The Next Generation
I was asked to come in to speak to my daughter’s sixth grade health class to talk about Alzheimer’s disease recently. Among the other topics covered that day in their Health class were Arthritis, Stroke, Diabetes and Asthma. In preparation, I wondered exactly how much do the kids know already about these topics. And as it turned out, I found out my answer quickly: very little.
The kids thought that ALL ‘old people’ have Alzheimer’s, with no discretion between age groups or skill levels. During my explanation, I pointed out that none of the 12-year-olds are currently married, or have any children or haven’t traveled the world, experiencing most of the things many adults have. This makes them each a perfect example of the mental condition that a senior who is suffering from Alzheimer’s could be at. Even if each of the kids tries really hard to remember a time when they were married or when they had kids, that memory will not likely surface, so it is as if it has yet to happen. Research tells us that a senior experiencing memory loss will sometimes think of themselves as a younger teenager or child, believing that they are in the town they grew up in, unaware of the reality around them. They are very similar to these young teens themselves if they were suddenly put into an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar faces around them. I asked them to imagine them in such a situation – right then – to be separated from family members and their home. Then to imagine experiencing things such as Arthritis and back pain, shortness of breath, sore muscles, etc. When you are a senior, you are at a much higher risk of developing other health problems stemming from nutrition, exercise or simply just aging itself.
This younger generation has the most extensive connection with science and technology that’s ever been seen before. This generation will naturally have the tendancy to isolate or distance their technological view of the world from the older ones. Talking to one small health class plants a seed of compassion and awareness about Alzheimer’s disease and all that there is associated with aging. But a seed might be all that it takes for these "seniors" to remember
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