term memory starts to go away. Or it could be someone that loves to, you know, plan something, and they have 1,000 to-do lists, and now they’re not checking those items off their to-do list. Um, those are kind of, you know, the dementia symptoms. There’s so many. Um, but I like to say those are the, the common things that we start to notice.

Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia. So 60 to 80% of cases is Alzheimer’s disease.

Brennen Roberts: Mm-hmm.

Hadi Finnerty: But you’ll notice there’s, uh, common ones too, like, you know, we’ll see vascular dementia. So for some individuals, when… Our working… We always say what’s good for the heart is also good for the brain.

Brennen Roberts: Mm-hmm.

Hadi Finnerty: Um, and when that blood flow stops, right, the 20 to 25% of oxygen flow to the brain, someone has a stroke, some people, [00:09:00] they don’t come out of that, what they say, brain fog. It moves into those dementia-like symptoms. Um, and, you know, Lewy body dementia, when Robin Williams passed away, they actually- Mm-hmm

announced he had Lewy body dementia as well. Um, here, oftentimes it’s kind of associated with Parkinson’s disease.

Brennen Roberts: Mm-hmm.

Hadi Finnerty: So we’ll see people that are shaking, shuffling, uh, maybe they’re having hallucinations. And then the last one is frontal temporal dementia. We see these in people in their, like, late 40s, early 50s.

We all know Bruce Willis is currently living with this disease right now. Mm-hmm. Um, and it’s more mood than their memory. So here, we’re gonna notice that- They’re isolating quickly. They become non-verbal quickly. Um, I think the tricky thing with Alzheimer’s is every person is different. So, you know, what, what might be for, you know, Tom’s dad might have not been what maybe my grandma experienced on her journey.

So it’s hard to kind of pinpoint a lot of that, um, [00:10:00] but I just say dementia is our overall symptoms.

Brennen Roberts: Yeah. It’s, it- it’s hard. We always talk about, like, you’re looking for changes in behavior- Yeah … you know? And it could be something as simple as a UTI, you know? A hun- yes. His health, you know- Yeah … and it’s just, you know, doctor’s vi- which can get serious, but doctor’s visits and stuff, but it could be something harder.

I, I think what’s hard a lot of times is for, you know, family members may be distance and they only see-

Tom Heneghan: Yeah …

Brennen Roberts: Mom and Dad two or three times a year, and they’re like, “Okay, I’m talking to them on the phone. I’m kind of hearing the same, repeating the same stories.” Yeah. And they’re just not picking that up.

Yeah. And then we find a lot of times, you know, okay, holidays they come and spend an ex- extended, they’re like, “Oh my gosh, this is-” an issue here.

Hadi Finnerty: Or- Yeah … you know, I like to say, too, it’s like when you do have that family member that comes, it’s like taking the car to the mechanic. Your loved one could be having the best day, and they’re thinking, “Well, I don’t know what you’re talking about.

I don’t see any of these, these symptoms- Yeah … that you’re describing.” And then the next day, you know, they’re not having the best day. Um, [00:11:00] but yeah, a lot of that, like- Yeah … the urinary tract infections, those are, play a key role, too.

Dan Drews: Yeah. Hadi, tell me a little bit, so your personal experience kind of related to your grandmother- Mm-hmm

if I have that right. What, what was that experience like for you? Yeah. Or how does this be, how does this mission kind of become personal for you kind of based on that, uh, experience you had? Yeah.

Hadi Finnerty: Well, we were my grandmother’s caregivers. Mm. So she was on this journey for 15 years. The first- Wow,

Dan Drews: 15.

Hadi Finnerty: Yeah.

Dan Drews: Mm-hmm.

Hadi Finnerty: The first 10 years her and my grandpa lived in Chicago. So we’re a, a Greek family. We’re big. Mm-hmm. Every Sunday we would have Greek family dinner, and we, we would see some of the changes. Um, but for us, the most pronounced change, it was Easter, and every Easter she used to make these butter cookies, and I remember she always would put it in cellophane wrap.

So we would unwrap everything, put it on- Mm … the kitchen island, and my mom and I both looked at each other like, “Something’s not right,” and they were basically a pile of mush. And when my mom and I both looked at each other, she saw us and she said, “I don’t, I don’t [00:12:00] remember how to make these anymore.” Oh my goodness.

And we’re thinking-

Dan Drews: Something

Hadi Finnerty: she’s probably- Something- … made

Dan Drews: forever.

Hadi Finnerty: Yeah … with probably not even a recipe. Yeah. We’re like, “Something is not right.” So we started paying more attention, and then my grandpa started saying, “I don’t wanna tell you everything that’s happening,” ’cause he was scared we would take her.

Dan Drews: Oh.

Hadi Finnerty: So my- Wow. Yeah, my grandpa ended up passing, and the last five years of her journey she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. So the traumatic event of like my grandpa passing really increased and ignited stuff in her brain. Mm. So she lived with us. At the time, I lived at home, so, uh, we took care of her. We, we were her caregivers.

Um, it was the most rewarding experience. Tough. It’s not… You know- Mm-hmm … I, I think I cried a lot, laughed a lot, but I would never take back that time.

Brennen Roberts: Well, that’s wonderful, I get that when families can take care of their loved ones. Yeah. You know, obviously- Yeah … we see a lot of times when maybe they don’t have a family-

Hadi Finnerty: Right

Brennen Roberts: around or they’re, they’re local and as we talk about the sandwich generation, you know. Mm-hmm. You’ve got- [00:13:00]

Hadi Finnerty: Yeah …

Brennen Roberts: kids, you’ve got busy schedules, you got careers. Like, you know, we’ve got a family right now we’re helping out and the grandfather’s there, but the son has to work the whole day so he’s in meetings and the kid’s got activities and, and, and, you know, we’re just providing that family some help, you know.

Yeah. You know? Yeah. We, we try to say it’s such a… Sometimes it can be a… I don’t want to say, it’s not a burden. People don’t see it as a burden, right? Right. But it’s a, it’s a lot and it takes a lot out of the caregiver. So we l- we like to say, like, when we come out and help families, we want to help people become, be more, stay a daughter, granddaughter- Yeah

first and that- Right … caregiver second, if you can. Yeah. So.

Hadi Finnerty: It- Yeah … it definitely changes the family dynamics. When my grandma was diagnosed, my mom was only 37.

Brennen Roberts: Oh, wow. Mm. Yeah.

Hadi Finnerty: And it changed. It’s- She had, you know, kids in college and-

Brennen Roberts: Yeah, it’s a tough thing- It was hard … for a kid to, when you, you flip a dynamic where all of a sudden you have to take care of your parents.

Yes.

Hadi Finnerty: Yeah.

Tom Heneghan: Tell them what to do, yeah.

Brennen Roberts: It’s like emotionally- Yeah, man … it’s tough to deal [00:14:00] with. You’re like, “Wait a second,” like, “This is not the same role I’ve had- Yeah … my whole life and I need to do this.” I think there’s always an adjustment period for that. I’m,

Dan Drews: I’m curious on, you know, y- y- the fact, my wife’s also from a big Greek family.

Her grandmother also developed, uh, Alzheimer’s dementia and, and, uh, one of the things they had to kind of adjust with her is that my wife’s father, her son, uh, passed away, you know, before she passed away, right? And she would keep asking about him.

Tom Heneghan: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Dan Drews: And then they would tell about his passing, and she would continue to relive that.

So they came to the point where they’re just like, “Oh, he’s at the grocery store,” like, you know. I, I’m wondering, did you have to navigate things like that ever too- It’s- … and make a decision? Yes. It might not be the truth- Mm … but it kind of hinges on her happiness. Yeah. Yeah. I’m,

Hadi Finnerty: I’m kind of laughing when you’re saying that because that was exactly our story.

Sh- my grandma would always ask, “When is your grandpa coming? I want to go home.”

Dan Drews: Mm.

Hadi Finnerty: Home to her some days [00:15:00] was where they lived in Chicago, some days it was where she grew up when she lived in Greece. “I want to go home.” We, and we didn’t know. Early on we’re like, “Well, he passed. He’s not coming home.”

Dan Drews: Mm-hmm.

Hadi Finnerty: And then she grieved him.

She’d be very upset. She’d be, like, pulling her hair. And then by coincidence, that week my mom actually had an appointment with the neurologist and he’s like- provide her a therapeutic fib. My mom’s like, “Well, I don’t know if I can lie to her.” Yeah. And he’s like, “You need to because what’s causing her anxiety, you’ve moved on from it, she’s stuck in this now.”

Brennen Roberts: Ah.

Hadi Finnerty: Yeah. So the next time she asked, my mom said, “You know what? He’ll, he’ll be back.” And she’s like, “Okay, I just need to make sure everything is locked up in our house.” And then I remember one day, and I always would, we’d always say the same thing, “He c- he’s going to Sam’s Club,” they loved going to Sam’s Club.

“When he gets back, you’ll be able to go.”

Brennen Roberts: Yeah. Yeah.

Hadi Finnerty: And one day, out of the blue, she goes, “Call him on the phone for me.” And I’m like, “Oh.” I remember I was sweating. I’m like, “What do I do?” I called my, one of my [00:16:00] uncles, and I’m like, “She’s asking for him.” So he talked to her, she thought it was my grandpa, and she said, “Okay, he’s gonna be here in 10 minutes.”

You know, passage of time means nothing to someone with this disease. Yeah. Mm-hmm. So 10 minutes meant she moved on. “Is it 10 minutes yet?” I’m like, “We’re almost there.” Yeah. And then, you know, we just kind of went over it- Yeah … and then we moved on to something else.

Brennen Roberts: Yeah. I can see that. Yeah. We say y- you can’t, you can’t bring them to you, you gotta go to where they’re at.

Yes. Right. Right. You know? And kind of live in the moment with them. Yeah. You know? So I like, what’d you say that it was like, thoughtful fibbing or what was the- Therapeutic fibbing … therapeutic fibbing. Yeah. That’s a good phrase. Yeah. That’s a good phrase. Yeah.

Dan Drews: But it makes sense, right? It does. You don’t have to relive the trauma.

Mm-hmm.

Hadi Finnerty: Yeah.

Dan Drews: Yeah. Let’s talk about the, the disease itself, too. We’ve talked about, a little bit about some of the symptoms with both of your loved ones, you talked about too. Is there anything else about the disease that you think you, the, the listeners should know?

Hadi Finnerty: I, I do like to point out it’s a gradual disease.

It worsens over time. [00:17:00] Um, people do pass away from this disease. I think it’s a misconception, people don’t think they do, and yes, they can pass away from another ailment. But right now, it’s the seventh leading cause of death in the United States.

Tom Heneghan: Wow. Wow.

Hadi Finnerty: Um, so people do pass. The thing that I think people struggle with is there’s no timeline, right?

So we have phases where they go through early, or we like to say, you know, um, middle and late stages. Um, there’s no time. No one can tell you how long they’re gonna be in each stage for. People, again, they’re whole individual, they progress at their own time. So we’re… We might see people living in the early stages for quite some time, or they might pass through it quickly and now they’re in the middle to late stages.

So I always like to point that out because I don’t think people really know about that. Um, and you might also hear it as, like, mild, moderate, and severe stages. It just depends on how people, um, are describing the stages.

Tom Heneghan: Mm. Yeah. Yeah. And to Hadi’s point too, she mentioned, like, a lot of [00:18:00] times you… They’ll be having a few bad days in a row, and they have a couple of good days in a row, but that doesn’t mean that they’re getting better or anything.

It just, that’s the way it happens.

Brennen Roberts: Yeah.

Tom Heneghan: And sometimes y- people just need to keep that in mind, like it’s, it’s not a linear progression. It’s gonna be ups and downs throughout the whole process, but it will eventually start getting more and more severe.

Brennen Roberts: Yeah, yeah. There’s no great answer for what to expect-

Dan Drews: Exactly

Brennen Roberts: Right

tomorrow, next week- Right … next month, like

Dan Drews: Well, I tell you what, your, the Alzheimer’s Association has done a ton of work on facts and figures and different statistics around this disease. This is a great infographic. Where do you want to start with this, or things that you think are maybe not commonly known?

Hadi Finnerty: Yeah, I think the number one thing is the over seven million Americans right now in the United States that are living with Alzheimer’s. Um, and one of the things I like to… I’m sure, Tom, I’m speaking for you, you also like, is three out of four, and this is a new statistics we haven’t seen, [00:19:00] is Americans say lifestyle is really important for them, right?

Like, what can they do? They know that. Mm-hmm. 36%, you’re gonna see, they know it, but maybe they’re not really partaking in those, um, lifestyle habits, but they know that that benefits them. And we saw a huge shift in our facts and figures because now we’re moving more into, like, brain health and what everybody can do.

So I think for myself, that’s one of my things that people are like, “Wow, there are things that we can do today,” and there are. Um, but you know, we’ll see the one in three older adults. When I talk about that when I’m in community, you see people, like, look around like, “One in three- Mm-hmm … dies

Dan Drews: from this?”

Which there’s- Right … four of us in this room. Exactly. Right. Yeah.

Brennen Roberts: It’s gonna be, so.

Hadi Finnerty: Right. Yeah.

Dan Drews: Well, that, that makes sense. Like the physical health. Like Brennan, I know you talked about you’ve got some clients with Seniors Helping Seniors that some of our, some of your caregivers just help them go on walks and try and keep up that physical activity.

Brennen Roberts: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we’ve got a, we’ve got a client that, uh, [00:20:00] I mean she’s early s- early stage dementia and she w- still lives in indep- still able to live in- Yeah … independent living. Yeah. But she loves walking. So, like- Yeah … we actually go out and, you know, the walks that they do at the senior center are, like, around the building.

She’s like, “No, I wanna go crank out a three-mile walk.”

Tom Heneghan: Right, right,

Brennen Roberts: right. So we have caregivers that go up and just go for walks with her, which is a pretty nice- Oh, that’s, that’s awesome … pretty nice gig. But you know, and she’s… And that’s obviously good for her physical health, it’s good for her brain health.

Yep. She’s outdoors. She’s walking with a companion. Mm-hmm. So it’s, it’s, it’s just makes for her… She, she has much better days when she’s able to get out- Yeah … and walk and stuff like that. So I had a question. I, I don’t know if it’s in the stats. I don’t know the answer. But do you have stats on like, like the, the ages when people get- diagnosed and at what ages, you know, how young- Yeah

young people need to kind of be on the lookout for

Tom Heneghan: and, uh- Well, the, typically- Yeah … you develop [00:21:00] symptoms on average about, is it 20 years before they start showing up?

Brennen Roberts: Really?

Tom Heneghan: Mm-hmm. So if we see this here with one in three of those over 65, that means by 45 that you might start developing some of the symptoms, but it doesn’t really progress to a noticeable point.

But it’s like we talked about, um, with Alzheimer’s particular, there’s plaques on the brain. That’s what that disease state is. With vascular, it’s a shrinking of the blood vessels, less blood flow- Mm … so, like, your neural link connections are gonna be shrinking. So it’s like it, you know, it’s gonna look different for everybody else.

However, it’s really scary to think. It’s like your 40s and your 50s is when you need to be making these lifestyle changes we’ll talk more about- Yeah … that will help slow down the progression. Not prevent it, but slow down the progression of the disease. But yet that’s typically on the average range of when we start seeing that-

Brennen Roberts: Yeah

Tom Heneghan: from the data.

Brennen Roberts: That’s im- and that’s important ’cause I think most people think about, like, our grandparents, you know, and it sound like your, your friend’s mother or- Yeah. Yeah … was pretty She has young

Tom Heneghan: onset.

Brennen Roberts: Yeah … pretty young. She’s in her 50s. Yeah. [00:22:00] So it’s not as uncommon as you would think for it to impact people that are, you know- Yeah

not, not that senior, I guess.

Dan Drews: Yeah. When we talk about surprising stats, the one right in the middle of the screen, too, it kills more than breast cancer and prostate cancer combined. I mean, that just, that blows my mind- Mm-hmm … because you don’t think of it in that type of

Hadi Finnerty: magnitude.

Dan Drews: Right. Um, when, when someone dies from Alzheimer’s, is it just a t- a deterioration of their cognitive s- uh, functions?

Or kind of help me understand- Yeah … what they end up passing away from.

Hadi Finnerty: And that’s exactly it. Okay. So in the late stages, um, most are non-verbal. They’ll forget how to swallow. They’ll forget how to chew.

Dan Drews: Mm.

Hadi Finnerty: Um, their body is starting to shut down. The brain is starting to shut down.

Dan Drews: Mm.

Hadi Finnerty: So we’ll see most of them at that point are either bedridden-

Brennen Roberts: Mm-hmm

Hadi Finnerty: wheelchair bound. There’s not a lot of, I guess, quality of life- No … really for the- Yeah … individual at that point.

Brennen Roberts: Mm. Yeah. We’ve had live-in caregivers [00:23:00] before that, you know, are kind of- Had the benefit of helping a family for- Yeah … multi years, you know? Yeah. And kind of been there sort of at the very, very end and stuff, but.

Dan Drews: And is there a hereditary aspect to this disease? And, and what should people, you know, in their 40s and 50s be asking their, uh, doctors right now in the- in the- in their current checkups if they know it does run in their families?

Hadi Finnerty: So if you have a parent or a sibling, your chances are two times greater.

Dan Drews: Wow.

Hadi Finnerty: If you have two parents, your chances are seven times greater.

Brennen Roberts: Oof. Hmm.

Hadi Finnerty: So that and the young onsets. When we mean young onset, we mean someone diagnosed 65 years or younger, if they carry the gene. So most people, like, I always give, give the reference of that movie Still Alice, right? If you’ve seen it.

She was diagnosed in her early 50s. The child that got the genetic testing done carried the gene, they will develop it.

Dan Drews: Hmm.

Hadi Finnerty: So that’s different. We [00:24:00] have our deterministic genes, right, and then our- the family genes, is the familial genes, is what they call it. Um, so there is- a high chance, but you don’t necessarily get it.

So oftentimes people now with, um, doing, like, genetic testing- Mm-hmm … and they carry, like, the APOE4 gene, then they’re always like, “Am I- I’m gonna get it. This is it. I’m gonna get it,” and you don’t. Doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to get it.

Brennen Roberts: No.

Hadi Finnerty: Just puts you at a higher risk.

Brennen Roberts: Yeah. Well, follow the guidance that you’re gonna share with

Dan Drews: us-

Brennen Roberts: Yes

in a little bit, right? Exactly, yeah. That’s where you gotta, like, pay special, special

Dan Drews: attention to it. Yeah. So. Well, let’s take a look a little bit at some of the stats here in Illinois specifically. Again, some great work that you’ve been doing in Illinois. Where do you wanna take us through some of this data that you’ve been able to compile?

Hadi Finnerty: Yeah, I think the number one thing is just the prevalence in Illinois, over basically 251,000 individuals living with this disease. Again, that is reported, right? Some people [00:25:00] just, you know, don’t, don’t really- There’s

Tom Heneghan: still a stigma.

Hadi Finnerty: Right.

Tom Heneghan: They don’t talk about it. They don’t wanna talk.

Dan Drews: Yeah, they

Tom Heneghan: don’t wanna

Dan Drews: admit to it.

Yeah, yeah. Be- before, yeah, Tom, talk a little bit more about that. Talk about, I guess, the stigma that exists and maybe what you would encourage, not only those people experiencing the symptoms, but the family members around them as well.

Tom Heneghan: Sure, yeah. I think a lot of it is just, when we go to senior fairs, and I’m sure you guys see it too, it’s like people will see our booth, they’ll see our name, and they’ll immediately sit, like, shake their head, wave us off.

They don’t want anything to do with us. And, and that’s, you know, it’s upsetting because it’s like, honestly, we just have all these resources, but they don’t wanna admit to the disease because everyone knows it’s like you, you lose your memories, you lose yourself, and then a lot of people feel like they’ll be a burden on their family.

Mm-hmm. So, it’s kind of out of sight, out of mind. And one of the things I recommend the most is when you get to, um, your mid-60s, is to do that, you know, you have to set it up with your doctor ahead of time, but there’s these 15-minute [00:26:00] tests where they do kind of a neuro psych battery, where it’s the draw the clock, ask some basic math questions.

They’ll give you five words to memorize, tell you a story, “What was the plot of the story, and what were the five words I told you?” And then every year when you’re doing your checkups, they should be doing that, and that way the doctor can see if there is some… ‘Cause now we have a baseline where you were at 65, and then at 70 it’s like, well, you’re pretty much right in the range you should be, or if it’s dropping, then we need to look at it.

Because then we get into things where people might have a mild cognitive impairment, which does not mean you will- Mm-hmm … develop Alzheimer’s or dementia, but everyone who’s ever had Alzheimer’s or another dementia did have an MCI at some point.

Dan Drews: Mm-hmm.

Tom Heneghan: So again, we talk about early prevent- like, is early detection is key to treating this disease the best we can and give you the most normalcy.

So as a family, it’s like I just really encourage, uh, besides the health tips, uh, everything that Hadi’s gonna get into, is encourage your loved ones when they get to 65 to start doing these, these tests. And they’re- Yeah … they’re, they’re, they’re [00:27:00] just like everything we did in school.

Dan Drews: Yeah …

Tom Heneghan: and it’s okay.

You’re not meant to pass them either. It’s like if I, you know, I try, I went with my dad and I was just like, “I don’t know what the fuck we’re-” So-

Brennen Roberts: Can I write this down?

Tom Heneghan: Yeah. Yeah. So- Yeah, I was, like, trying to follow along. That kind of defeats the point there, right? Yeah, I was like, “This is tough.” So, um- Well, yeah

yeah, just a big encouragement on that.

Dan Drews: And I think it’s interesting, too, Hadi, you talked about this, too. It’s, it’s kind of a puzzle piece in the standpoint that you can have dementia, but it’s not necessarily Alzheimer’s, and there’s different, uh, I guess, subcategories of it, too. Mm-hmm. So Tom, back to your point, like, doing these tests will help doctors understand, okay, is it Alzheimer’s or is it one of the other types of dementia?

Yeah. Do I have that right? Yeah.

Hadi Finnerty: Yes. ‘Cause there’s over 70 different types of dementia.

Dan Drews: Oh, my gosh. Mm.

Hadi Finnerty: So it helps-

Dan Drews: Unbelievable …

Hadi Finnerty: some of these te- I mean- Yeah … the proper diagnostic process is more than obviously the five-minute mini-mental status. Mm-hmm. Um, but I always encourage people, like Tom said, talk to your doctor first, and then you can go see someone else, like a neurologist- Mm-hmm

or [00:28:00] a geriatric specialist That specializes with Alzheimer’s or dementia, ’cause not every doctor does. Mm-hmm. So that’s also important, too. Um, but it’s, it’s important because it’s not a five-minute test. It takes hours. Um, they do start with that mini mental testing, and then they go into more deep dive, you know, steps- Oh, yeah

on how to diagnose.

Tom Heneghan: It’s, it’s- Mm-hmm … yeah, the, the neuro psych test, and then they’ll… They still need an MRI to confirm it. And there is blood tests available for early detection, but that, that’s only one piece of the puzzle. Like, you might get that blood test that shows- Mm-hmm … that you’re carrying, like you have Alzheimer’s disease state or whatever it might be, but you still need to go through the MRI process and the neuro psych, and that is a few hours.

Or you might have to make multiple appointments because in my dad’s case, it’s, it was upsetting to him. Even though we weren’t-

Dan Drews: Mm-hmm …

Tom Heneghan: the person doing the test, he’s not gonna be too thrilled if you ask him. ‘Cause the, some of the questions come off insulting to the person, like, “What’s a bird?” And you’re like- Yeah.

“I know what a bird is.” Yeah. But, you know- Mm-hmm … that’s how they start ramping it up [00:29:00] as they go through the test. But it is, it’s, it’s takes a couple hours. It takes numerous neurologist appointments, and we know there’s a shortage of neurologists throughout the US, so you could be on a waiting list. So it’s like, that’s why you gotta-

Brennen Roberts: Plan ahead

Tom Heneghan: you gotta plan ahead and just be aggressive with- Yeah … advocating for your loved one- Yeah … or yourself. Yeah.

Brennen Roberts: I mean, planning ahead is a common theme in our, all our discussions here. Yeah. You know? Yeah. Don’t wait till the last minute- Right … when you’re in crisis, you know, when it comes to your powers of attorneys, your estates, like knowing your parents’ friends, knowing their habits, those kind of things.

It’s just, like it’ll save you so much hassle and- Yeah … stress down the road and stuff, so.

Dan Drews: We, we talked a little bit about, like heart health and, you know, just being a healthy person in general, hopefully being one of those things to kind of stave that off. Are there other things that kind of play in dementia for, uh, for one of the, uh, examples I’ve heard, like, uh, tinnitus or tinnitus, the ringing in the ear can lead to it.

Are there any other things that people need to [00:30:00] be aware of that can lead into dementia or Alzheimer’s?

Hadi Finnerty: Yeah, we do have risk factors. Of course, age is the first one, then genetics and family history. But it’s really, the main stuff is like the cardiovascular factors. Mm-hmm. Um, now they’re doing a ton of research on hearing- Um, because we’re starting to see that, right?

Is it selective hearing or can they not hear? Is that why you’re repeating yourself? So there are studies going into hearing loss. Um, I don’t know if you have anything-

Tom Heneghan: Well, I was gonna say the hearing loss too, like sometimes people withdraw socially- Yeah … and that usually can speed up the process as well.

Yeah. Oh,

Dan Drews: interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, so kind of an indirect or a domino effect, if you would.

Tom Heneghan: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I don’t- uh, there’s research, um, I think in Europe based off of this, just on my own personal experience, but it’s still something that there’s a lot more to be discovered about it. But yeah, hearing loss and socialization tend to also go hand-in-hand, and can lead to some of the advances of the disease.

Dan Drews: Yeah. Is there anything else on the Illinois slide

Tom Heneghan: here too?

Dan Drews: [00:31:00] I, I was gonna… You were telling us beforehand about-

Tom Heneghan: Yeah …

Dan Drews: just locally in DuPage

Tom Heneghan: County. Yeah, locally. Yeah. So in DuPage County, there’s nearly 20,000 people living with the disease.

Dan Drews: Wow.

Tom Heneghan: And, um, one of the most impressive things though is, um, a lot of the stuff that Hadi talks about is she does all this programming, community education.

It’s all free.

Brennen Roberts: Mm-hmm.

Tom Heneghan: And what she’s been able to do, her and her group of volunteers, they’ve o- last year in 2025, we reached over 3,500 people attended some type of education session, uh, program that Hadi and her volunteers put on. We also have care and support, like support groups- Mm-hmm … and over 230 people participated in those, which is really good as we talked earlier- Mm

about the peer-to-peer model, and just like you’re talking to people that are going through it the same time as you, or have already been through it, or maybe you’re the mentor to somebody who’s new to it. And then of course, our helpline, we’re able to track how many people from DuPage Co- County use the helpline, and it would averages out to be about one, one person a day.

Wow. Wow.

Brennen Roberts: Oh, wow.

Tom Heneghan: So

Dan Drews: it shows that-

Tom Heneghan: Mm-hmm … we’re both nationwide, but we’re also hyper-focused locally.

Brennen Roberts: Yeah.

Dan Drews: It’s a- Thank good- thank [00:32:00] goodness for your organization for that. I mean- Yeah,

Brennen Roberts: yeah. Yeah. I mean, even in DuPage County, I think the stats are that… I mean, it’s actually the, the age, like the 65 and over population is actually slightly higher in DuPage County- Right

than it is nationally, and I think it’s gonna be like 23% by 2030 is what it’s expected to be. Wow. So you think about that. Almost 23% of the population is 65 and over, which we-

Tom Heneghan: And then a third of them likely will have

Brennen Roberts: dementia. Yeah, yeah. So it’s, it’s- Mm. You know, it hits home.

Dan Drews: Um, well, as we’re kind of going through this conversation, some of the things we’ve touched on are some of the warning signs.

Uh, why don’t you walk us through a little bit on some of the key things that family members should be looking for? I know, Hadi, you kind of talked about that from some personal experience, but, uh, this slide kind of illustrates- Mm-hmm … a lot of those warning signs.

Hadi Finnerty: The first one is always memory loss that disrupts your daily life.

Mm-hmm. If people are like, “Well, how would I know?” You will know. It’s something significant. The cookies,

Dan Drews: for example.

Hadi Finnerty: Yeah. The cookies. Yeah. Or [00:33:00] you ha- you’re holding the keys to your car and you’re thinking, “What am I supposed to do with these keys?”

Dan Drews: Mm-hmm.

Hadi Finnerty: Well, most of us know turn on, turn your car on. Um, so that’s the number one thing.

And then, you know, difficulty completing those familiar tasks, like again, the cookies or someone that’s, you know, has a budget and all of a sudden they’re missing, they’re paying their bills. They’re starting to get final notices coming in. Um, and they used to be able to keep track, now they can’t keep track of those monthly bills.

Um, a, a, a lot of stuff that we see is confusion with time or place. So 60% of individuals that have Alzheimer’s or dementia wander-

Brennen Roberts: Mm-hmm …

Hadi Finnerty: and oftentimes it’s because, two, where does their longterm memory go? You know, I talked about, like, my grandma and she always wanted to go home, but it’s, we see that.

Like, “I wanna go home. When am I going home?” The home to them can be anywhere, and there’s a goal in mind, like, “I’m getting there no matter what.” Mm-hmm. Um, and it’s just the seasons, right? So we know it’s summer [00:34:00] now- Mm … but they can look outside and not know what the season is, and they’re now getting dressed up like it’s winter.

Brennen Roberts: Mm. Yeah.

Hadi Finnerty: Um- Yeah … you know, I think sometimes too, like, their, the social filter is gone, so now they’re starting to talk very loudly about people and maybe they’ve never done that before. Um, even driving, one of the things here is, um, trouble understanding visual images and spatial relationships. I can’t tell you how many times I have people tell me one of my number one clues or signs, I could, should say, was all of the dents on my spouse’s car-

Dan Drews: Mm

Hadi Finnerty: or my parent’s car.

Dan Drews: Yeah.

Hadi Finnerty: Because, you know, they would… I, I rem- I will never forget, I had a lady, and this was very early on when I first started, she said, “We would drive to church every Sunday, and I noticed one Sunday that my husband had, like, three new dents on the side of his car. And when I asked him about it, he said, ‘Oh, it was the, uh, grocery cart at the store.’

Then the next day, ‘Oh, you know, the neighborhood kids always ride their bikes into my car.'” So [00:35:00] they drove to church this Sunday, and she said it was only a six-mile trip. On the way there, he blew through a stop sign because you can’t determine color and contrast with this.

Brennen Roberts: Mm.

Hadi Finnerty: He stopped hundreds of feet before a stoplight and, and he was driving in between two of the lanes, and she said on the way there he almost took out a s- a mailbox too.

Brennen Roberts: Mm. Mm.

Hadi Finnerty: So then she’s like, “I knew in that moment what was really happening.” Yeah.

Brennen Roberts: Yes.

Hadi Finnerty: So it’s, you know, you’ll start to see the spatial images are gone. Um, new words with, you know, new words and s- not new words. New problems- … with words and speaking. Um, I don’t like … This isn’t something to joke about, but we all have those moments.

We’re like, “What was I just gonna say?” Mm-hmm. Yeah. I, I often do that.

Brennen Roberts: Mm-hmm.

Hadi Finnerty: Um, and the word eventually comes to us. Here, they’re always searching for that word.

Brennen Roberts: Yeah.

Hadi Finnerty: Or, you know, we … A lot of times they might be like, “Oh, this is my hand clock,” instead of, “This is my watch.” So they’re making up, you know, their own vocabulary words.

Brennen Roberts: Yeah.

Hadi Finnerty: Tom mentioned isolation. Right. We’re gonna see [00:36:00] a, a lot of that. Maybe, you know, their friends are starting to call them out, so why be embarrassed? I, I’ll just stay home from, you know, going to those social things. Yeah.

Brennen Roberts: Or you- Yeah … you forget, like, I don’t wanna be in a social setting ’cause I, I can’t remember people’s names.

Hadi Finnerty: Yeah.

Brennen Roberts: Or it’s

Tom Heneghan: loud noises,

Brennen Roberts: probably. I’m embarrassed- Yeah … or something bothers you- Yeah … so I’m not gonna go, and then you become isolated, and then it becomes a- Yep. Yeah … it’s a rough thing, so. Yeah, your ta- story about, like, driving. Like, everybody jokes about, like, the bad- Yeah. … drives. That, like, it might not just be bad driving.

I remember- Right … my, my father was not diagnosed with that before he passed, but he, but I do remember he lived a couple hours away, but got a couple single car accidents. Like, thankfully he was okay and he didn’t hurt somebody else, but, you know, it was one of those things. It’s always one of the biggest problems people have is, like, how do I take the keys away from Mom and Dad- Right

before they-

Hadi Finnerty: Right …

Brennen Roberts: hurt themselves or somebody else? ‘Cause that’s, that is a huge step- Oh … where they lose their independence.

Hadi Finnerty: And of course, I like to point out we all have typical age-related moments, right? Like, we’ve all have those moments. Mm-hmm.

Brennen Roberts: Mm.

Hadi Finnerty: [00:37:00] Um, it, this is gonna be pronounced. So, uh, people will be like, “Well, I don’t remember where I put my keys.”

Retrace your steps. You have the ability. If, you know, I always … Tom hears me talk about this all the time. There’s so many times I’m getting my kids in the car, I’m throwing in my bags for work, and I’m halfway down the block, and I’m thinking, “Did I shut my garage door?” Yeah.

Dan Drews: Oh. All the time. I

Hadi Finnerty: did that today.

And then I drive … Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And I drive back around 99% of the time it’s shut. So yes, we do have typical age-related moments, but the ones that we saw before, those are the most common ones to really pay attention to.

Dan Drews: Well, please tell me there’s a little light at the end of the tunnel, right? When we talk about the treatments for Alzheimer’s, what can people be doing, and do we have some progressions in medicine that hopefully give us hope?

Hadi Finnerty: I know this is your favorite topic.

Tom Heneghan: Well, I love talking about that. Uh, I joked with you guys earlier, but it’s like, um, you know, when you’re a brilliant doctor, you discover a disease, they name it after you. So Dr. Alzheimer is a real person- Mm-hmm … and he discovered the plaques in the [00:38:00] brain back in 1906.

The first treatment for any of the symptoms was until 1906, or- Wow … until 1996. So we went 90 years- Wow. Wow … with no effective treatment at all, other than just putting people in a home or ignoring them, what have you. And since then, we’ve been developing, not we, but I mean, doctors have been developing drugs to help treat the symptoms.

But it’s not until the last couple of years, this is where Hanni knows way more than I do- Mm-hmm … but we, there’s actually now drugs that directly address the disease state. Now, they’re not a cure, but what they can do is slow the progression down, and you kind of get to a new normal for a longer period of time with your loved one.

Um, and you’ll see that they’re, uh, infusion-based, I believe, right?

Hadi Finnerty: Yeah.

Dan Drews: Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Hadi Finnerty: Yeah. So there is hope.

Dan Drews: Well, when people are trying to grab hold of that hope-

Hadi Finnerty: Mm-hmm …

Dan Drews: and really want to take charge of their brain health, talk to us a little bit about other things they should be doing and, and some coaching you might give them.

Hadi Finnerty: Yeah. I, I like to say it’s never too early or [00:39:00] too late to adopt any kind of healthy habit. What we’re seeing is 45% of dementia cases could be delayed by following a lot of these modifiable risk factors. Um, so, you know, here we talk about our 10 healthy habits. The association, we’re moving more toward, like, brain health, right?

Like, what can people do? All of us in this room, anyone, we don’t have to have this disease Mm-hmm. Um, and they really are focusing on s- some of the stuff that we’re all doing right now, right? Social engagement we know is so important. People do not do well in isolation, so, you know, being in- Mm-hmm … part of clubs or something to get more active.

Um, diet and nutrition is a key thing. Right now they’re focusing on the MIND diet, which is like the Mediterranean diet.

Dan Drews: Mm-hmm.

Hadi Finnerty: Um, really f- on dark leafy vegetables, berries, um,

Dan Drews: What about mental activities like puzzles and- Yeah … things like that? Is that part of the equation? Yeah.

Hadi Finnerty: Yeah. So it is [00:40:00] part of it, doing something to challenge your brain.

Dan Drews: Mm-hmm.

Hadi Finnerty: I always say if you brush your teeth with your right hand, trick your brain, brush your teeth with your left. Do tr- I mean, I’ve had to do that now because I can’t really use my right hand. So using my left hand has been challenging, but now I’m used to it, right? Yeah. I’m like, “Okay, I think I can switch on and off.”

Yep. Um, use that left part of your brain or, you know, many years ago people used to take a map to get to their destination. Yeah. They’re actually saying like, “Take a map. Get to your…” I mean, I couldn’t do it. I’d be in Wisconsin. Yeah. But, you know, use a map. Um, but, you know, pick up a new Hadi. Um, a lot- New language.

Yeah, a new language. Mm-hmm, language. Right. Uh, ongoing l- formal ongoing learning.

Dan Drews: Yep. Um- Well, this slide you put together I think- Yes … really illustrates it well, right? Uh, and even s- ’cause some common sense stuff like the upper left-hand corner, protect your head, right? Right. Going out bicycling. Yep. I mean, it, it seems kind of common sense, but I see people riding bikes- Same

and everything else [00:41:00] too, and, uh, I’m sure a brain, uh, a shot to the brain is not gonna be helping- Right … the situation. Yeah.

Hadi Finnerty: Right. So, yeah. 100%. Yeah.

Dan Drews: So

Hadi Finnerty: a lot of these things we know, and what they’re encouraging, average adults need 2 hours and 30 minutes a week of physical exercise.

Dan Drews: Mm-hmm.

Hadi Finnerty: With two of those days being just, like, strength and toning.

So people look at this and they think, “Okay, I’m doing pretty good,” but it’s important to keep building on these healthy habits.

Dan Drews: Well, and even when you talked about the brain health recipe and the Mediterranean diet and stuff too, it’s fascinating to think to how about all these things basically swirl into one recipe for trying to-

Tom Heneghan: Yeah

Dan Drews: help you live longer and more conscious too. Mm-hmm. I think the, the health monitoring part of this slide I think is really kind of interesting too, why regular checkups and checking in with your doctor and weight monitoring and things like that, that never occurred to me how that can be a big part of the equation too.

Yeah.

Hadi Finnerty: Yep.

Dan Drews: Yeah.

Hadi Finnerty: Oftentimes [00:42:00] people get a diagnosis like, “Oh, you have high cholesterol,” and they think, “Well, I’m not gonna do anything about it.” Mm-hmm. And then they continue on. So we’re encouraging people, um, from the US POINTS study, which was a lifestyle intervention study the association took part of, these were the four components that these individuals focused on, and what we saw was the people that were in the structured lifestyle part of the trial, their brains were one to two years younger than what they really are.

Dan Drews: Fascinating.

Hadi Finnerty: So, we had people going in 60 to 79 years old. I had a volunteer, she was 63 when she went in. She’s like, “My brain is like a 61-year-old at this point.”

Dan Drews: Yeah.

Hadi Finnerty: So, it helps.

Dan Drews: It’s fascinating too. It makes me reflect. There’s a documentary, uh, I think it was on Netflix, called, like, Blue Zones- Yeah … where people live longer and stuff too.

Yeah. And some of the things you- Yes … touched on were their diet- Mm-hmm … and then also their social interaction. You know, there was this… It was either Greece or Italy- Yep … that they didn’t have senior homes, and the seniors would just live [00:43:00] in the house, and that type of interaction continued to kind of fuel their longevity- Mm-hmm

as they

talked

Brennen Roberts: about too. Yeah. Pretty amazing. Yeah. I mean, it’s… Sorry, I was just gonna say, it’s interesting for us at least, you know, we, we try to have, like, active, mature caregivers. And honestly, we try to say that, like, the caregivers, like, give as much as they receive. Oh, absolutely. And, and, and part of it is, like, we have some people, obviously you’re maybe retired and you want to stay active and engaged and, you know.

But, but just, like, caring for somebody else is- Exactly … part of that. And companionship, you’re out helping and doing stuff. So they’re actually benefiting themselves by helping other people. Yeah. It’s a nice model.

Tom Heneghan: Yeah. There’s, uh, research that shows that, um, seniors do better when they take care of their grandkids.

So- Mm. I just, I’m just putting it out there.

Brennen Roberts: Keeps

Tom Heneghan: you young at heart.

Dan Drews: Keeps you young at

Tom Heneghan: heart. Yeah. I believe

Dan Drews: it.

Brennen Roberts: Yeah. Yeah.

Dan Drews: Well, I, I’m constantly amazed too at how technology pieces can kind of help us educate it too, and Alzheimer’s Association is no different too. You guys have support features, [00:44:00] including, uh, an app it looks like too, in order to help the community with this disease.

Tell us a little bit about that.

Hadi Finnerty: Yeah. So this is My Alz Journey, and I think the w- the thing that’s helpful, yes, it’s free, but it helps caregivers. We’ve all probably heard, “How do I get my loved one to take a shower? They’re resisting,” right? Um, you can go in there and it gives you tips on, on how to do that, right?

Or, “How do I take the keys away from my loved one?” Again, they give you tips. So it connects the individuals with chapter resources and, like, how to kind of navigate those hard lifestyle, not lifestyle, hard, um- See, look Yeah, it’s almost all

Brennen Roberts: of it, right?

Hadi Finnerty: I think you may talk, talk it up for me, Tom. Well, at

Brennen Roberts: least you didn’t say it

Tom Heneghan: in Irish.

Sure,

Brennen Roberts: yeah.

Tom Heneghan: Well, I will say what’s great about the app too is it’s, we’ll ask you questions about your loved one, for instance, and it’s a sliding scale. So it’s like, do they need help, reminders with showering? Like, 1 is never, 5 is always, and it helps you kind of realize where they’re [00:45:00] at approximately. Oh, interesting.

And it, it’s just another extension of our helpline. But, you know, for some people, they don’t wanna call, they don’t wanna do… And it’s just very great, ’cause I’ve used it as a way to kind of just get an idea of ballpark where my dad might be, ’cause I’m not a neurologist. Mm-hmm. I’m not that smart. So this really helps me figure this out, and it just gives me a better sense of like, you know, like how you said tips- Yeah

hints or what to expect.

Dan Drews: Mm-hmm. A kind of a cursory assessment, if you will.

Tom Heneghan: Exactly. Mm-hmm.

Dan Drews: Yeah. So… Yeah. Well, t- you talk about help, um, this is right in your wheelhouse here. Yeah. The Walk to End Alzheimer’s is, uh, one of the big initiatives of the organization. Talk to us about that and how people can, uh, what it is and how people can get involved.

Sure. Yeah.

Tom Heneghan: So one of the best things about Walk, there’s walks throughout this nation. There’s over 600 walks. W- the Walk to End Alzheimer’s is the second biggest peer-to-peer fundraiser in the nation.

Brennen Roberts: Mm.

Tom Heneghan: So what’s really cool about that is we get all these people throughout the US participating, but then we do it here locally in DuPage.

We do it at North Central [00:46:00] College football stadium. What’s also amazing- Mm … just like all of our education, our app, our helpline, it’s actually free to sign up. So that’s what we do. If you wanna earn incentives, you wanna get a, like I see you have an Owala. Mm-hmm. If you wanted an Owala, you could… There’s incentives throughout the season.

If you raise a certain amount of money in this time period, you can get it. You’ll get your shirt or other incentives. There’s a lot of ways that we encourage people to fundraise. But again, it’s not required. But what’s great is it’s free, and it’s a community. Over 1,400 people come out, and there’s the people like Hottie and her volunteers are there with the care and support information, with the program information.

Wow. We have a caregiver’s tent in which we recognize the caregivers. We have, uh, the champions, like our best fundraisers- Mm … get, like, a little special recognition, the top teams. We have sponsors there, but really, a lot of people love the flower ceremony, which is our pinwheel flowers. Each color represents your relationship to the disease.

Wow. And we have a little bit of a program that goes along with that, and you’ll see towards the end of the program, every single person’s holding up their flower. That means every single [00:47:00] person there can relate to each other in some way, shape, or form, and you have this community that you didn’t realize was in your own backyard, and it’s a very powerful moment.

Yet the walk is a, is a component of it, but it’s not a big, long walk. It’s meant- Yeah … for all ages, abilities. And what’s great about the walk is you go to here in DuPage or somewhere else, they all look approximately the same. They have their local flavor, like we usually have the marching band drumline- Mm-hmm

send us off. The cheerleaders cheering people on the way to the route and on their way back from the route, and it’s just… it’s a great family affair. We have an area for the kids to go have fun and hang out, and I just think overall, it’s… it builds this community. And oftentimes, when people are looking for help and resources, the walk’s the first time they realize everything that Alzheimer’s Association does, ’cause they think they’re just coming to a walk or a 5K, and they don’t realize that there’s a lot more to it than just that.

There’s all these resources right here, right there for you, and that’s when they learn about what we could do to help.

Dan Drews: And when’s the DuPage event coming up?

Tom Heneghan: It’s, uh, October 4th. It’s, uh, Sunday. It’s gonna be, um, you know, another [00:48:00] hopefully beautiful day. Um, but it’s right along the riverfront. You walk out of the football sta- riverfront neighborhoods and come back around.

And, uh, hopefully we’ll have some cool, like, things that, well, I haven’t, uh- confirmed yet, but we’ll usually- … do a little local flavor to make it kind of fun. Some of it. That’s great. Yeah. Uh, so- And

Dan Drews: we’ve got the QR code

Tom Heneghan: here- Yes … if

Dan Drews: people

Tom Heneghan: need

Dan Drews: to- Yep … get some more information

Tom Heneghan: on it. Yeah. Yes, you can scan the QR code and it will bring you to our website.

My contact information’s there. If you’re interested in stuff that Hadiya offers, you can obviously contact me as well, ’cause I work hand-in-hand with

Brennen Roberts: Hadiya. Yeah. And we’ll put the link to it in the, uh- Yeah … the, the, the description of the video, but- Great … yeah, it’s great. I, I love that so, uh, a l- a lot of times these walks and stuff, people think they’re intimidating or challenging, but it’s so inclusive.

Yes. Mm-hmm. You know, again, you see that you’re not alone, you know, there’s a whole community there, and there’s great organizations like you guys-

Dan Drews: As we said … helping

Brennen Roberts: out.

Dan Drews: It takes a village, right? It takes

Brennen Roberts: a village. Yes.

Dan Drews: Well, on that note too, when you talk about helping too, you guys have a whole system and network to try and help folks too.

Why don’t you walk us through this a little [00:49:00] bit. If, if it’s either people experiencing, uh, problems or the family members, what’s the best way they can reach out for help?

Hadi Finnerty: I always direct them to our 24-hour helpline. Um, it’s master level clinicians that are there. They can help, of course, with information and referral, but they can also help within those moment needs too, right?

How… I’m starting to see some warning signs. Where- what are my next steps? And people that also are seeing the signs in themselves, they can call. They can navigate. You know, like, maybe, you know, this should be your next step when you talk to your doctor, ask the, the list of questions. Or how do you talk to your loved one about, “Hey, I’m starting to notice that you have these sympt- or these signs.”

Um, so our 24-hour helpline, and the number there is 800-272-3900. And then, of course, you know, we’ve talked about, but we have programs in the community. So yes, uh, um, we have brain health programs, but we also have programs for caregivers too. Um, and then la- and, uh, we have support groups, um, in [00:50:00] DuPage County as well to really help the community, um, so that they don’t feel like they’re by themselves.

Brennen Roberts: Yeah. I think a lot of we, when we talk with Courtney at AARP- Yeah … a lot of people always think of it as this anonymous national organization, and they don’t realize how- Oh, yeah … much people are doing- Mm-hmm … at the local level to help- Yeah … people on the ground and stuff, so that’s great.

Tom Heneghan: And a lot, and this is all free.

Brennen Roberts: Mm-hmm.

Tom Heneghan: And I think too, when you realize there’s, there’s no obligation to do anything, but it’s free. So it’s why not take advantage of something that costs you nothing- Yeah … but your time.

Brennen Roberts: Yeah. And if you have the means-

Tom Heneghan: Participate

Brennen Roberts: in the walk Yeah, yeah. Donates. If you not, can’t make it, donate so it can be free for everyone.

Yep, yep. So.

Dan Drews: Well, Tom and Hadi, thank you so much for joining us, too. We, we’ve covered a ton of topics here, too. Mm-hmm. Brennan, thanks for your sponsorship for this topic as well. I know you, your team, and your caregivers specialize in a lot of this, uh, caregiving service too for folks that are afflicted by this terrible disease.

So.

Brennen Roberts: Yeah. You know, just families, they’re, they’re not alone. There’s [00:51:00] resources out there. Mm-hmm. Um, you know, part of the reason we sponsor this is so people are aware of what’s out there and available to them, ’cause th- they just don’t know. So it’s great and I w- I was just thinking about it as you guys were talking about the vision.

It’s not often people that have a j- their job is to put themselves out of a job, really. Yep, yep. So, you know, hopefully you’ll achieve that vision and then you’ll be like, “Oh, okay. Where do I turn my talents to next?” Kind of thing. But, uh- Exactly … but I, but I love it. Thank you for everything you guys

Hadi Finnerty: do.

Thank you for having us. Yeah.

Dan Drews: It’s great.

Brennen Roberts: Thank you.

Dan Drews: Well, and thank you again for taking the time today to help our efforts to find ways to assist seniors to age in place in their golden years. Brennan, as always, we appreciate you and Seniors Helping Seniors as their sponsorship of this, uh, program on the Naperville Area Guide.

Uh, we look forward to all of our viewers joining us next time for our next fantastic guest, and look for more of our content. To check us out on Facebook and our YouTube page at [00:52:00] Seniors Helping Seniors Greater Naperville. Until then, folks, remember, it takes a village, so do your part in the village, and thank you for joining us.

All right. And we’ll talk

a lot later. Faint hello there. Yeah. Yeah. So. You guys did fantastic. Oh, Tom, thank you. Superb job. Very well done. Very well articulated. Thank you. Great job. Super, super easy conversation and stuff. Very