Question

Alzheimer Case Study

     February 19, 1940, Mrs. Eunice Greene was born in a small rural town known as Attapulgas, Ga. She remained there all of her life. In 1960, she got married to Mr. Thomas Greene. Together they had five children, three boys and two girls. She worked as a primary school educator at Decatur Fundamentals Learning School until she retired in the summer of 1992. Her life was very active. She loved to garden, travel, bake, spend time with her friends, grandchildren, husband, and volunteer in her church. Every Sunday evening she and her husband would go out for long Sunday drives. On their last few Sunday drives, Mrs. Greene repeatedly asked Mr. Thomas, “Where are we going? Where are you taking me? Are we going to school today?” Mr. Greene replied, “Pumpkin, we’re taking our normal Sunday drive like we always do”. While on the drive, Mr. Greene stopped at one of their friend’s home, Jo and Mary, since they hadn’t chatted for a while. While sitting during the conversation, Mrs. Greene would say, “Suzy, is that you?” Then she turned to her husband and stated, “Tommy, who is this lady? I knew it! I knew it! You’ve been sleeping around on me.” Moments later, she struck at her husband with her fist and then proceeded to strike at Mary. They all came together to help settle Mrs. Eunice. Eventually, they were able to settle her down and get her into their vehicle. On the way back home, Mr. Tommy stopped by the local country store but could not get out with Mrs. Eunice because she had soiled her incontinent brief and her dress. This left Mr. Thomas not being able to go inside the store because he did not feel it would be wise to leave his wife alone. When they returned home, Mr. Tommy assisted his wife with her care. By this time, it was nearly time for bed. They both went on to bed. At 11:30 p.m. Eunice awakened and wandered out of the back door while her husband was still sleeping. Mr. Tommy woke up in a hurry to use the toilet. After he returned from the bathroom he realized Eunice was no longer in the bed. He called their children explaining what happened. They advised their father to go out looking for their mother and they would continue to help once they got there. Tommy placed on his slippers, grabbed his flash light and walked as fast as he could out of the back door. He screamed as loud as he could constantly, “Eunice, Eunice darling, where are you?” He combed through the house then the front and back yard. He looked inside the chicken coop and the pig pen. He walked the old lonely and dark dirt road. He looked in the cars. He looked everywhere he could possibly think of. Thirty minutes later the children began arriving. They looked in the house and retraced the areas their father searched frantically. Their mother did not surface. Mr. Taft, one of the local sheriffs was called for help. Because the family was very dear to him and Mrs. Eunice was his school teacher once, he decided to get out of his bed and help the family in the search since thy did not feel like the local unit would begin searching as fast as they wanted them to. Mr. Taft rushed to their home but before he jumped into his car, he made sure his dog Mabel joined him. Once Mr. Taft got to the family’s home, he asked a few more questions and asked for an article of Mrs. Eunice’s clothing for Mabel to sniff. Mabel was then placed on the hunt for Mrs. Eunice. Within ten minutes into the search, Mabel found Mrs. Eunice lying out in the sugar cane patch peacefully asleep.

Questions

1. After reading the contents in this story, what stage of Alzheimers would you place Mrs. Eunice- mild, moderate, severe? After reading the story, I believe that Mrs. Eunice was

2. In the stage in where you placed Mrs. Greene, identify other symptoms that you as a caregiver would see?

3. As a healthcare provider, what type of education/recommendations would you provide to this family? Please list at least 5 recommendations/educational tips.

4. List at least 3 support groups that can assist family’s/patients with this type of illness.

5. Identify 10 early signs and symptoms of dementia or alzheimers.

6. How do you care for a patient in this stage of the disease (i.e, dressing, eating, activities, exercise, incontinence, sleep problems, wandering, safety, physician appointments)?

7. If Mrs. Eunice was placed into a nursing home, what would you educate the family on going about the search for one?

8. What tools are utilized to diagnose a person with Alzheimers?

9. What are some risk factors for developing this disease and notate how each plays a role in its development?

10. How do you communicate with the Alzheimer’s patient?

Answer 1

1. after reading the story i belive tat mrs. eunice was having moderate alzheimers. because she has greater memory loss, need personal assistance in doing her daily activities and there is a change in the physical behaviour.

2. As a caregiver, unable to recognise her friends, irrespective behaviuor, in displine (as ateacher she might be very talktative , displine and with full enthusistic but now she was tired, irrespective to others and unable to recognise her friends), walking in middle of night.

3. The recomendations are:

• Provide friendly and stress free environment in the house.
• Feed her with healthy nutitious foods and give the medications regularly without missing.
• Make trips on weekends and walk with heron every morning or evening in the fresh air.
• Avoid quarrels and anxiety or sadnews before her.
• Always watch her symptoms and make note of it. if you observe any irrespective behaviuor more than this report the physician . and join her in any rehabilitation centre if necessary.
• Always assist her in all situations and try to teach her about daily living and her condition.

4.alzheimers support group (rehabilitation centres), alzheimers care givers(homes), american association of local alzheimers support group.

5.loss of memory, cognitive behaviour, unable to respond, unable to perform daily tasks, unable to recognise friends, family and relatives; repetitive tasks, anxiety, depression, mood offs, easily getting anger, talking with self or in air. seeing some one, night walks etc.,.

6. I would request her to join in any rahab centre or local homes foe atleast 30 days of treatment. after that i will place charts and stick notes around her to remember her daily activities. place alarms for her feeding time. i will take care of her as treating her like a small child. keep her clean and say about cleanliness and daily activities avery day. provide stressfree environment and care giving lifestyle thet she can forget about her disease. i will note her aboutphysician appointments in a calender of in phone notices.

7. if she was placed in a nursing home visit her atleast once ina week and make sure that she is safe hands and there are persons waiting for her.

8. clapping, MRI, EEG, ECG, CT SCAN, Spinovial fluid trap, Blood tests, neurological examination, vitals check.

9. Lonliness, old age, gender, cmorbid condtions are the riskfactors. after seeing the long life the old aged people are feeling lonely and think more than usual. in this situation there is chance of getting disturbed thinking in mind which led to the unusual behaviour.

10. i will communicate in amanner that i am a friendly person and i will not do any harm to her. do not put any harsh or anxiety words in the communication.