For people with Alzheimer’s disease and those who care for them, a local support group provides a forum for sharing struggles, offering solutions and connecting through laughter.

“Humor is a cognitive function; as you lose cognition, you don’t get the joke any more,” said Dr. Diane Brown, a Texas Woman’s University professor and occupational therapist. “So we try to joke around a lot.”

DRC/Gary Payne

Geri Sams, left, and Diane Brown host Stepping Stones, a support group for Alzheimer’s patients and their caregivers. The group meets each Wednesday during the school semester at Texas Woman’s University.

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Brown and longtime Denton social worker Geri Sams, of Geri-Options, a professional geriatric consultation and care management firm, started Stepping Stones in 2006 for early stage Alzheimer’s patients and their families.

The group tries to support, educate and engage those with dementia and their caregivers.

Brown and Sams volunteer with the group, which meets each Wednesday during the school semester on the TWU campus.

The caregivers participate in a discussion with Sams in one room, while those with Alzheimer’s disease participate in activities in another room.

Brown said she plans activities that connect the present to the past, such as  baking cupcakes or making crafts.

Many of the clients are highly educated, and these activities “bring back pleasant memories,” she said.

Stepping Stones tries to preserve each group member’s dignity and autonomy, she said.

Those who participate in the meetings are usually willing to discuss some of the most personal and profound moments of their lives.

“We trust each other,” Brown said.

She also tries to interject humor when possible.

“I do kid around with them a lot,” she said. “Many in the group don’t have a peer group anymore. That is what the client group provides — a set of peers where they are accepted and the humor is safe.”

During a recent group meeting, Brown said a new member in the client group prompted what could have been a serious moment in another setting.

“We were all just sitting there, and she said out loud to the group, ‘I’ve really been forgetting things lately,’” Brown said. “Everyone just laughed and said that’s what this group is for.”

Brown’s mother died of complications from the disease, and she watched her dad struggle.

“You lose your close relationships. That is one of the big casualties,” she said, and people often avoid telling others about a spouse’s or relative’s Al­zheimer’s diagnosis.

“You recognize the vulnerability and you think, ‘They’re hurt enough by the disease and I’m going to shield them,’” Brown said.

Before her mother’s illness, Brown’s parents had a close group of friends who dined and traveled together. But seeing the effects of the disease on her mother was too much.

“It hurt people’s feelings,” Brown said. “She had been a very proud person, and it hurt them to see her like that.”

So Brown’s father stopped socializing and took on full-time caretaking, selling his business and eventually his home to move closer to her.

The slow progression of Alzheimer’s eventually results in the loss of nerve cells in the brain leading to impairment in memory, judgment and decision-making, orientation to physical surroundings, concentration and understanding, she said. 

“They go backwards,” Brown said. “In the early stages, they are very aware of their loss.  In the middle stages, they will reach a [point] where they become indifferent and they are much happier.”

But the caregiver is not. It’s a period of adjustment in which new challenges become part of everyday life.

Sams said it’s critical to learn about the stages of disease progression.

“It’s not as shocking if you know what is coming,” she said. 

LORI FORGAY can be reached at 940-566-6845. Her e-mail address is lforgay@dentonrc.com .