Alzheimer care a growing concern

Published 10:51 pm Thursday, June 28, 2007

She said she would do it.

And she did.

I salute her.

In 1999, I met Katie DeVore at her home in Marysville. It was so sad. Her husband, John, 56 at the time, had Alzheimer’s disease. He could remember the Fourth of July in 1968, but activity from five minutes ago was a blur.

His wife vowed to take care of her husband. Katie DeVore tended her hubby, her life partner, her gentle giant, at home until he died April 19, in his hospital bed by her side.

“I honored our contract,” Katie DeVore said. ” ‘Til death do us part.”

Shortly after their first date, John DeVore asked if she would like to go with him to pick up his sister. They drove to Mount Vernon, where she met a young woman with Down Syndrome.

“I’m Becky and I’m retarded,” his sister said. “What’s your excuse?”

Katie DeVore said she learned how special her sister-in-law was. She and her husband eventually opened an adult family home and now she owns Katie’s Adult Day Care and Respite.

The day I visited, a part-time worker prepared a nutritious-looking lunch. Three elderly clients watched television and a young woman with developmental disabilities gave me a big hug.

More than two dozen folks who need a watchful eye come and go.

Her husband was a big part of the action.

“I made a life for John,” Katie DeVore said. “We didn’t have to be separated.”

In the mid 1990s, the couple dreamed about retirement, traveling from state to state, stopping at the ocean and reveling in the lives of their grandchildren. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to slip through the 60s, 70s and 80s without a care in the world?

When her husband’s moods turned sour, they thought he might have depression. He couldn’t remember where he put his car keys. He got lost on a familiar stroll through the woods.

The family didn’t want to read too much into this gradual change of behavior. Don’t folks have “brain blips” as the decades slip by? We all forget things now and then.

He would go out to get the mail, then go out again to get the mail.

Katie DeVore, 53, already ran a day care so she had an edge on others who decide to care for Alzheimer’s patients at home.

“Can you imagine going to an institution to visit your family?” DeVore said. “I couldn’t get that in my brain for John.”

John DeVore died of liver failure. Family knew he was sick when he stopped eating and began retaining fluids.

At the end, he couldn’t lift his arm or give a hug, but through it all, he knew his wife.

His last words were, “I love you, Katie.”

Keeping her business going is a legacy for John, she said.

“I can help others,” Katie DeVore said. “We need to make ways for families to care for their loved ones.”

DeVore has a state license for adult day care and as a nonprofit, she doesn’t need a city of Marysville business license, said Marysville Mayor Dennis Kendall.

“I think that just as we need day-care programs for children, to be able to provide an option for our elders is vital to any community,” Kendall said. “As the community continues to gray, more of these facilities are needed and dollars need to come from social services groups. This money would be better spent than sending these individuals to care centers on a long-term basis.”

The cost for day care at Katie’s is $8 per hour. She does fundraisers, like selling Italian sodas at Wal-Mart, to raise money for scholarships.

“We want to give families the break they need without breaking the bank,” she said. “They need to know there is a safe place to go during the day.”

Recently, she put in a late shift. A family asked her to care for the man of the house, 48, with Alzheimer’s, for a special reason: His daughter was graduating from high school. The whole family wanted to go to the ceremony, but someone had to watch Dad.

She stayed late, no problem, DeVore said.

Starting in August, DeVore will pair seniors and young adults with developmental disabilities who will work together in the garden and learn to maneuver in the kitchen.

Predictions by researchers from Johns Hopkins University are that the number of folks with Alzheimer’s will quadruple by 2050.

“What are we going to do?” Katie DeVore said. “We can’t build enough institutions.”

Everyone who mentally fails won’t be able to remain in their home, but some will find the welcoming arms of the next best thing.

Columnist Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451 or oharran@heraldnet.com.