Learning to live with dementia

HUNTINGTON BEACH — Molly Lawson speaks her mind and always has.

After successfully raising her daughter as a single mother, the 87-year-old Huntington Beach resident went on to speak up for other single mothers by raising money to help them go to school when she moved to California from New York. Once living in Huntington, she also helped raise money for pediatric cancer and the Huntington Beach Children’s Library, as well as other philanthropic efforts.

And now she helps spread the word about a facility that’s become very near and dear to her heart — Adult Day Services of Orange County in Huntington Beach.

Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian announced Wednesday it was awarded a $250,000 grant from the UniHealth Foundation for a three-year dementia education project — a collaborative effort between the hospital and Adult Day Services.

The program will help educate healthcare providers, caregivers and patients about dementia and its related diseases, including Alzheimer’s.

“There’s a lack of understanding and knowledge about dementia…. Alzheimer’s is a buzzword, but people don’t really understand what it means,” Adult Day Services Executive Director Cordula Dick-Muehlke said.

Lawson was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease about four years ago.

“One day she came home and on her own asked if there was some place she could live [with help],” daughter Rosemarie Malmquist said.

“This was the turning point for her,” Malmquist said of Adult Day. “This place gave such good care and gives me peace of mind.”

Lawson is involved in myriad activities at the facility, including painting and music classes. “It’s one of the best things ever started…. After people have lost their memory and lost some friends, you think ‘what do I do now?’ and it’s boring,” Lawson said. “Here, we get to recall things from our childhood, about bad times during the Depression.”

The facility has an extensive resource center for participants and their families, with daily activities to keep the participants’ minds working.

Lawson is involved with the facility’s New Connections program for people who are in the early stages of dementia or Alzheimer’s.

“It’s not gone completely,” Lawson said with a grin, pointing at her head.

Lawson participates in group activities at the center, and takes field trips off the grounds for lunch. “We’ll go for a walk in the park and we just go walking and observing,” she said. “We come back and then tell stories about what we saw.”

With the aging baby boomer population, dementia is becoming a very important malady to learn about, Hoag spokeswoman Laura Berger said.

Adult Day Services and Hoag representatives hope to help arm people with awareness and education so they’ll be better able to identify symptoms of Alzheimer’s and be able to prepare.

Dick-Muehlke will be hosting a free community education class at Hoag at 6 p.m., March 22, called “Is Someone You Love Becoming Forgetful?”

For more information, visit www.adultdayservicesoc.org.