Dementia

Center to advise on on Medicare Part D For the second year, Anne Arundel County has opened a Medicare Part D assistance center to help local seniors discuss the best Medicare coverage options for their health care needs. The center, which opened this week at the Annapolis Senior Center, is staffed with professionals from the Department of Aging and Disabilities who will answer the questions of seniors and people with disabilities about Medicare Part D. The service is free. Last year, the center on Riva Road served more than 1,250 people in three months.

Doctors have known for years that some people with Lou Gehrig's disease also suffer from a type of dementia. And some with that dementia also develop crippling symptoms such as Lou Gehrig's, gradually losing control of their muscles. Today, a team led by University of Pennsylvania scientists reports the discovery of a likely culprit in both. The two distinct diseases are marked by an abnormal accumulation of the same protein - a startling two-for-one discovery described in the journal Science.

Back in May, while fretting over her husband's health-care costs and his advancing dementia, Sylvia Mackey wrote an impassioned letter to NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue seeking help. Yesterday, the letter and her prayers were answered. In conjunction with an announcement on pension improvements, the NFL Players Association said it will pay the cost of providing up to $88,000 per year for institutional care or up to $50,000 per year for in-home nursing care for retired players who suffer from dementia or Alzheimer's disease, regardless of age. "I'm thrilled.

One-man act focuses on mental illness To raise public awareness for mental health, Carroll Hospital Center's Behavioral Health Services will co-sponsor a one-man play, "Hearing Voices," by Michael Mack, on Thursday at the Carroll Arts Center, 91 W. Main. St., Westminster. A wine-and-cheese reception and art exhibition will begin at 6 p.m., and the play starts at 7:15 p.m. Mack, a performing artist and poet, will share his family's struggle to cope with his mother's battle with paranoid schizophrenia.

It took weeks of practice, but she finally got it. Emma Schrader's 83-year-old fingers somehow remembered what might have been a favorite pastime. They grasped a fat embroidery needle and slowly but surely created a small, perky flower on a piece of cloth - complete with four pink petals and a bright yellow center. "She picked up right on it," said Ruth Colson, activities coordinator for West End Place in Westminster. "It made us feel so good." A small victory perhaps, but an encouraging one for Schrader and the West End Place adult day care center, where therapists use a Montessori-based approach to help people with dementia rediscover what they once knew and loved to do. Schrader did not remember being skilled at embroidery, but her little flower unlocked the talents that had been lost in her mind.

What can you tell me about selegiline? The vet prescribed it for my elderly dog. She had been showing serious agitation, pacing for hours at a time (sometimes 12 or 15 hours straight). She would pace until she dropped from exhaustion, sleep for half a day, then get up and start pacing again. She was also drooling excessively, digging compulsively, deliberately knocking things over and urinating in the house whenever I left. My vet said these are all symptoms of senile dementia in dogs.

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.