I Participated in Alzheimer’s Research: This is What it Was Like

Karen CaccavoCognitive Decline, Financial Organizing

On a hot and sticky August afternoon, I arrived for my appointment as a volunteer Alzheimer’s research participant at the Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research (NKI) in Orangeburg, NY. I was going to participate in NKI’s Memory Education and Research Initiative (MERI) Program, a study begun in 2003 to provide both evaluations to members of the community and …

Cognitive Decline Can Force Couples to Change the Way They Handle Their Financial Paperwork

Papa’s Bank Account: Financial Organizing and Dementia

Karen CaccavoCognitive Decline, Working with Clients

It was a typical assignment for me as a financial organizer—help a senior couple simplify their paperwork and household finances.  The husband had recently been diagnosed with dementia.  Now that she had to handle all of the work herself, the wife wanted to streamline the bill paying and more. The discussion over his stopping driving had already taken place before …