BRONX TIMES REPORTER,30 OCT. 30-NOV. 5, 2020 BTR
Specialist talks
about Alzheimer’s
Cognitive support specialist Enrie Morales discusses Alzheimer’s Disease
Courtesy of Enrie Morales
BY JASON COHEN
When people joke about forgetting
things because they are old, it often
can be a sign of something much
more troubling.
Memory loss and diffi culty performing
familiar tasks or locating familiar
places like a bedroom or bathroom
are early symptoms of Alzheimer’s
Disease, the sixth leading cause of
death in the United States. According
to the Alzheimer’s Association, one
in three seniors die with the disease
and more than fi ve million Americans
suffer from it.
November is National Alzheimer’s
Disease Awareness Month and Enrie
Morales, the owner of the Bronx’s senior
in-home care company Right at
Home, recently spoke with the Bronx
Times about detecting signs of Alzheimer’s
and dementia and how families
can cope and interact with their
loved ones.
“In general terms, it Alzheimer’s
is the decline in mental ability,”
she explained. “The person with
Alzheimer’s needs help.”
Morales, 63, was an international
banker for more than three decades.
Her retirement proved to be
the perfect opportunity to open up
Right at Home.
She became a caregiver at 26 when
her father, Pedro Morales, had a
stroke. He never returned to work and
lived until he was 81.
But she also chose her new career
because her mother, Flor, has Alzheimer’s
and is bed bound at home for
24 hours.
Since running an agency where
most of her clients have Alzheimer’s,
she has learned a lot about
the disease.
Morales underwent a special certifi
cation to better understand a client
with cognitive decline or dementia,
to assess his or her abilities and
to adjust their interaction in the most
benefi cial way.
“I understand what the disease
is all about,” she said. “Ninety percent
of my clients have some sort
of dementia.”
She explained to the Bronx Times
that treating someone with Alzheimer’s
or dementia is extremely diffi -
cult. The patient will often ask the
same questions over and over, but will
vividly remember something from
several years ago.
Her employees do their best to get to
know their clients and suit their needs.
For example, if the patient is a Frank
Sinatra fan they would try to have his
music playing often.
“It’s hard all the way from the top to
the bottom,” Morales explained. “My
caregivers get very attached. When we
choose our caregivers we need to know
that they’re going to do this job with
lots of love and care.”
According to Morales, the disease
isn’t just about forgetting facts but as it
gets worse, the nervous system doesn’t
remember to do basic functions like go
to the bathroom or shower.
While there is still no cure, people
need to look for warning signs such as
family members having diffi culty locating
things or memory loss.
Some people get Alzheimer’s when
they are just in their 50s, while most will
get it later in life. People can live up to 12
to 15 years after they are diagnosed, but
it’s a very hard road to travel on for the
patient, their family and caregivers.
Morales stressed that one person
should not care for someone with Alzheimer’s
alone. They should lean
on family and friends, talk to medical
professionals and reach out
to organizations.
“We need to educate ourselves
and seek assistance,” she said. “Now
there’s many things we can do to make
things easier.”