Dementia

Look at dementia, Alzheimer's set The National Family Caregiver Support Program will hold a three-part workshop on dementia and Alzheimer's disease at: Maryland City Activity Center, Resurrection of Our Lord Church, 8402 Brock Ridge Road, Laurel, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 13 and 27 and Dec. 4. Registration and further information: 410-222-4464. Partners in Care founder honored Maureen Cavaiola, a founder of Severna Park-based Partners In Care, has been selected as one of 13 "Women of Worth" by L'Oreal Paris.

It's probably cranky of me to complain about the solicitude of journalists who write for me as if I were on the brink of senile dementia, but sometimes they just explain too much. What I have in mind is Pointless Then-ness. You see it all the time. "In 1996, then-President Bill Clinton appointed ... " Now, if I were in fact on the brink of senile dementia, I might still imagine that Bill Clinton is president. Or if I were one of the besotted Democrats watching the party's recent national convention, I might wish  that Bill Clinton were still president.

Baltimore County Police are asking the public's help to locate a missing Towson man who they say suffers from dementia, and may have difficulty finding his way home. Police describe Richard Dudley Walter, 72, as a "critical missing person. " He went missing at about 10 a.m. on Tuesday, June 5, from the 1500 block of Dellsway Road in Towson, according to police reports. He is described as a white male, 5-foot-11, 184 pounds, possibly driving 2001 gray Saturn sedan, Maryland tag LDB783.

Like good parents everywhere, Jim and Jean Slingluff drive their son to doctors' appointments, social outings and anywhere else he needs to go. But unlike most couples, they're pulling a second round of "chauffeur duty" more than 40 years after their son gained independence with his driver's license, ever since Alzheimer's disease struck Jim Slingluff Jr. as an adult and made him wary of getting behind the wheel. Now 58 and divorced, he not only surrendered his driver's license in September, he has moved back in with his parents, who are both 83, so that they can be his caregivers.

Baltimore County police today asked the public's help in locating a missing man identified Gregory Hines, 56. Police described Hines as black, standing 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighing 160 pounds, with salt and pepper-colored hair, a goatee and no teeth. Hines was last seen around 9 p.m. Wednesday in front of his residence near the 2800 block of Yorkway in Baltimore. Police said he is without his daily medication required to alleviate symptoms of dementia and seizures. Unable to operate a vehicle, he is most likely traveling by foot, according to police.

Listen: Can you hear it? That pervasive, synchronized, "gwak-gwak-gwak"? It's the collective teeth-gnashing of Marylanders across all socioeconomic strata about the condition of the U.S. economy. Stocks are tanking, retirement accounts are receding like an investment advisor's hairline - but look on the bright side: Now is a good time to invest in the bruxism retainer business. We used to be able to assess someone's financial success by the make and model of her vehicle or the cut of his clothes.

On October 6, 2003, WILLIAM "MOE" HOFFERBERTH, beloved husband of Delene Hofferberth, loving father of Diana L. Simmons and M. Scott Hofferberth, grandfather of Brett Hofferberth, Chris Szczypinski, and Kyrsten Simmons, brother of M. Gertrude Fleming and Elaine Sherman, and the late Elizabeth Brown, Charles Hofferberth, and Frances Johnston. Friends may call at the family owned Evans Chapel of Memories-Parkville on Thursday 3 to 5 & 7 to 9 and Friday, 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M., where a funeral service will be held on Saturday at 11 am. Interment private.

The Alzheimer's Association's annual Memory Ball has drawn nine highly competitive dance couples, four well-known judges, including Maryland's first lady, and nearly 700 guests. But the star of the evening will likely be the ball honoree, Sylvia Mackey, a woman who has worked tirelessly for the association and its families. Mackey lost her husband, John Mackey , a Baltimore Colts tight end and first president of the NFL players union, last summer. He waged a long battle with frontal temporal dementia, a debilitating illness with many of the same characteristics as Alzheimer's.

After a long and contentious debate over how the NFL cares for former players, commissioner Roger Goodell has thrown the league's collective muscle into an initiative to help those in need. At an owners meeting in Nashville, Tenn., yesterday, Goodell announced that the league and its related entities - the NFL Players Association, the NFLPA Retired Players Association, the NFL Alumni, NFL Charities and the Pro Football Hall of Fame - will work together to coordinate medical support services for former players.