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Home My WebLink AboutHuron Expositor, 2005-01-19, Page 3News Alzheimer Society eases burden as Egmondville man cares for wife By Susan Hundertmark Expositor Editor When he looks back on the last five years, Jack Eisler, of Egmondville, wishes he'd sought help from the Alzheimer Society a little sooner. As primary caregiver for his wife Doreen until last September when she moved into the Seaforth Manor, Jack says attendance at the Alzheimer Society's monthly meetings at Egmondville United Church has helped him learn how to take better care of his wife and himself. "I was reluctant to start with but they (the Alzheimer Society) gave me hope there's help out there and encouraged me to talk about it rather than keeping it cooped up inside," he says. Jack says their children pointed out that Doreen seemed to be becoming more forgetful as far back as 1998. "At the time I didn't think she was so bad. The odd time she'd forget something while she was cooking but I didn't think much of it," he says. During a 50th wedding anniversary trip to Las Vegas in 1999, he started to notice his wife having trouble with money and figuring out which denomination of bill she needed to pay for something and for the next year or so, little things - like the dryer running longer than usual - made him wonder. But, after Doreen broke her hip in June, 2001 and needed an operation to fix it, her Alzheimer symptoms became much worse after receiving anaesthetic for the operation. "Things turned bad after the operation and slowly got worse," he says. Doreen began waking up in the night, asking Jack to take her home to her parents, who had died 23 years ago. She would pack up her clothes and continue demanding to go home, insisting that her parents were still alive. "We'd pack into the car and drive to Mitchell to the house she grew up in and she wouldn't recognize the house. But, when we got back home, somehow, she'd be satisfied," says Jack. Doreen and Jack Eisler The trips "home" started to become a nightly ritual and during the day time, Doreen, who had always been an immaculate housekeeper and superb cook, found she couldn't do either of those things anymore. "She started losing all sense of how to do those things. I'd find her in the laundry room with a basket full of wet clothes, the dryer on but nothing in it," says Jack. After forgetting to turn off the kitchen tap, Doreen flooded the kitchen floor a few times. A lifelong smoker, Doreen started having trouble figuring out which end of the cigarette to put in her mouth. And, Jack found he eventually had to take the knobs off of the stove to keep Doreen safe. Doreen's daughter Cindy started coming to her parents' home to help to bathe her mother but Doreen didn't always know who she was and would ask Jack to "Tell that girl to go away." Somedays, she would ask her husband, "Where is Jack?" since she didn't recognize him because her Alzheimer's disease was making her look for a much younger version of him. One very frightening January night during a snowstorm, Jack heard the outside door slam shut while he was in the bathroom. He raced out to find Doreen had left the house without a coat or boots and was fighting her way through the snow to her sister-in-law's house around the corner, again with the intention to "go home." "It was the worse night - snowing and blowing so bad. But, the next day, she didn't realize she had left the house. After that, I had to bar every door. Everything went downhill after that," says Jack. Jack finally started to seek the help of the Alzheimer Society last year and began sending Doreen to its daycare program in Clinton a few times a week. While the daycare program gave him a much-needed break, Doreen started to resist going. By April of 2004, Jack developed a case of shingles and had to put Doreen in respite care while he recovered. He brought her home for her 75th birthday in May but found the strain of looking after someone who now couldn't dress herself or find the family washroom started to affect his health. 'Every little bit helps' as minimum wage up to $7.45 From Page 1 Broadfoot said that she hopes that the minimum wage increase will help her save a bit more. "With the price of things going up, it's always better to be making more money," said Broadfoot. Seaforth Business Improvement Area president Nancy Anstett said that this minimum wage increase could effect some of the February, Dahmer was on maternity leave and she said that the raise was a welcome surprise when she returned to work. Dahmer said that working for close to minimum wage is a little daunting. Quoted `With the price of things going up, it's always better to be making more money,'— Broadfoot larger employers in town. "The more people you employ the more it's going to affect (you)." Anstett said. While Keating's Pharmacy does not have any employees making minimum wage, its owner, Shaukat Mangalji, welcomed the increase. "I think it (the raise) reflects the time. I think with the cost of living and everything going up I don't see anything wrong with that," said Mangalji. Anstett said that the raise is a good idea and lower income earners deserve a bit more. "1 actually think it's a good idea. You have to keep up with the times." Anstett said. "You know everything else gets more expensive. People starting at minimum whge need a good start also." When the minimum wage rate was increased last M y husband makes so much more than me that it's hardly worth it for me," she said. "He makes more in one week than I make in two. It's kind of disappointing that way." If she had to face any debt or became a single parent, Dahmer said that working at minimum wage would be difficult even at its targeted rate of $8. "Any debt is hard to take care of especially if I was a single mother." Dahmer said. "Eight dollars just isn't going to cut it." In a recent press release, the Ontario government said that along with the increase on Feb. 1 there will be annual increases in each of the next two years until it reaches $8 per hour in 2007. Last February, the rate was raised from $6.85 to $7.15, the first minimum wage rate increase in nine years. "We are providing Ontario's lowest -paid and most vulnerable workers with the second increase in the minimum wage — after it had been frozen for nine years," Labour Minister Chris Bentley said. "With the increase, we are providing an opportunity of all to benefit from Ontario's economic prosperity." The minimum wage for liquor servers will increase from $6.20 to $6.50 per hour, while students under 18 years old and employed for no more than 28 hours a week will rise to $6.95 from $6.70. "My daughter's a nurse and she said I had to put Doreen back in care. Both my daughter and son were worried about me. Even my doctor said I had to do something about the situation," he says. Jack says he's had to battle with guilt since moving Doreen into the Seaforth Manor but he knows she's receiving good care. "It was the biggest decision of my life to sign those papers and put her in a nursing home," he says. He visits his wife every day or so at the Manor, where the two sit holding hands and sometimes dance during the entertainment held each afternoon. And, while Doreen still has some lucid moments, Jack says he's still trying to convince himself that there's no way he can bring her home again. "She still knows me and comes up to me and says, 'Dear, I love you.' But 50 minutes later, she's off in her own little world again," he says. "It's not their hearts, it's their minds that go. It's a hard thing to deal with." Jack says he hopes others who are dealing with Alzheimer disease realize there is help in the community. "I know I'm not the only one going through this but by speaking up, I hope I can help others who aren't getting help," he says. The Alzheimer Society of Huron County holds caregiver support groups the last Wednesday of every month from 1 to 2:30 p.m. at Egmondville United Church with facilitators Cathy Ritsema and Maggie Brennan. Also the Walk for Memories fundraiser for the Alzheimer Society will be held Saturday, Jan. 22 at Seaforth Public School from 10 a.m. to noon. re4face THE HURON EXPOSITOR. Jan. 19. 2005-3 When Accldents Happen... 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