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Making a journey to fight Alzheimer's
Evelina Paredes has taken many journeys as a result of her mother's Alzheimer's disease.
At first, she took her Spanish-speaking mother from doctor to doctor in their hometown of Los Angeles, looking for answers to explain her unusual behavior when her illness first started showing symptoms in the 1990s.
Her next journey was prompted when her community newspaper landed on her doorstep with an article about an Alzheimer's informational meeting at a city hospital in another section of Los Angeles. Paredes recalls the meeting with a sense of humor.
"When I got to the parking lot, I was the only person not driving a BMW or a Mercedes, and when I got into the meeting, I was the only Latina there," said Paredes, who was born in Guatemala and immigrated to the United States in 1968. "But I saw everybody was having the same problems with their relatives that I was having with my mother."
It was at that meeting, where Paredes found common ground with people she had never met before, that she began to volunteer with the Alzheimer's Association.
"When I first called our local chapter, the person who answered the phone was the nicest person that you could ever have when you are desperate and you need to talk to somebody," said Paredes. "She told me, 'You sound very nervous, very anxious. We're going to do our best for you and your mother.' "
The Alzheimer's Association helped Paredes place her mother in a day care program with Spanish-speaking staff and clients. Meanwhile, Paredes continued to work as a paralegal in immigration issues, as well as keep up with her own five adult children and grandchildren.
"I was so grateful," said Paredes. "It was the best choice I could ever make for my mother and for my family."
While she was working with the Alzheimer's Association, Paredes soon realized that many people were looking for the same kind of help she needed. With her experience in caring for her mother, she had good advice to offer.
"I found I didn't have many problems at all compared to what other people had," she recalled. "So instead of getting help, I started assisting the association staff in their work."
But Paredes also realized that the disease, from which her mother died in 1999, would affect many more people - and that the U.S. government could take serious measures to help improve the situation. When the Alzheimer's Association invited her to attend its annual Public Policy Forum in Washington, D.C., she jumped at the chance. For the past 14 years, she has been making a journey she never expected to make.
"When I first went to Washington in the early '90s, I was the only person speaking Spanish. Now there are many more Latinos involved," said Paredes. "Unfortunately, Alzheimer's is growing. I have the opportunity to talk to people in government who are busy, and they take the time to listen to our issues. I come back with the pleasure that I did something to help."
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