After They Forget:
The Thriving Spirit of Alzheimer's

A frequent sentiment of many professional and family caregivers is that persons with advanced Alzheimer's disease have lost the essence of who they are. This belief can lead to a decrease in desire, time, and energy caregivers invest with patients who "will not remember I was there anyway," or in whose lives "I can not make any difference anyway." Dr. Rusnak will take a deep look into the concept of personhood that supports this view and give examples of its moral, ethical and social consequences in history. She will offer thought-provoking alternative views of personhood that challenge participants into a deeper and more spiritual analysis of human nature and worth. Using stories with Alzheimer's patients that illustrate this alternative view of personhood, Dr. Rusnak will offer the caregiver a novel look into a world where an enhanced respect for the cognitively impaired can result in a mutuality and wholeness between caregiver and patient neither would have experienced otherwise.