Adult day services
Programs that provide participants with opportunities to interact with others, usually in a community center or facility. Staff lead various activities such as music programs and support groups. Transportation is often provided.
Advance directives
Written documents, completed and signed when a person is legally competent, that explain a person’s medical wishes in advance, allowing someone else to make treatment decisions on his or her behalf later in the disease process.
Agent
The individual—usually a trusted family member or friend—authorized by a power of attorney to make legal decisions for another individual. In scientific terms, “agent” sometimes refers to a drug as well.
Alzheimer’s disease
A progressive, neurodegenerative disease characterized by loss of function and death of nerve cells in several areas of the brain, leading to loss of mental functions such as memory and learning. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia.
Anti-inflammatory drugs
Drugs that reduce inflammation by modifying the body’s immune response.
Assessment
An evaluation, usually performed by a physician, of a person’s mental, emotional, and social capabilities.
Assisted living facility
A residential care setting that combines housing, support services, and health care for people typically in the early or middle stages of Alzheimer’s disease.
Beneficiary
An individual named in a will who is designated to receive all or part of an estate upon the death of a will maker.
Binswanger’s disease
A type of dementia associated with stroke-related changes in the brain.
Caregiver
The primary person in charge of caring for an individual with Alzheimer’s disease, usually a family member or a designated health care professional.
Care planning
A written action plan containing strategies for delivering care that address an individual’s specific needs or problems.
Case management
A term used to describe formal services planned by care professionals.
Clinical trials
Organized studies that test the value of various treatments, such as drugs or surgery, in human beings.
Coexisting illness
A medical condition that exists simultaneously with another, such as arthritis and dementia.
Cognitive abilities
Mental abilities such as judgment, memory, learning, comprehension, and reasoning.
Cognitive symptoms
In Alzheimer’s disease, the symptoms that relate to loss of thought processes, such as learning, comprehension, memory, reasoning, and judgment.
Competence
A person’s ability to make informed choices.
Deficits
Physical and/or cognitive skills or abilities that a person has lost, has difficulty with, or can no longer perform due to his or her dementia.
Delusion
A false idea typically originating from a misinterpretation but firmly believed and strongly maintained in spite of contradictory proof or evidence.
Dementia
The loss of intellectual functions (such as thinking, remembering, and reasoning) of sufficient severity to interfere with a person’s daily functioning. Dementia is not a disease itself but rather a group of symptoms that may accompany certain diseases or conditions. Symptoms may also include changes in personality, mood, and behavior. Dementia is irreversible when caused by disease or injury but may be reversible when caused by drugs, alcohol, hormone or vitamin imbalances, or depression.
Dementia-capable
Skilled in working with people with dementia and their caregivers, knowledgeable about the kinds of services that may help them, and aware of which agencies and individuals provide such services.
Dementia-specific
Services that are provided specifically for people with dementia.
Diagnosis
The process by which a physician determines what disease a patient has by studying the patient’s symptoms and medical history and analyzing any tests performed (blood, urine, brain scans, etc.).
Disorientation
A cognitive disability in which the senses of time, direction, and recognition become difficult to distinguish.
Down syndrome
A syndrome that causes slowed growth, abnormal facial features, and mental retardation. Down syndrome is caused by an extra copy of all or part of chromosome 21. Most individuals with Down syndrome develop Alzheimer’s disease in adulthood.
Durable power of attorney
A legal document that allows an individual (the principal) an opportunity to authorize an agent (usually a trusted family member or friend) to make legal decisions for when the person is no longer able to do so themselves.
Durable power of attorney for health care
A legal document that allows an individual to appoint an agent to make all decisions regarding health care, including choices regarding health care providers, medical treatment, and, in the later stages of the disease, end-of-life decisions.
Early-onset Alzheimer’s disease
An unusual form of Alzheimer’s in which individuals are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s before the age of 65. Less than 10 percent of all Alzheimer patients have early-onset. Early-onset Alzheimer’s is associated with mutations in genes located on chromosomes 1, 14, and 21.
Early stage
The beginning stages of Alzheimer’s disease when an individual experiences very mild to moderate cognitive impairments.
Elder law attorney
An attorney who practices in the area of elder law, a specialized area of law focusing on issues that typically affect older adults.
Executor
The individual named in a will who manages the estate of a deceased individual.
Familial Alzheimer’s disease
A form of Alzheimer’s disease that runs in families.
Free-standing, dementia-specific care center
A facility solely dedicated to the care of people with dementia. This building can sometimes be part of a larger campus.
Guardian
An individual appointed by the courts who is authorized to make legal and financial decisions for another individual.
Hospice
Philosophy and approach to providing comfort and care at life’s end rather than heroic lifesaving measures.
Huntington’s disease
An inherited, degenerative brain disease affecting the mind and body, characterized by intellectual decline and involuntary movement of limbs.
Instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs)
Secondary level of activities (different from ADLs, such as eating, dressing, and bathing) important to daily living, such as cooking, writing, and driving.
Late-onset Alzheimer’s disease
The most common form of Alzheimer’s disease, usually occurring after age 65. Late-onset Alzheimer’s strikes almost half of all people over the age of 85 and may or may not be hereditary.
Late stage
Designation given when dementia symptoms have progressed to the extent that a person has little capacity for self-care.
Living trust
A legal document that allows an individual (the grantor or trustor) to create a trust and appoint someone else as trustee (usually a trusted individual or bank) to carefully invest and manage his or her assets.
Living will
A legal document that expresses an individual’s decision on the use of artificial life support systems.
Medicaid
A program sponsored by the federal government and administered by states that is intended to provide health care and health-related services to low-income individuals.
Medicare
A federal health insurance program for people age 65 and older and for individuals with disabilities.
Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE)
A standard mental status exam routinely used to measure a person’s basic cognitive skills, such as short-term memory, long-term memory, orientation, writing, and language.
Multi-infarct dementia (MID)
A form of dementia, also known as vascular dementia, caused by a number of strokes in the brain. These strokes can affect some intellectual abilities, impair motor and walking skills, and cause an individual to experience hallucinations, delusions, or depression. The onset of MID is usually abrupt and often progresses in a stepwise fashion. Individuals with MID are likely to have risk factors for strokes, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, or diabetes. MID cannot be treated; once the nerve cells die, they cannot be replaced. However, risk factors can be treated, which may help prevent further damage.
Parkinson’s disease
A progressive, neurodegenerative disease characterized by the death of nerve cells in a specific area of the brain; the cause of nerve cell death is unknown. Parkinson patients lack the neurotransmitter dopamine and have such symptoms as tremors, speech impediments, movement difficulties, and often dementia later in the course of the disease.
Principal
The individual signing the power of attorney to authorize another individual to legally make decisions for him or her.
Psychosis
A general term for a state of mind in which thinking becomes irrational and/or disturbed. It refers primarily to delusions, hallucinations, and other severe thought disturbances.
Quality care
Term used to describe care and services that allow recipients to attain and maintain their highest level of mental, physical, and psychological function, in a dignified and caring way.
Respite care
Services that provide people with temporary relief from tasks associated with caregiving (e.g., in-home assistance, short nursing home stays, adult day care).
Risk factors
Factors that have been shown to increase one’s odds of developing a disease. In Alzheimer’s disease, the only established risk factors are age, family history, and genetics.
Senility
Term meaning “old,” once used to describe elderly diagnosed with dementia. Today, we know dementia is caused by various diseases (e.g., Alzheimer’s) and is not a normal part of aging.
Skilled nursing care
Level of care that includes ongoing medical or nursing services.
Special care unit
Designated area of a residential care facility or nursing home that cares specifically for the needs of people with Alzheimer’s.
Support group
Facilitated gathering of caregivers, family, friends, or others affected by a disease or condition for the purpose of discussing issues related to the disease.
Trustee
The individual or bank managing the assets of the living trust.
Will
A legal document created by an individual that names an executor (the person who will managed the estate) and beneficiaries (persons who will receive the estate at the time of death).
Source: www.alz.org
