dementia

Criminology

Sunrise Community Police Academy: Police and Mental Health, Canine Officers, 911 Call Center

02/25/2026 Bruce Strom 0

On homicide week in our Sunrise Community Police Academy, the police instructor showed us the ghoulish face of a dementia patient found face down in a canal. The officer commented that for some strange reason, dementia patients have a strange attraction to water, often drowning.
Roughly sixty percent of dementia patients wander. Experts note that when someone suffering from dementia wanders away, one in four will lose their lives if they are not found within two days. This is why police urge citizens to report a missing person sooner rather than later. […]

Why Are Dementia Patients Who Wander So Drawn to Water? Why Do They Drown?
Dementia and Alzheimers Disease

Why Are Wandering Dementia Patients Drawn to Water? Why Do They Drown?

12/03/2025 Bruce Strom 0

The biggest objection property managers and association boards raised against performing health and wellness checks on their owners and residents is they are not nursing homes: they do not want to be held responsible for the welfare of their owners and residents. But even if they wanted to, they cannot take on the responsibility of care. Instead, they should call the police and request that they conduct a health and wellness check. They should inform the police about the possible foreclosure of a dementia patient, as this will better enable them to receive any care they may need. Any known family members must also be informed.
Alternatively, or additionally, they can request that the Broward County Council of Aging, or an appropriate local agency, refer the case to a professional. The Alzheimer’s Association 24/7 support hotline at 800-272-3900 is also an excellent resource. […]

Paul Tournier on Aging and Retirement
Aging

Classical Christian Psychologist Paul Tournier on Old Age and Retirement

08/20/2025 Bruce Strom 4

Paul Tournier notes: “Freud defined psychological health under the double heading of aptitude for love and for work.” But Paul Tournier cautions that “the superficial relationships of working life and of sexual attraction must lead to a deeper personal commitment. And I believe that no commitment can be truly personal unless it takes on a transcendent dimension and become love, in the biblical meaning of the word.”
Paul Tournier is grateful: “As an intellectual, I am specially privileged. It is true that the better educated people are, the more chance they have to enjoy their retirement. First, intellectual work” is not physically taxing. “Second, the capacity for intellectual work is retained longer than physical ability. It can even increase in old age as long as disease does not affect the mental faculties. But most of all, the more one exercises one’s mind, the more pleasure it gives to exercise it. The more one learns, the more one wants to learn, and the easier study becomes.” […]

Michael J Fox and Parkinsons: Symptoms and Struggles
Philosophy

Michael J Fox and Parkinson’s Disease: His Symptoms and Struggles

04/01/2025 Bruce Strom 2

Where does Parkinson’s disease fall on the spectrum of neurological diseases? On one extreme, dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, degrades the patient’s cognition, including memory and reasoning. Their motor functions decline only as their overall health declines. On the other extreme, ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease degrades the patient’s motor functions, often starting with the legs, then the arms, then they have trouble breathing. […]

What are the Ten Early Signs and Symptoms of Alzheimer's?
Dementia and Alzheimers Disease

What are the Ten Early Signs and Symptoms of Alzheimer’s?

02/12/2025 Bruce Strom 0

What are the Ten Early Signs and Symptoms of Alzheimer’s? We repeat these ten warning signs from the Alzheimer’s Association website in our book review of Kim Campbell’s biography of the celebrity country music star Glen Campbell from before his diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease through his passing. We reflected on […]

CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity: Forgiveness, Pride, and Envy. Can Pride Ever Be Good?
CS Lewis

CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity: Forgiveness, Pride, and Envy. Can Pride Ever Be Good?

06/06/2024 Bruce Strom 1

CS Lewis notes that in the middle of the Lord’s Prayer we pray: “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” He observes: “There is no slightest suggestion that we are offered forgiveness on any other terms. It is made perfectly clear that if we do not forgive, we shall not be forgiven.”
Indeed, immediately after the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew, Jesus exhorts us: “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” […]

Why I Joined Rotary
Business and Science

History and Philosophy of Rotary International, and My Personal Experience

04/26/2024 Bruce Strom 3

Early in its history, the Rotary Clubs adopted the Four Way Test. The Rotary website states that “the Four-Way Test is a nonpartisan and nonsectarian ethical guide for Rotarians to use for their personal and professional relationships.
Of the things we think, say, or do:
Is it the TRUTH?
Is it FAIR to all concerned?
Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?” […]

How Do We Treat our Neighbors Who Suffer From Dementia? Also, Guidance for Over-55 Condos
Dementia and Alzheimers Disease

How Should We Treat our Neighbors Who Suffer From Dementia? Also, Guidance for Over-55 Condos

03/16/2024 Bruce Strom 1

The challenge facing all of us is the difficulty in distinguishing between the elderly who have dementia from those who are cantankerous or troublemakers. Indeed, even the experts may not be able to tell when dementia is in its earliest stages. So be patient with cantankerous elderly neighbors, they might be suffering from early-stage dementia, evaluate whether they have enough to eat and drink. Be quick to call the police and welfare agencies to evaluate the situation, but in Florida and other states, the police need to be the first contact.

You cannot even say that since this person has a long history of being a troublemaker, then this person is not in an early stage of dementia. Dementia is not like the common cold, when today you have a cold, and yesterday you did not. Dementia often progresses slowly, which means that the personality of someone with dementia does not change as much as it evolves, and often their worse behavior will worsen. Someone who is angry will often simply become angrier. Often their actions are captive to their emotions, which means that the person with advanced dementia literally cannot be blamed for their actions. […]

Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
Dementia and Alzheimers Disease

Do We Have Free Will? Phineas Gage and Case Studies From the Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

12/06/2023 Bruce Strom 3

The concept that someone could be so demented that they are no longer responsible for their behavior is hard for people to accept. After all, the concept that we are all responsible for our actions, that we always act out of free will, is a bedrock principle in our legal and even religious institutions. But unfortunately, as psychologists know, there are many mentally ill who cannot control their actions.
One early and famous case history is that of Phineas Gage, who is perhaps the most famous and influential schmuck in human history. I have listened to many psychology lectures in Wondrium, the Teaching Company, and university lectures on Youtube that retell the story of Phineas Gage, which I have heard a dozen times. When my daughter in medical school told me that she was starting her psychology section, I told her that she would hear the remarkable story of Phineas Gage, which she did a few days later. […]