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Memory Screening Day Focuses On Early Detection

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By CATHERINE DOLINSKI

cdolinski@tampatrib.com

Published: November 17, 2008

TALLAHASSEE - About five years ago, Maureen Kerr couldn't understand why her husband, Desmond, seemed so defensive and why they wound up arguing so much.

"I thought he was either depressed, or something was wrong with our marriage," said Kerr, of Tampa, who finally sought advice from a marriage counselor.

There was something wrong, but it wasn't their marriage. The counselor referred them to medical specialists, who soon diagnosed Desmond with Alzheimer's disease - at age 55.

"I would tell people not to think they're too young, because it's impossible to say, 'I'm too young for that,'" said Maureen Kerr, now 47.

Early detection and treatment are the focus of National Memory Screening Day, which the Alzheimer's Comprehensive Clinical Care Center at the University of South Florida marks on Tuesday by offering free testing and information about Alzheimer's and other diseases causing dementia.

The Alzheimer's Care Center is a consortium of Johnnie B. Byrd, Sr. Alzheimer's Center, Eric Pfeiffer Suncoast Alzheimer's Center and USF Memory Disorders Clinic. Among the services they will offer free to the public Tuesday:

•confidential memory screenings

•hearing and safe-driving screenings

•blood pressure checks

•"brain aerobics" demonstrations

"Memory screening is important because the goal is to identify people who are perhaps at risk for Alzheimer's disease, which is the most common cause of dementia," said Amanda Smith, interim director of the Eric Pfeiffer Suncoast Alzheimer's Center.

"It affects 10 percent of people age 65 and above, but half of people 85 and above. Unfortunately, a lot of people still think that memory problems are a normal part of aging, and they really, absolutely are not."

The Alzheimer's Association estimates that 5.2 million Americans live with the disease. By 2050, that number is expected to skyrocket to 20 million.

Researchers are still looking for a cure as well as treatments that directly target the protein plaques that form in the brain of Alzheimer's patients, causing cell death. But in the past 10 years, drugs have become available to help surviving brain cells to communicate with one another.

Age is the No. 1 risk factor for Alzheimer's, Smith said, although about 5 percent of cases are early-onset - like Desmond Kerr, now age 60.

Maureen Kerr, who is a nurse, said she urges everyone to get screened. Receiving the news of her husband's condition was "horrendous," she said, but she is thankful they found out early.

That led to treatment and, now, a clinical trial for Desmond, who is more independent today than doctors had initially predicted. Had the disease progressed undetected and untreated, Maureen Kerr said, "I think we'd be in a totally different situation."

Reporter Catherine Dolinski can be reached at (850) 222-8382.

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