For 34 years, I have worked with people living with Alzheimer’s disease. As a social worker, I have seen the impact of this disease on not only the individual but their entire family. What I have come to realize is that much of this impact is not caused by the changes occurring in the brain but how people with Alzheimer’s disease are treated by others. It comes from what we think it means to be a person and what we think it means to not be a person.

My talk addresses the loneliness of Alzheimer’s disease that is felt by the entire family and how it could be greatly reduced with a national conversation of what we should be valuing in a person. Susan Frick, MSW, LSW, has worked at the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center since 1997. She coordinates dementiaspecific training programs for health care professionals and helps coordinate the Dementia Friendly and Dementia Friends initiatives in Illinois. Susan is the Director of Without Warning®, a support program for individuals and families who live with youngeronset Alzheimer’s and the Executive Producer of the documentary, created by the group, now airing on PBS and Amazon Prime entitled, “Too Soon to Forget: The Journey of Younger Onset Alzheimer’s Disease.” She works with patients and families in the Rush Memory Clinic and with people involved in RADC research studies.

Susan graduated from Elmhurst University in 1985, received her master’s degree in Social Work from Loyola University of Chicago and has worked in the field of Alzheimer’s disease since 1987. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx