The Lives of Demented Patients

An organization called Project StoryKeeper is doing something to remember people with Alzheimer's disease: recording their life stories.

Alzheimer's disease is a heartbreaking burden for patients and their families. It is more than a gradual decline of memory and cognitive functions. It is a loss of one's sense of self and the world. For any caregiver or loved one, the thought of being alive with no meaningful awareness and only a sense of confusion is saddening.

Given that no cure exists for Alzheimer's disease, the focus is to maximize their quality of life and recognize them as individuals. To help achieve the latter, a non-profit organization called Project StoryKeeper is aiming to preserve the life stories of people with Alzheimer's disease. The organization does not necessarily limit itself to this population, because it does the same for veterans, Native Americans, and other groups of people who deserve to have their stories told to the world. Project StoryKeeper is also partnered with LifeLenz, an online social network that provides the means for families to share text, images, and video to record life's memories.

Whether or not you are with Project StoryKeeper, anyone can play a role in helping those with Alzheimer's disease be recognized as people. For that matter, this goes for all people regardless of what medical conditions they face. Everyone deserves the best care in the remaining years of life.