Behind the Mask: COVID, Kids & Caregiving with Andrea Couture

Jan 10, 2024 12:46 am

If you’re new to this email, welcome! We’re glad you’re here. We email weekly with news of our latest author, podcast, and events to guide the dementia caregiving journey. Feel free to share what you see here with others concerned about Alzheimer's and dementia. Please stay with us.

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Hello ,

AlzAuthors attracts many incredible authors, and our guest on this most recent podcast is certainly amazing. What’s even more special is that Andrea Couture is also part of the team here at AlzAuthors. Andrea wrote a tender memoir about her father, a world famous surgeon, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s shortly after retiring. She recounts part of his journey, and hers, as she and her mother and family grappled with the diagnosis, stigma, challenges and heartbreaks. Along with helping her mother and father, Andrea was raising three young children, the youngest of whom was born shortly before her father’s retirement.

Her father’s battle with Alzheimer’s also fell during the COVID 19 pandemic. Her memoir, "Embracing What Remains," is the first book in our collection to address the challenges faced during this critical time. Andrea shares stories particular to this era in her book and on the podcast.

Andrea is also the host of a new collaborative partnership between AlzAuthors and Aging & Amazing (see below). She will be co-hosting a book club that will feature an author from AlzAuthors each month, starting in January with her memoir. You’ll hear details about this collaboration on the podcast and learn a bit more about that new venture.

Have a listen and enjoy Andrea’s poignant stories filled with love, laughter and insight.

In this episode, you will be able to:

Uncover the impact of COVID-19 on Alzheimer's caregiving and learn strategies to navigate through it
Understand the importance of sharing Alzheimer's experiences and how it can positively impact caregivers and families
Explore writing as a powerful form of Alzheimer's advocacy and its potential to make a difference.

Start listening!

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Our Most Recent New Author

Lori La Bey is the author of “Betty the Bald Chicken – Lessons in How to Care.” In her words, the idea “came to me in a dream, about twenty-five years into my family's journey with dementia. My mother, Dorothy, lived a total of thirty years with the disease and, as they say, dementia is not a disease of one. It’s a disease of society.”

Lori says: “Betty the Bald Chicken teaches people of all ages that we have more in common with others than we are different. The questions in the back of the book help readers and listeners talk about the ripple effect our choices have on ourselves and others; even those we don't know.”

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Please join us for our first AlzAuthors Live! Virtual Q&A for 2024: Dementia & the Arts, January 23 at 7 pm EST, a panel discussion centered on the use of the arts as a means of expression in dementia care. We will explore the benefits of using these modalities and how families and others in dementia care can bring them to those living with these conditions.

Please share this newsletter and event information with your family, friends, and any others you may know who are concerned with dementia, including: online and in-person support groups, memory cafes, home care personnel, healthcare providers, and memory care. Thank you.

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New in January: A Book Club with Aging & Amazing

We're excited and honored to announce we're partnering with the online community Aging & Amazing to begin a monthly book club, a “Meet the Author” type of event, starting in January. Andrea Couture, author of the memoir Embracing What Remains, will moderate. We will feature a new book and author every month. Here's the schedule through April:

January 30th 7pm EST: Andrea Couture – Embracing What Remains: A Memoir
February 27th 7pm EST: Florrie Munat – Be Brave, a Wife’s Journey Through Caregiving
March 26th 7pm EST: Ruth Stevens– Stage Seven, a novel
April 30th 7pm EST: A gathering of poets for National Poetry Month: featuring Sherri Levine, Stealing Flowers from the Neighbors; Daniel Potts, MD, Bringing Art to Life; Margaret Stawowy, co-editor of Storms of the Inland Sea, an anthology with Jim Cokas

To learn more about this book club or to become a member, please visit agingamazing.com.

Register here to get the link to the Zoom meetings.

In their own words, Aging & Amazing, based in Washington DC, is “an online community, in addition to local, in-person care management and training services supporting older adults, caregivers, and professionals specializing in aging. Aging & Amazing offers a helping hand to uplift older adults, caregivers, and professionals through services, education, and support.”

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Start the New Year with Something New From AlzAuthors

Show the world you support AlzAuthors this winter with one of our warm hoodies or a long-sleeved T in your choice of design and color. Wearing and displaying these items can help start conversations about Alzheimer's and dementia and reduce the stigma that often accompanies a diagnosis. You'll find lots of apparel and accessories in our shop. Free shipping January 10-14.

All sales benefit our mission to provide quality resources to caregivers.

Start shopping!

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Susan’s Design of the Week

When we can't change our situation, we are given an opportunity to look at it differently. AlzAuthors offers a wealth of knowledge within hundreds of trusted #Alzheimers and dementia resources to light your way. https://alzauthors.com/

Please copy and share with your friends and followers on social media.

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We have so much to learn ...

DATE CHANGE: Wednesday, January 24, at 10:00 a.m. PT/1:00 p.m. ET

The process of finding new treatments for Alzheimer's disease is one of trial and error — and every "failed" trial generates invaluable new data to help researchers and drug developers understand what works, what doesn't, and why. In this Live Talk, we’ll meet drug trial participant Bill Sasse, who was a participant in Eli Lilly’s clinical trial of experimental monoclonal antibody drug solanezumab. In March of 2023, solanezumab ultimately failed to hit its benchmarks in slowing cognitive decline and the trial was discontinued. Sasse, whose father died of Alzheimer’s, had the unique experience of participating in a clinical trial for a MAB drug without having any symptoms of cognitive decline. With his wife as his trial partner, he participated in the solanezumab trial for eight years before it was announced that the clinical trial had failed. RSVP to this talk to learn more about the clinical trial experience with MAB drugs.

RSVP now!

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Please Support our Mission

Our mission is to provide quality resources for those concerned with Alzheimer’s and dementia. Please help by connecting with us in at least one new way this week:

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