Remembering helps Alzheimer’s programs

by Susan Mikula Campbell
Niagara Wheatfield Tribune, September 20, 2007
Lewiston Porter Sentinel, September 22, 2007

Sue Ventresca of Wheatfield puts up a poster advertising the Alzheimer’s
Association of WNY annual Memory Walk on Sept. 29 in Hyde Park.

Sue Ventresca of Wheatfield will be walking in the Niagara County Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk on Sept. 29 in Hyde Park because she can’t forget.

Not only was her father an Alzheimer’s patient, but she sees her mother, the primary caregiver, as a victim of the disease as well.

It’s a problem to which many people can relate. In Western New York alone, there are more than 55,000 people with Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia.

Ventresca’s parents, James and Margaret Riggi, were Niagara Falls residents. James Riggi, a former pipe fitter with Prestolite, was about 85 when he got Alzheimer’s. He died at age 99 in 2005. Margaret Riggi died in 2001 at age 88.

“He could do just about anything. He built his own home,” said Ventresca of her father. “If anything needed fixing, it was always, ‘Call Jimmy, he’ll fix it for us.’ ”

But Alzheimer’s changed that man. In January 1994, he took the car and was gone overnight. He was found, disoriented, in Pennsylvania. That October, he managed to get the keys and leave again. He was found in Hornell where he’d run out of gas. After that incident, Ventresca, who was living in Virginia, moved back to this area to be available to help her mother.

Dealing with an Alzheimer’s patient is very stressful. Many times Alzheimer’s patients won’t sleep for 24 to 48 hours, which means the caregiver can’t either. Since James Riggi was what is known as a “wanderer,” that meant Margaret Riggi had to be especially alert.

There are other changes to deal with as well. “My father, who never ever laid a hand on any of us would hit my mother,” said Ventresca.

She remembers driving her father around Niagara County at 2 or 3 in the morning, trying to get him to calm down.

James Riggi was placed in a nursing home in 1996, but his wife was there every day to visit.

“It’s such a difficult disease. People don’t realize the toll it takes on the caregiver,” Ventresca said.

Not enough people who are caring for Alzheimer’s patients ask for help, or maybe they don’t realize help is available, she said.

The Alzheimer’s Association of WNY offers a variety of services, including a respite program, which allows the caregiver to get a couple hours of freedom, while at the same time giving the patient different stimuli.

A home care consultation program offers a chance to have someone come into the home and do an evaluation on everything from medications to how to make the home safer. There’s also various support groups and a library of tapes and books. The association also is starting a program on how to explain the disease to children. There’s even a Power Your Memory course to explain things you can do now to reduce the risk of getting Alzheimer’s.

Ventresca, 57, has been involved with the Alzheimer’s Association of WNY for about nine years. She is board president and co-chair of the Niagara County’s Memory Walk. Earlier this month, the large conference room in the Alzheimer’s Association’s Williamsville office was named in honor of Ventresca’s parents on what would have been their 70th wedding anniversary.

About 78 percent of the money raised from the next week’s Memory Walk will support local programs and services for people with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, their families and caregivers. The remainder goes for salaries and administration.

“I like the fact that all the money raised in this area stays here,” Ventresca said.

Memory Walks also are taking place Sept. 29 in Erie, Chautauqua, Orleans and Genesee counties.

Registration starts at 9 a.m. and the walks begin at 10 a.m. Three different length routes will be available at the Hyde Park walk, Ventresca said, 1 1/2, 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 miles. Music and refreshments also will be part of the fun.

This Friday at 9 p.m., the lights on Niagara Falls will go purple for the Alzheimer’s Association of WNY and then blue and gold, the colors of the Canadian association in St. Catharines.

To start a Memory Walk team or make a donation, contact the Alzheimer’s Association at 626-0600 or (800) 272-3900, or log onto www.alz.org/wny.