An evening to support relatives of Alzheimer’s patients in Monaco
“Youn Alzheimer’s patient, it’s a whole family that suffers.” While September 21 was World Alzheimer’s Day, Catherine Pastor, president of the Monegasque Association for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease (AMPA), invited a hundred people, Tuesday evening, to the Beaux-Arts cinema.
On the program: the screening of the film A crazy life by Ann Sirot and Raphaël Balboni, followed by a debate.
Professor Jacques Bringer, Chairman of the Ethics Committee of the National Academy of Medicine, Fabrice Gzil, Professor of the School of Advanced Studies in Public Health and Deputy Director of the Space for Ethical Reflection of Ile- de-France and Doctor Sandrine Louchart de la Chapelle, head of the geriatric department at the Princess Grace Hospital Center (CHPG).
“You can have cognitive impairment and still not stop being smart”
It is clear that after more than twenty years of research, “hope lies in prevention”, pointed out the geriatrician.
Curiosity, good nutrition, social exchanges, physical activity by favoring walking at a sustained pace, here is the message launched for lack of effective treatments.
It is therefore a question of knowing how to live with the disease, but also how to live with the patient.
Professor Jacques Bringer explains that in fact, the person with Alzheimer’s disease has ” flashes of memory. It’s not a vacuum right away. The brain gradually goes into asynchrony. For caregivers, it’s both difficult and moving.” Fabrice Gsil emphasizes: “You can have cognitive impairment and still not stop being smart.”
Faced with the upheaval that life with a patient represents, “the first chose which is difficult to manage, it is the behavioral disorders”, notes Sandrine Louchart de la Chapelle. “The person is distinguished by an original personality, then a marked singularity, then she is described as perched, tripped”, explains Professor Jacques Bringer. Without distinction on the social level, the situations can be comical, they remain no less embarrassing or even painful.
The worst is”the chemical tank top emphasizes Professor Jacques Bringer.
Because the patient is unable to live. He becomes apathetic. “You have to mourn the previous person. But when this mourning is done, and when a new personality is admitted, an essential step is taken. Ethics raises the question: how far to privilege respect for autonomy and dignity on the one hand, the protection of the vulnerable person on the other.
Show love and humor in illness
Fabrice Gzil cut short any misinterpretation: “It is about mourning the relationship that we had with the person; and not to mourn the person himself. It is love that weaves disease into life. Love and humor.”
In the absence of treatments for a disease that doctors know may be progressive, Fabrice Gzil hopes that society as a whole takes a benevolent look at the sick.
“It’s not true that people aren’t themselves anymore. We can find a way to live with their troubled existence and maybe not have to stigmatize these illnesses.”
The deputy of the Space for Ethical Reflection insists: when bankers, insurance brokers or others find that, obviously, a person no longer manages his personal affairs, it is necessary to know how to be understanding and find flexible and adapted solutions.
In short, show humanity.