We are not over the elderly neighbors neglectful…
DEAR READERS: The mailbox was bursting with responses to the Oct. 9 letter from Frustrated Neighbor, whose 94-year-old neighbor is bedridden and nominally cared for by a lady who also holds his energy of attorney. I’ll let the readers communicate for themselves:
“Red flags everywhere! The neighbor says the caregiver has his POA, which means she can control his money. She has no incentive to move him to a home. A person who is 100% bedridden shouldn’t be alone for 18 hours each day. This is elder abuse in my mind and quite possibly fraud. One phone call is all it should take if she explains the situation.” — RED FLAGS
“The person who wrote in should contact Adult Protective Services to make sure an unbiased individual looks at the situation and does what is necessary and what the elderly person wants. I am an attorney and volunteer member of our county’s Adult Protective Service Multidisciplinary Team. We see this sort of situation all the time.” — ON WATCH
“The poor bedbound man is a victim of abuse and neglect, and the situation should be reported to the authorities immediately. If he’s regularly being ignored for 18 hours or more, I’m sure he has bedsores or worse.” — UNNERVED
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DEAR ABBY: Alzheimer’s disease impacts thousands and thousands of Americans and their households, and the need for new approaches to treatment stays pressing. As a doctor in the Division of Geriatrics at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), I’ve seen how deeply this disease can have an effect on not only people dwelling with Alzheimer’s, but also the households and caregivers who help them. Today, I’m inspired by the alternative to help establish new approaches to treating Alzheimer’s disease as the principal investigator at a new scientific trials website in Oakland, California. One of our targets is to make scientific research more accessible and to increase participation among communities that traditionally have been underrepresented in scientific trials.
Abby, scientific trials can’t succeed without volunteers. Just as importantly, the people who take part in research ought to replicate the various communities affected by Alzheimer’s disease. By broadening participation, we hope to study more about potential therapies while serving to guarantee that advances in Alzheimer’s research can benefit everybody.
At our website, we are at the moment enrolling individuals in the SPRING Trial, a scientific research for people ages 55 to 80 who have been identified with gentle to average Alzheimer’s disease. SPRING is exploring a different method to Alzheimer’s treatment: focusing on P. gingivalis, a bacterium related with gum disease that can also make its means into our brains. The drug LHP588 is designed to inactivate poisonous enzymes produced by this bacterium, with the purpose of stopping or slowing down the development of Alzheimer’s disease.
I hope your readers who are dwelling with Alzheimer’s disease, or caring for somebody who is, will think about studying more about the SPRING Trial and whether or not participation may be proper for them. More data about the research and collaborating websites across the U.S. will be discovered at springclinicaltrial.com. — T. RICHARD PARENTEAU, MD/PHD PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR, OAKLAND CLINICAL RESEARCH VOLUNTEER CLINICAL PROFESSOR, UCSF DIVISION OF GERIATRICS
DEAR DR. PARENTEAU: I’m pleased to help unfold the phrase that volunteers are needed for this important research. Readers, if somebody you realize may be a candidate for this trial, I urge you to go to the web site!
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Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren. For practically 4 many years, Jeanne Phillips penned this column, which was based in 1956 by her mom, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at http://www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 270135, Kansas City, MO 64127.
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