- With Mayo Clinic health education outreach coordinator
Angela Lunde
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Angela Lunde
Angela Lunde is a dementia education specialist in the education core of Mayo Clinic's Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at the Abigail Van Buren Alzheimer's Disease Research Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
Angela Lunde
The transfer of information about dementias, as well as understanding the need for participation in clinical trials, is an essential component of the education core.
Angela is a member of the Alzheimer's Association board of directors and co-chair of the annual Minnesota Dementia Conference. She is a member of the Dementia Behavior Assessment and Response Team (D-BART), a multidisciplinary outreach service assisting professional and family caregivers in understanding and managing difficult behaviors often present in dementia. She facilitates several support groups, including Memory Club, an early-stage education and support series, and more recently, helped to develop and now deliver Healthy Action to Benefit Independence and Thinking (HABIT), a 10-day cognitive rehab and wellness program for people with mild cognitive impairment.
Angela takes a personal interest in understanding the complex changes that take place within relationships and among families when dementia is present. She is particularly interested in providing innovative and accessible ways for people with dementia and their families to receive information and participate in valuable programs that promote well-being.
"Amid a devastating disease, there are tools, therapies, programs and ways to cope, and it is vital that families are connected to these resources," she says.
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Alzheimer's blog
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June 12, 2009
Blog: Don't believe the hype about Alzheimer's cures
By Angela Lunde
Recently one of you wrote: "A cure has been found according to several Internet sites — supposedly mice have been cured so people are next, or so they say. Is this just a joke on we who desperately await the cure?"
I often receive inquiries similar to the one above from families affected by Alzheimer's who have heard or read about an "Alzheimer's cure." Time and time again, I'm saddened by these "stories" that build unrealistic expectations for families who desperately await a cure.
It's important to realize that research being done on mice creates only possibilities in humans — although vital to research, animal research is only a first step. It's important to realize that that mice and humans simply don't suffer from the same illnesses, including Alzheimer's disease.
Mice used in Alzheimer's related studies are genetically altered to display signs of Alzheimer's disease, but they don't have the disease the same way humans do. In fact, there've been many promising studies in animal models that once conducted in human clinical trails turn out to either not work or to have unexpected toxicity.
A cure or treatment for Alzheimer's disease that works in mice has no immediate application to humans, and any potential benefit would be years away. As with most things you read on the Internet or elsewhere, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
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