VIDEO REVIEW

This video provides viewers with a frank and vivid sense of what it is like to live with the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, as well as how they have adjusted their lives to meet the new and unfamiliar needs and demands of the illness. Seven people talk openly about the impact of the disease on their lives, about their feelings and how they and those they love are coping.

Paired with their caregivers, each person with dementia describes the process of receiving the diagnosis, and what they did in order to cope. Emphasized in the video is the importance of connecting with others in the early stages of the disease, and the value of support groups as a source of comfort.

With adult-child caregivers or spousal caregivers present and active in discussion, the crucial role of family support is well illustrated. The participants discuss their illness in a very open manner, acknowledging the hard days, and how they manage the disease when it is at its worst.

Also discussed are the ways friends and families have reacted or dealt with the diagnosis, and there is a wonderfully open dialogue about overcoming the denial and the sense of stigma that often accompanies Alzheimer’s disease.

Throughout the video, the value of meeting and talking with others about living with the disease (along with caring for someone with the disease) is underscored. One gentleman articulates the benefits of a support group, “there is a feeling of togetherness…you have a world that is shared by others.”

While there are bad days, there are still a variety of ways to cope. Stressed in the video is their right to go on living in a way that is as close as possible to life before the onset of the disease. What becomes apparent is that to these seven individuals, dementia has not overtaken daily life: “we still laugh, and love.”

Other notable features of the video include a geriatric psychiatrist, who briefly explains the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and raises some of the challenges and changes a person with dementia confronts, including the difficulty of accepting the disease and the grief and hardship of giving up a driver’s license.

The extra features include bonus interviews, a short quiz about Alzheimer disease, a piece on the benefits of therapeutic pets, and a segment on a music program in an adult day program.

This video gives voices and faces to those with Alzheimer’s disease, and it communicates some of the key issues experienced by people with dementia and their caregivers.

Review provided by: Allison Connolly, Information Coordinator (Acting) for the Alzheimer Society of B.C.