Imagine you see a shadow stretch across the kitchen floor, and you are afraid you’ll fall into a hole. Perhaps a loved one hugs you close, and you recoil, wandering who this person could possibly be. Maybe you glimpse at your reflection in the mirror and you panic, thinking there is a stranger in your home. These are some of the situations individuals with Alzheimer’s disease confront daily.

Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008, was World Alzheimer’s Day, an internationally recognized day that unites opinion leaders, people with dementia, their care-givers and family, medical professionals, researchers, and the media from around the world. The Mississippi Alzheimer’s Association supports the day’s simple message — now is the time to act.

Alzheimer’s has been tagged as an old persons’ disease, and we have all heard the jokes about “old-timers” disease, but the fact is that it’s a fatal disease, not normal aging. It is devastating for those who have it and those who love them.

More than five million people in the U.S. have Alzheimer’s, and that number is about to increase catastrophically. Researchers predict that by 2050 the global prevalence of the disease will quadruple, affecting more than 100 million individuals.

If you don’t know someone with this mind-robbing disease, you soon will.

Purple is the color designated by the Alzheimer’s Association to represent the fight against Alzheimer’s disease. Another way would be to get involved in the Alzheimer’s Association Annual Memory Walk. The memory walk is the signature event to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer’s research, care and support in the U.S.

Last year Natchez hosted its first annual memory walk, with approximately 100 walkers raising over five thousand dollars. The second annual Natchez Memory Walk 2008 is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 25.

If you are interested in being part of the Natchez Memory Walk, or just want more information, please contact Tom Hollman or Katie Foster at Seniors Behavioral Health at Natchez Regional Medical Center at 601-443-2330.

To further raise awareness of Alzheimer’s disease in the Miss-Lou Community, Seniors Behavioral Health at Natchez Regional Medical Center will provide a viewing of “The Forgetting — A Portrait of Alzheimer’s.”

“The Forgetting” takes a dramatic, compassionate, all-encompassing look at this fearsome disease and aims to help all Americans better understand and cope with its impact.

The documentary weaves together the intense real-world experiences of Alzeheimer’s patients and caregivers, the history and biology of Alzheimer’s and the ongoing struggle to end the disease. “The Forgetting” was played to the public on Tuesday, Sept. 23 at 3 p.m. in the Cypress Room at Natchez Regional Medical Center.

Katie Foster/LSW is outreach coordinator for Seniors Behavioral Health at Natchez Regional Medical Center and Co-Chairman of the 2008 Alzheimer’s Memory Walk.