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SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — The number of Americans with Alzheimer's is expected to triple by 2050.
Here in Utah, there are already 30,000 people living with the disease. Those are sobering statistics, but advancements in research and treatment are giving patients and their caregivers new hope for the future.
Ellen Payzant has learned a lot about caring for an Alzheimer's patient since her husband, Tom, was diagnosed with the disease almost two years ago.
"Keeping him busy and stimulated is extremely important," she said.
Dr. Norman Foster, director of the University of Utah's Center for Alzheimer's Care, Imaging and Research has given the same advice to hundreds of other caregivers and patients.
"Keeping physically active, socially engaged ... the brain is like a muscle and it has to be used like other muscles," Foster said.
In fact, Foster and other neurologists have found a strong connection between the health of the heart muscle and the brain muscle. That is why Foster recommends to anyone concerned about their or their loved ones' brain health getting lots of exercise and controlling diabetes, blood pressure and cholesterol.
Payzant has read a lot of the research over the years; both her mother and her mother-in-law had dementia/Alzheimer's.
"All the research says exercise is extremely good for the brain," she said.
She and her husband go to the gym at least three times a week, where she swims and Tom Payzant works out with a personal trainer and logs plenty of steps on the elliptical.
Tom Payzant has also been on a statin to control his cholesterol levels for several years. A recent study published in JAMA Neurology seemed to link the use of statins with a reduced risk of Alzheimer's, but Foster said it wasn't a true cause-and-effect examination of the drugs' effect on the disease.
"It was a large study, it's a good study, but it's an observational one rather than testing the benefits of a particular drug treatment," Foster said.
It is still a very hopeful step toward unmasking a disease that attacks every brain differently.
"I'm extremely hopeful right now," Foster said about the time and the money being directed toward Alzheimer's research.
The Payzants often spend time looking through new research and talking about some of the studies they've both gotten involved in.
"You've had a PET scan, an MRI before, and you're very willing to do this for research and so forth to help you and help other people, right?" Ellen Payzant asked her husband. He answered with an emphatic "yes."
Tom Payzant spent his professional career supporting children and teachers. He was a superintendent of several large school districts around the country and an assistant secretary of education under President Bill Clinton. Now, he and his wife are speaking out about another issue — Alzheimer's, a disease many are afraid to even talk about.
"If people don't start talking about what they do at home and how others can do it too with Alzheimer's patients and what we can do better, then we're going to be in real trouble," Ellen Payzant said.
The Payzants stay active. The couple keeps a busy calendar that Ellen Payzant reviews with Tom Payzant on an almost daily basis. "You have a dental appointment tomorrow and we have choir practice on Thursday," she told her husband on Monday.
The Payzants also spend a lot of time with their children, grandchildren and dog, Jackson. In fact, the couple moved to Utah to be closer to family after he retired as the superintendent of the Boston Public Schools.
"It keeps him balanced and it also helps them (family members) understand" what their father and grandfather is dealing with, Ellen Payzant said.
Family understanding and support is just what Foster ordered. That is why he has asked Ellen Payzant — "somebody who is in the trenches, who has some experience there," she said — to share her knowledge with other caregivers and medical professionals.
This year, Ellen Payzant will serve as a member of the Green Park Collaborative Alzheimer’s Project based in Baltimore, Maryland. She will be representing patients and care partners. The goal is to provide guidance on methods for evaluating the efficacy and effectiveness of drug therapies to treat Alzheimer’s disease. She will participate in teleconferences and then travel to Baltimore this summer.
