Newsletter

2006 Report:

Alzheimer’s Care-giving Mini-Series for Informal Caregivers

We recognize that Alzheimer ’s disease creates a lot of stress for the caregiver and their family - financially, physically and emotionally. Montana has almost 17,000 individuals who have been diagnosed with the disease most of which are cared for by family members. This fall the Missoula County Extension office partnered with Missoula Aging Services and the Missoula Alzheimer’s Caregiver Support Group to host a mini-series for the informal caregiver. It consisted of five sessions covering the following:

• Understanding the nature of Alzheimer’s Disease and local resources in Missoula
• Food and Nutrition for People with Alzheimer’s and their Caregivers
• Alzheimer’s-Proofing Your Home: Adaptations and Safety
• Financial and Legal Issues regarding health care, property titles, power of attorney, etc.
• Taking Care of Yourself: how to recognize and reduce stress

Steps to a New You

Unlike many nutritional programs that emphasize weight loss, “Steps to a New You” focused on stepping away from the scale and stepping toward health and fitness. It taught that fitness comes in all sizes, how to eat intuitively, increase physical activity, recognize emotional eating and to respect body-size diversity. Eighteen county employees participated in the eight week program and logged their steps with the use of a pedometer. As a group, they walked over ten million steps which took them from Helena, MT through 25 state capitals ending in Atlanta, GA.

Basic Estate Planning

Missoula County Extension and Missoula Public Library teamed up to bring Marsha Goetting, MSU Extension Specialist in Family Financial Planning to Missoula for a Basic Estate Planning Seminar that was attended by 60 people. Topics covered included Montana estate planning laws, wills, trusts, probate and transfer of non-titled property. Many of the participants attended a follow up program on Basic Investing.