What if your husband came up to you and asked where his wife is? Even though you have been side by side for years, he suddenly doesn’t recognize you. Would you know what to do or how to respond?

Meet Carl Oblinger and learn how the Network has helped him and his wife.

SIU School of Medicine’s Memory and Aging Network does. Greg Kyrouac, director of the outreach program, says the first rule of care for Alzheimer’s patients to never argue.

“Unfortunately, Alzheimer’s will make loved ones do things you never thought imaginable,” Kyrouac explains. “They might wander naked down your street, attempt to drive off unbeknownst to you, and even strike loved ones. Can you imagine a stranger giving you a bath? That’s what it’s like for a person with Alzheimer’s. Wouldn’t you be angry?”

For thousands of Illinoisans with Alzheimer’s, resources, including Kyrouac, patient and caregiver support groups, therapeutic classes and educational programs, could soon disappear. After nearly two years without state funding, the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine’s Memory and Aging Network, a program of the Center for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders (CADRD), will close unless it can raise $500,000 by May 31.

A fund has been established through the SIU Foundation to accept donations. (www.siumed.edu/foundation/alz.html)

“These services are a lifeline for our patients and families,” says James Gilchrist, MD, professor and chair of the SIU Department of Neurology, which houses CADRD. Since the Memory and Aging Network allows patients to be seen locally, loss of the network would mean patients and their caregivers would have to travel to centers in Springfield, Chicago, St. Louis or Indianapolis for specialized evaluation and follow-up in the future.

What does this mean for the hundreds of patients? “Patients will likely have to be cared for in long-term care facilities sooner than if they could stay at home,” says Tom Ala, MD, interim director of the CADRD. “Some of these facilities cost nearly eight times more than home health or adult day services. This translates to more debt for the state, since in the long run the state of Illinois ends up covering the cost of care for roughly one-half of the elderly in long-term care.”

These resources are vital to the patients’ quality of life and their ability to stay at home, Gilchrist and Ala agree. The network also supports a patient registry, which promotes research to advance understanding of Alzheimer’s disease and investigate treatment options. Patients and providers will lose access to educational and therapeutic programs and have fewer opportunities to participate in clinical trials. With your donations, you can help save the Network and its resources. Visit siumed.edu/foundation/alz/html. To learn more about the Memory and Aging Network, visit www.siumed.edu/alz.