Alzheimer’s Disease’s impact on family, early prevention

November is Alzheimer's Awareness Month, a time to recognize a form of dementia that can create emotional and traumatic impact on families.

People with Alzheimer's Disease can feel unsafe, lost and agitated.

In El Paso, 16,000 people are diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease, and early-onset Alzheimer's Disease can start as early as your 30s. 

The Alzheimer's Association West Texas Chapter believes Alzheimer's Disease can decrease as long as we keep informing our youth about healthy lifestyle choices — that means quality of life, diet, managing diabetes, and exercise.

Exercising the brain is crucial to prevent Alzheimer's Disease, executive director Valerie Sanchez says that has declined with technology taking over younger generations. 

"It's up to us to educate the community, which is what we do... Many times you think, Okay, we'll educate our seniors.' That's fine," says Sanchez. "We got to get our younger generation, so that's what we focus on... So they know what we're going at, what they can be facing in terms of lifestyle and confronting this disease."

But Sanchez says she is also excited that Texas' Proposition 14 has passed, meaning $13 billion were approved to fund dementia research to find solutions and fight against Alzheimer's Disease.

What many may not know is that Alzheimer's Disease can lead to homelessness if it goes undiagnosed and there's no family support.

For caregivers, Sanchez says the key is to have empathy, remain calm and know that it is the disease that's talking.

"There's the emotional piece of it, the anticipatory grief that goes along with this journey because there's not a cure and you're seeing the decline of your family member," Sanchez explains.

The executive director says it's important for the community to stay well informed because Alzheimer's Disease can be misclassfied as a psychosis.