- 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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Nov. 24, 2007
Intimacy important for all
By Angela Lunde
The news of Sandra Day O'Conner's husband with Alzheimer's and his romance with 'another woman' probably struck a chord with many who heard the story. I believe this story is less about romance and love, and more about one's basic need for connectedness and human contact.
Obviously, people with advancing Alzheimer's have basic needs including good nutrition, a safe environment, and adequate hygiene, but other things are needed to be reasonably happy. These include a community to belong to, a sense of purpose or meaningful activity, and intimacy.
Intimacy provides a feeling of belonging, comfort, safety, and reassurance — feelings often lost or fragile with Alzheimer's. In fact, a person with Alzheimer's may need intimacy more than ever.
To me, connecting with 'the other woman' was indeed innocent in part because he lacks the ability of intentionality. That is, he is certainly not intentionally harming his wife. He has lost the ability to cognitively understand that this is not his wife, or possibly he has forgotten that he has a wife. Nevertheless, it seems impertinent for anyone to judge the ethical nature of his acts.
He truly is expressing one of our most basic needs, that of being connected to other humans. In one sense, he is displaying the most human element in all of us. Perhaps we should be inspired by this demonstration that we are all truly 'wired' to be connected to others, and even take comfort in this essential human truth.
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