Advocate: Help needed to deal with Alzheimer's disease - Foster's Daily Democrat

SOMERSWORTH — Local Alzheimer’s advocate Mary Boucher strives for more recognition of a disease that is not often discussed.

Boucher, a Somersworth resident, recently joined more than 1,000 advocates from across the nation at the Alzheimer’s Association’s Advocacy Forum in Washington, D.C., to speak on behalf of the disease to public officials at Capitol Hill.

“The event was humbling. It was our chance to say, ‘now is the time to do something,’” Boucher said. “Afterward I was overcome by the need to spread education about the disease throughout communities.”

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, a voluntary organization that provides data trends of Alzheimer’s research, the number of Americans with forms of dementia will escalate rapidly in coming years as the baby boom generation ages.

“One of our top priorities is to increase Alzheimer research funding to help fight what is rapidly becoming a health care epidemic for our nation,” said Betsy Fitzgerald-Campbell, Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs of the Alzheimer’s Association, Massachusetts/New Hampshire Chapter in a press release. “If we do not find disease altering treatments, 10 million Baby Boomers will develop Alzheimer’s.”

Boucher describes her employment at the Dementia Unit in Langdon Place, a Dover nursing facility, as a career that strives to ensure a quality of life in a long-term care setting.

“It’s takes a skilled effort that requires our staff to have extreme diligence and patience,” Boucher said. “But, many of us love fulfilling that role.”

Boucher said of the 24 patients in her care each requires specialized attention to help them feel at ease and a sense of normalcy.

“When a patient starts to do something familiar, even if a bit odd, you go where that person is in their mind, and help them through it,” Boucher said. “ We often use a form of simple distraction for patients, such as an ice cream cone, to help relieve stressful situations.”

Community Alzheimer’s advocacy is one of Boucher’s priorities and encourages more to become involved at the Alzheimer’s Cafe’s that has been open since Oct. 2011, at the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire in Dover.

On the third Thursday of every month, the museum hosts the Alzheimer’s Café, welcoming people in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease to meet in a free, nonclinical setting and socialize with one another.

“There is no single answer for why Alzheimer’s happens. From subtle warnings to a sudden onset, at some point, you can’t always maintain it alone,” Boucher said.

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