Top 10 of 2018 – Aunt Mary’s Story

PT Pintcast

We took a deep look into Alzheimer's Disease and Physical Therapy with Physical Therapist Elizabeth Kerrigan and her Aunt Mary. Transcript: Elizabeth Kerrigan: [00:00:00] My Aunt Mary is my mother's older sister. She's one of four siblings and is an extremely kind generous smart and altogether beautiful individual that has touched so many people in her life. Playing the role of a daughter sister wife mother. Aunt. And friend. She is a very intelligent woman who worked as an accountant and then got her masters in finance. But after having three children she decided to switch careers from working in finance to working in the school district by helping kids with special needs. But her career and the many other roles that she played in her life were suddenly cut short. In her mid to late 40s we first started noticing Aunt Mary's memory issues when she was in her early 40s. At the time they weren't significant enough to make us think that something was actually wrong, but eventually reached a point where no one could deny that what we were witnessing was not just a typical example of someone that was just getting older for the next several years. My aunt and uncle were in and out of doctor's offices receiving countless tests in an attempt to figure out what was actually wrong. But every test kept coming back negative and it never seemed like we were getting any closer to an explanation for why a woman we loved was changing so much. After years of searching for an answer through the process of elimination doctors finally diagnosed her with early onset Alzheimer's disease. [00:01:37] At the young age of 51. Jimmy McKay: [00:01:45] I'm your host physical therapist. Jimmy McKay That was Elizabeth Karega talking about her Aunt Mary. We want to take a look at how physical therapy and Alzheimer's disease currently interact. We start with someone who's very familiar with patients with Alzheimer's disease and is often the first point of contact with patients and their families. Dr. Pasquale Fonzetti from Burke Rehabilitation Hospital in White Plains New York. Dr. Fonzetti heads there a highly regarded METS program which stands for memory evaluation and treatment services. We wanted to hear firsthand what patients are told upon diagnosis and what treatments they're prescribed. Jimmy McKay: [00:02:26] What's a conversation with a patient and their family. Dr. Pasquale Fonzetti: [00:02:29] Like when you deliver a diagnosis like that we are able to arrange what we call a family conference. We call in the patient and the caregivers the spouse or the daughter or the son. We all the family members that are involved in the care with the patient we provide an education about the disease progress what they can expect by the treatment. And that's why we initiate the usually pharmacological or non pharmacological intervention. We provide education about how can patients be remain active with implementation of social recreational activity provide education about what could be an appropriate diet with these patients. They need to maintain a good level of physical and social activities to maintain cognitive levels. Jimmy McKay: [00:03:22] When you bring those up the physical activity is there any specifications on that. Do you use any patient literature or brochure on exactly what that means. Because I think a lot of people who have a non medical background are not exercise background might not know how to take that and actually implement that. Dr. Pasquale Fonzetti: [00:03:38] Yes that's important for them to maintain a level of activity that is appropriate for the level of function. I encourage daily walking. Unfortunately some patients may have some gait dysfunction. I'm glad that you brought that up because here comes the multi disciplinary approach. Patients with gait dysfunctional gait apraxia. There are a risk of falls. So patients need to be instructed and educated how we can prevent those falls and some of them may need ga...