While the Lunar New Year holiday is often a time for family gatherings and outings, it is also a time when people with Alzheimer’s disease can easily get lost when out in public, the Taiwan Alzheimer’s Disease Association said.
People with Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia should be accompanied by at least two family members at all times when out in public during the holiday, and it is important to hold their hands, association secretary-general Tang Li-yu (湯麗玉) said.
Family members should take a photograph of a relative with dementia before leaving the house, and a piece of paper with family contact information should be put in the person’s pocket, backpack or purse, Tang said.
Photo: Yang Ching-cheng, Taipei Times
GPS tracker bracelets should also be worn to help prevent dementia patients from becoming lost, she said.
The Lunar New Year holiday is a good opportunity for family members to encourage and guide relatives with dementia to share their life experiences, if they are still able to articulate their thoughts and ideas, she said.
Sharing memories would be enjoyable both for the patients and their relatives, she said, adding that grandchildren can be helpful guides, and families should organize activities that the elderly and grandchildren can enjoy together.
However, when visiting extended family members during the holiday, elderly dementia patients should not be asked to “guess who someone is,” she said.
Separately, the Buddhist Tzu Chi Hospital in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) urged families to be aware that a sudden change of diet over the Lunar New Year holiday, as well as constant socializing, could worsen emotional problems, personality changes and hallucinations in elderly people with dementia.
Lee Chia-fu (李嘉富), a physician in the hospital’s department of psychosomatic medicine, said 3 percent of elderly patients in Taiwan, especially those older than 65, have dementia.
For every five years after the age of 65, the risk of developing dementia doubles, Lee said.
Degenerative diseases, strokes, chronic cerebrovascular diseases, nutrition imbalances and infections of the central nervous systems could all cause the development of dementia, Lee said.
Dementia symptoms include the degenerative regression of focus or linquistic capabilities, disorientation of time and space, memory loss and rapid mood swings, he said.
Meeting unfamiliar people or a change in environment could cause elderly dementia patients to experience unease and insecurity, which they might be able to articulate, and worsen their condition, he said.
Family members should be patient with elderly relatives, especially if they are repeatedly performing the same actions, saying the same things or experiencing rapid mood swings, and should try to understand what is needed, he said.
Food made from glutinous rice should be cut into bite-sized pieces to prevent elderly people from choking on the food, while elderly people with dementia should be encouraged to make a favorite dish or dishes that they remember, which could help their condition, Lee said.
When going on a family outing, preparations should be made in the case that elderly dementia patients might need to relieve themselves in a vehicle, he said.
Families should make sure their relative has something to take with them that they are familiar with to increase their sense of security, he said.
Between 20 and 50 percent of dementia patients experience sleepiness or confusion after the sun sets or before going to sleep, so trips outdoors should not be too hectic or rushed, he added.
FLU SEASON: Twenty-six severe cases were reported from Tuesday last week to Monday, including a seven-year-old girl diagnosed with influenza-associated encephalopathy Nearly 140,000 people sought medical assistance for diarrhea last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Tuesday. From April 7 to Saturday last week, 139,848 people sought medical help for diarrhea-related illness, a 15.7 percent increase from last week’s 120,868 reports, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The number of people who reported diarrhea-related illness last week was the fourth highest in the same time period over the past decade, Lee said. Over the past four weeks, 203 mass illness cases had been reported, nearly four times higher than the 54 cases documented in the same period
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching