Dr. Rosemary Laird

From the desk of Rosemary Laird, MD

Founder of Navigating Aging Needs (NAN), LLC

Staying Cool in the Heat of the Moment!
NAN admin NAN admin

Staying Cool in the Heat of the Moment!

If there is any consolation to the high heat, it means you have a good excuse to put off running errands out of your house, and spend some quality time at home with your loved one. 

Read More
Take Care of Yourself!
NAN admin NAN admin

Take Care of Yourself!

As the Global Selfcare Federation puts it, “this International Self-Care Day celebrates the value and potential of self-care” as a “fundamental act of self-love and self-preservation.” It’s the phrase “self-preservation” that is key: Caring for yourself is often regarded as an indulgence, a “guilty pleasure” that you do as a luxury, not as a necessity.

Read More
Staying With It!
NAN admin NAN admin

Staying With It!

Caregivers of loved ones with Alzheimer’s are not playing a game, of course, but this lesson from the court is very apt: Each day you are going to have some wins, and you are going to have some losses. And your success will be measured by how well you can stay with it and continue your very strenuous, sometimes very frustrating, but in the end very rewarding journey of caregiving.

Read More
       Hot Times Are Coming!
NAN admin NAN admin

Hot Times Are Coming!

I was taught at a young age by my parents not to gloat, so I’ll just settle for irony: I find it ironic that many of my friends and family are currently sweltering under a gigantic “heat dome” covering most of the eastern U.S. and pushing temperatures to above 100 degrees, while we here in Florida — the “heat capital of our nation” — are basking in cooler temperatures. “Come visit us down here in Florida and cool off,” is a phrase I thought I’d never utter to family members living up north during the summertime.

Read More
The Longest Day!
NAN admin NAN admin

The Longest Day!

June 20th marks the Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, the astronomical event where the earth’s axis of rotation tilts closest to the sun, resulting in our longest day and shortest night of the year. 

Read More
Alzheimer's Awareness and You
NAN admin NAN admin

Alzheimer's Awareness and You

In truth, I wish that Alzheimer's & Brain Awareness Month, which takes place during June, could be every month. Certainly, that’s the case for caregivers of the 55 million loved ones worldwide who are living with Alzheimer’s. 

Read More
Improve Brain Health One Meal at a Time
NAN admin NAN admin

Improve Brain Health One Meal at a Time

“You are what you eat,” as the old saying goes, and those of us in the medical realm who treat aging Americans have long suspected that diet plays a big role in a person’s mental health. Now a new study confirms that there is a strong relationship between following the so-called MIND diet and reducing the risk of developing Alzheimer’s.

Read More
The Making of Memories
NAN admin NAN admin

The Making of Memories

Though each person is affected uniquely, Alzheimer’s typically first impacts “short term” or “working” memory, where someone is unable to recall a conversation or directive from a few minutes ago. As the illness progresses, there can eventually be loss of long-term memory, with the result that your loved one loses the details of their personal history along with losses​ of “procedural” memory — how to do processes such as using a knife and fork, or tying one’s shoes.

Read More
Hot Times Are Coming!
NAN admin NAN admin

Hot Times Are Coming!

High heat puts even more of a burden on caregivers of loved ones suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Higher temperatures can lead to exhaustion, dehydration, and heat stroke, and studies have shown that the risk of death among people with Alzheimer’s and other dementias increases significantly during periods of high heat. Dehydration can also impact the efficacy of medications your loved one takes.

Read More
Alzheimer's and Motherhood
NAN admin NAN admin

Alzheimer's and Motherhood

Aside from the enormous impact on mental and physical health that a caregiver experiences as a result of the stress of their day-to-day duties, there is also often a profound impact on the overall relationship between mother and her caregiver as the disease progresses. After all, each person has spent years in certain well-defined roles, and then in a short time many of the dynamics of the relationship may undergo dramatic changes. 

Read More
Hope on the Horizon
NAN admin NAN admin

Hope on the Horizon

Amid the everyday challenges of caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease, there is often an overarching concern that every caregiver carries: How to stay hopeful for your loved one’s benefit. 

Read More
Uncertain Times
NAN admin NAN admin

Uncertain Times

Uncertainty can be nerve-wracking for a caregiver of a loved one suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s is a progressive disease, and so it is continually changing how your loved one’s brain behaves, sometimes in unexpected ways. Activities that were once everyday occurrences for your loved one may suddenly disappear; new and strange behaviors may arise.

Read More
         The Family Ties That Bind
NAN admin NAN admin

The Family Ties That Bind

It’s important and sometimes all too fleeting, but even a brief period together as a family, if you can manage it, does a world of good to help everyone through troubling times. This can be even more true of family caregivers and our loved ones experiencing the changes of Alzheimer’s disease. Having the family around can make your loved one feel more comfortable in their surroundings, and gives them a chance, perhaps, to reminisce about family times in the past. 

Read More
      It's Time to Decide!
NAN admin NAN admin

It's Time to Decide!

“Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide,” said Napoleon Bonaparte. He may have been talking about a battle in wartime. But for caregivers of loved ones suffering from Alzheimer’s, the enormous value — and often agonizing process — of planning for a serious health care event in the future has never been more important.

Read More
        Reality is Relative
NAN admin NAN admin

Reality is Relative

In the world of caregiving for a loved one suffering from Alzheimer’s, dealing with what is real and what is not can be extremely challenging, and even dangerous. Some instances can be mundane, such as when your loved one can’t remember an appointment or whether they’ve taken their medicine or not. In other, more serious cases, the ravages of Alzheimer’s may trigger delusions and paranoia.

Read More
The Power of Family
NAN admin NAN admin

The Power of Family

As the poet Walt Whitman once wrote, “I contain multitudes.” And indeed, as you go through your daily rounds of caregiving, remember the role that you and your loved one play in your family’s legacy, and how you each may be one of those 1,000-plus people that are related to a little baby that is born a century from now. 

Read More
Balancing Act!
NAN admin NAN admin

Balancing Act!

As a caregiver of someone suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, centering yourself and finding balance in your life is of utmost importance. That means taking care of your mental and physical health, staying connected with your community, getting help when you need it, and most importantly, setting realistic goals for what you can achieve. 

Read More
Keeping Your Orbit!
NAN admin NAN admin

Keeping Your Orbit!

Your caregiving activities create the ordinary cycles of daily life such as eating, sleeping, and bathing, keeping you “in orbit” with your loved one on a continual basis. I’m sure that as a caregiver, it can sometimes feel as though you are a satellite locked in a gravitational vise around your loved one’s needs. At the same time, the progression of the disease can sometimes change the overall dynamics of your relationship over time. 

Read More
The Body Keeps the Time!
NAN admin NAN admin

The Body Keeps the Time!

You can’t hear it go “tick tock,” but scientists have found that your body has its own internal clock. Based on internal rhythms of light, hormones, and eating, your body is pretty good at settling into a roughly 24-hour cycle of wakefulness and sleep, even without clocks. 

Read More
Slam the Scam!
NAN admin NAN admin

Slam the Scam!

Older adults are often the target for scammers because the criminals believe that they have larger savings accounts. But low-income older Americans are also targeted, too, because the elderly tend to be less savvy about new technologies such as email, texts, and mobile phones. 

Read More