Bob's Last Marathon Bob's Last Marathon Foundation

Felicia Greenfield, Executive Director of Penn Memory Center, explains that grief is a normal, adaptive response to a loss, and describes frameworks for thinking about the intense physical and psychological responses as we create a path toward healing.

Lena reflects on Amy Bloom's book, In Love, in which Bloom chronicles her husband's decision to end his life when he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Lena recounts the steps that she and Bob took to live the Alzheimer's journey to the best of their ability, and the gratitude and joy they shared with family and friends.

This second of two podcasts excerpted from the roundtable on tools and techniques of Alzheimer's caregiving uses a case study approach to show us how we can dig deeper to understand behavioral changes and identify ways to respond. Felicia Greenfield, Executive Director of the Penn Memory Center, and Stefanie Bonigut, formerly Family Services Manager with the Alzheimer's Association, are the speakers. Katie Brandt, Director of Caregiver Support Services and Public Relations for the Massachusetts General Hospital Frontotemporal Disorders Unit, is moderator.

Felicia Greenfield, Executive Director of Penn Memory Center, and Stefanie Bonigut, formerly Family Services Manager with the Alzheimer's Association, share real-life stories and tips on how to communicate effectively and compassionately with our loved ones as the disease progresses. They also offer ideas on activities that can enrich day-to-day living.

In this second of two excerpts from a recent Expert Roundtable on Alzheimer's Caregiving, Dr. Steven E. Arnold, Harvard Medical School, and Dr. Stephen M. Strittmatter, Yale School of Medicine, comment on current directions in drug development, notably drug repurposing as a way to accelerate the process, as well as the role of biomarkers in deepening our understanding of the disease, supporting diagnosis, and guiding clinical trials.

In this first of two excerpts from a recent Expert Roundtable on Alzheimer’s Caregiving, Dr. Steven E. Arnold, Harvard Medical School, and Dr. Stephen M. Strittmatter, Yale School of Medicine, give us an overview of what we know about Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. They explain how fundamental cell biology processes come into play in neurodegeneration and, in particular, the role of synapse malfunction and degeneration in the final common pathway to memory loss and cognition decline.