WiIITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1985, PAGE 1l Battered women shelter to expand Durham Region bas given its blessing to the Auberge Women's Shelter's plans for ex- pansion. The shelter for battered women, whicb services the region, will move bouse sometime next spring, expanding its bed capacity from 10 to 15. At a regular meeting of regional council iast week, members pledged support of tbe shelter and acknowledged its vital role in area net- work of social services. The region currently provides the shelter wîtb a per diem subsidy amounting to ap- proximately $82,000 a year. The funds go towards room and board for the up to 10 women who can be sheltered in the bouse. The shelter bas requested that the region increase its sub- sidy by 50 percent from next spring, to accom- modate tbe additional beds the sbelter wiil be adding. Tbe capital costs for the move -- estimated at $400,000 - are being picked up entirely by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Cor- poration. Operating costs are shared jointly by the region, and the provincial government witb community donors such as tbe Ajax- Pickering United Way taking up the slack. Durham Region coun- cil will reviem Auberge's request tc expand its service con. tract witb tbe sbelter ir its 1986 budgel deliberations. Doug Hird, president of tbe Alzheimer's Society of Durbam, and Evelyn Day, first vice-president, watch Mayor Bob Attersley sign a proclaimation deciaring the montb of November Alzheimer's montb. Free Press Staff Pboto Public awareness of Alzheimer's low It affects aimnost 300,000 Canadians and kilis 10,000 a year. Yet Alzheimer's Disease, believed to be the fourth leading cause of death in Canada, is stili littie known and littie under- stood. The Aizheimer's Society of Durham Region aims to change that. This month bas been proclaimed Alzheimer's month and the group is mounting a full-fledged education campaigil. To fight the disease, there must be greater public awareness, says the society's president Doug Hird. It's impor- tant to educate the relatives of Azheimer patients and persuade the government and medical establishment to put more dollars into research, he explains. Althougb the disease was first discovered in 1906, there is stili no known cure or treat- ment. The degenerative Lbrain condition -- widely confused with senility -- produces a graduai deterioration of the vic- tim's .memory, judgement faculties, speech and motor fun- ctions. The disease's progress is "almost the reverse of the mental deveiopment of a child, " says Hird, whose mother was stricken by the disease in 1975 and has spent the last 8 years in a nursing home. For someone afflicted by Alzheimer's, the prospects are "'hopeiess", acknowled- ges Evelyn Day, the society's first vice- president. Evelyns husband, Ken, first developed symptomns of Alzheimer's disease eight years ago. For the last three years, hes required institutional EUCHRE Whitby Orange Lodge is holding euchre on Dec. 2 at the Orange Temple, Il Bruce St. in Oshawa. $150 per per- son. Prizes and lunch. B EgfF RÎ Centre nursing care. "He was an electrician and be got s0 be could't even screw in a igtbuib," she says. It's difficult for Mrs. Day to pinpoint wben ber busband, now 68 years oid, first contrac- cornes on slowly. i cain remember bim making excuses 50 he wouldn't have to drive the car or play cards. He must have known be was losing is ability to do those things, but at the time, I didn't think anything of it. " Part of the ýdifficulty of coping with the disease, says Evelyn, is its painfuiiy slow ad- vancement. "Ken still looks the same -- he's nbvsicallv in 2ood sbape. But I cant un- derstand bim anymore. When I vist, he just babies away." An estimated $200 million a year is spent in Ontario alone on nur- sing care for Azbeimer patients. Tbe illness can run 12 to 18 years and for most of tbis time tbe patient requires round- the-clock care. "As a social problem, Aizheimer's is far more serious than cancer," says Hird. Getting people to talk about the disease is the first step to combatting the problem. The regîon's Aizheimer's society main function right now is providing support for relatives and friends of 9BUSINESS FORMS *LEGAL CERTIFICATES *WEDDING INVITATIONS *NCR FORMS people witb the disease. "Theres stili a stigma about mental disease wbicb makes it bard to talk openiy about Alzbeimer's," said Mrs. Day. The Alzheimer's Society is trying bard to break tbat stigma. For more information about the disease, cail the Durham society at 683- 8811 or check out one of the foliowing forums sponsored by the Durham society this month: Display booth at Oshawa Centre -- Nov. il to 16; annual general meeting, at Sunnycrest Nursing Home -- Nov. 14 at 7:30 p.m.; televised panel discussion, Cable 10 TV, (in Pickering) - Nov. 20at7:30p.m. *CARDS, s FOL DERS *LETTERHEADS & ENVELOPES @CATALOGUES PRITI ND OFFC .UPLE SOLID OAK AND PINI SPRE-CHRISTMAS ÇSTOREWIDE SALE UNTIL NOV. 15185 110 DUN LOP ST. E.,W O pen Mon.-Wed. 10-6, Thurs.-Fri.10- i ~ M& MNEWFOUNDLAND i FUSH MARKET WITH THIS COUPON MED. SHRIMP $8.95 Ibn i REG.1Il1.98 lb. * n SPECIALIZING IN * NEWFOUNDLAND PRODUOTSi * and FRESH SEAFOOD i 1397 HARWOOD N., AJAX * 683-2974 YE FURNITIUMl VHITBY 666-1331 9,Sat. 10-5 SUNDAYS11-4 m ---------- à AW