(bright music) - Hello and welcome to Prairie Pulse.

Coming up a little bit later in the show, we'll see a traditional Chinese dance troupe.

But first, joining me now is our guest, Joan Danks, the North Dakota Program Director for Alzheimer's Association of Minnesota and North Dakota.

Joan, thanks for joining us today, - And thank you for having me.

I'm happy to be here.

- As we get started, tell the folks a little bit about yourself and your background.

- Sure, yeah.

So, I started with the association about a year and a half ago, last December 23'.

And I have been working with people in a clinical setting for nearly 14 years, people living with all forms of dementia, traumatic brain injury, mental health disorders.

So I've got a big clinical background, but I grew up here in North Dakota.

I grew up right here in Bismarck, just down the street.

And so I'm proud to be back home.

I was out of state for quite a while, but happy to be here and helping people back in North Dakota.

- Well, welcome back.

Talk about the Alzheimer's Association of Minnesota and North Dakota, employees, funding.

And I think you said it's a little bit different than other states.

- Sure, yes.

So the association as a whole, we are driving risk reduction.

We are really seeking a world without all forms of dementia and Alzheimer's as well.

And so we do that by driving risk reduction, offering care and support, early detection and diagnoses in the disease, as well as we do a lot of advocacy and different things around the country, especially in the state.

But in North Dakota here, we have a program called the North Dakota Dementia Care Service Program, and this is funded by the North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services.

We have a lovely grant that they provide, and we get to do a little bit more than some of our other counterparts across the country.

So throughout the country, we offer free education, support groups, just information and resources altogether.

And in North Dakota, we get to go a little further.

We offer what we call in-person care consultation.

So that means when someone is concerned about memory, maybe in themselves or another person, they can connect with us.

They can come to us and talk about, maybe it's the warning signs, maybe it's that they have a form of dementia and they're trying to navigate things at home.

We even work with professionals in coming to different care centers and navigating some issues there as well.

And so we really are a program that really is all encompassing and supporting people that are navigating any form of dementia.

- Hm!

So how many employees do you have and- - Yeah, so here in the state of North Dakota, in our program services, we have about seven people.

We have a couple of open positions right now, but we go all over North Dakota.

We serve every corner of the state.

If someone wants us to come to their home and sit down at their kitchen table and discuss these things with them, we will, and it's all free.

That is a really important note, is that we are a nonprofit organization.

All of our program services, everything is free.

- Well, and June is Alzheimer's Awareness Month.

So can you tell us about, what you're gonna do to highlight this disease and observe what's going on?

- Yeah, actually, we just had advocates from North Dakota and around the country.

They were all at Capitol Hill.

They just got back last night at, I believe, around midnight.

They were at Capitol Hill in DC and really driving home that we need to continue funding and research to find a cure, to slow down the disease, find better diagnostic tools.

So that was a big, big happening on DC just over the weekend.

And there's a lot of good movement there, although we need more support.

So that's a big program that we do.

But we also have free education, and we're always, always discussing what we can do to drive risk reduction, what we can do to keep our brains healthy.

And if you see signs or symptoms of memory loss and changes, how to talk with your doctor.

- Yeah, well understand, there's always research going on, but maybe there's some new research that you're gonna tell me about.

- So, there's a lot of research happening all of the time.

So the Alzheimer's Association, we do a lot of fundraising to support research globally.

So we have invested, I wanna say around $430 million for global research.

And so we have over a thousand different research projects that are in the works currently.

And some of these research projects are really interesting because they're now looking at what is called tau.

And so within Alzheimer's disease, there's a couple of hallmarks, and those are called amyloids and tau.

And what they are are the two proteins basically, that are attacking the brain.

And we've got a lot of research and some new treatments that are really focusing on the amyloids.

But now in different studies, there's a real focus on the tau.

It's kind of a two part system, and they're trying to understand it more so that we can slow down the progression of the disease.

- And when you say tau- - I know it's a strange word.

(chuckles) So, basically it's a protein that lives within inside our brain cells.

And amyloid is outside of the brain cells.

And what they're doing is they're clogging the neurons, which is making them retract and die.

And so with Alzheimer's disease, that's the hallmark is really the shrinkage of the brain and that's what's causing it to shrink.

So, it's interesting because we're learning a lot more through research of exactly what is happening, why Alzheimer's is what it is, and how we can potentially slow it down.

- Well, with that said, what are, you know, some of the things the FDA treatments that can slow the progression of Alzheimer's?

- Yeah, so this is really exciting.

Within the last year, year and a half, there have been a couple of FDA approved treatments.

One is called Leqembi, the other one is called Kisunla.

And we're seeing both of them, they're really working at fighting that amyloid.

And so amyloid plaques and so it's really exciting because they are really for people that have earlier onset, they need to be early on in the disease and there's a process to get approved for it but it is slowing down the progression, which is giving people more time with their family, more time to build memories, more time to plan for the future, and really slowing down the progression.

So we believe that through more research and continued funding, we will get to a place where we may see an era without Alzheimer's disease.

- Hmm.

What are some of the healthy habits for risk reduction?

- Yeah, so this is actually, it's things that we've already heard, right?

Living a healthy lifestyle, staying socially engaged, being a non-smoker, eating well, exercising really and doing those things together in tandem actually show more improvement overall.

So, heart healthy diet, things like that.

It's actually things your doctor actually tells you quite often, right?

And just doing those things can greatly reduce your risk, - What are some of the early warning signs and at what point do you contact your doctor?

- Sure, so there's several, actually 10 different signs, and I'll just go through a few of them.

One of which is pretty common where we start to misplace things, right?

And we aren't able to retrace our steps.

You and I, we all forget things from time to time.

We lose our keys.

This morning I was looking for my phone, right?

But I'm able to retrace my steps, I'm able to follow and get back to it and find it eventually.

For a person that may be developing Alzheimer's disease, they won't be able to retrace their steps or they may have changes in their mood or personality.

So, someone also could have been really well put together and then all of a sudden they're becoming disheveled or maybe not as well kept as they used to be.

So, when you start to notice those things and you think maybe there's a bigger issue going on, that's time to see your doctor.

Anyone can go in and ask a cognitive screen, which is like mini cog at your doctor's office and they'll be able to do it there.

It's a simple test, and if you feel like maybe you need a little more help, then you can ask for a referral to a neurologist.

- Yeah.

How many people in the US suffer from Alzheimer's?

- So, currently right now we have 7.2 million people that are living with Alzheimer's disease that are over the age of 65.

Now, those are just the people that have been diagnosed.

We know that there's a lot of people out there that are living with Alzheimer's that are not diagnosed at this time.

So there's a lot more people living with it than we actually know.

- Can you talk some maybe about the burden on caregivers?

- Yeah, so that's a big one.

A lot of our dementia care service program, that's what we do, is we're supporting caregivers.

We are supporting people that are not only caring for the person that they love, they may be working.

And so, it's a big job.

It's something that no one wants to go through, but they find themselves in the position where they need to take care of, say a parent or a sibling or a neighbor even.

And so, a lot of times there's a lot of added stress and we know that caregivers actually have more health issues because of the stress that they're going through.

And so, we try to lighten the load a little bit by finding supports for them, connecting them with resources, giving them the education and tools that they need to communicate and respond to dementia related behaviors.

All of those things are really important to help reduce the stress for caregivers.

- Yeah.

Are women more susceptible?

- Women are about two-thirds of the population that have Alzheimer's disease.

It's really, we don't know why exactly, but we know that women really do.

We have more risk and do have Alzheimer's at a greater rate.

- Do you find that people would want to know ahead of time if they're gonna have Alzheimer's or a risk of getting it?

- Yeah, so there is a research study that just came out.

It was really fascinating.

It said that four out of five people would want to know if they had Alzheimer's disease, and another study showed that nine outta 10 people would want to know, because then they could actually do something about it.

With our newest and latest treatments that are available, that can help slow down the progression of the disease as well as making a plan for the future and being able to prepare with your family.

So more and more people are opening up to getting a diagnosis or wanting to know more about it.

- Is it inherited?

Can it be passed down in families?

- So this is an interesting question because yes and no.

So people can inherit it.

There is a gene that is a deterministic gene, however, that's extremely rare.

I believe there's only one family in North Dakota that actually has this gene, that says you will develop Alzheimer's disease.

For most other people, it's a variety of factors, factors that are controllable and uncontrollable.

So we have environmental factors like the air quality that we're seeing around.

All of that can impact our risk, right, for developing some form of dementia.

It can be because we have family history.

So, if you have a parent or a sibling that had Alzheimer's disease or has Alzheimer's, your risk is greater.

Now, there's other factors that come into place.

So if you have a family history of diabetes, heart disease, if you yourself have any of those things, knowing your numbers and keeping those numbers under control, that will impact your risk.

So, the better you take care of yourself, your risk goes down.

- Well, as we age, and I'm of that age, we forget names sometimes, or it takes a while to recall a name or the name of a movie or a show.

Are these symptoms or are these just things that go with age?

- So, that's a great question as well.

So, age is the greatest known risk factor for developing Alzheimer's.

We know that Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia is related to age, right?

But we all have those moments, right, where we forget things from time to time.

I forget folks' names all the time, and I have to remind myself, right?

But it's when it's impacting your daily life.

So it's noticeable to others.

You're noticing these things in yourself.

It's something that really is impacting your ability to hold conversation, to socialize with others.

You may be making mistakes at work if you're still working.

So things that are more than just a little bit of forgetfulness that comes along with age.

- Yeah, so what's the annual health healthcare costs associated with Alzheimer's?

- So in the United States, we are looking at $384 billion.

- With a B?

- With a B.

And so we know that within the next 25 years, by the year 2050, the people living with Alzheimer's disease in the United States is going to double, which means across the nation, it's going to equivalate about $1 trillion.

Massive, massive expense.

And that's not including the expense of unpaid caregivers.

So, people that are caring for their family members or loved ones at home, there's an associated cost with that.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- So what support groups or help are available out there?

You've talked a little bit about yours, but what else is out there?

- So, across the nation through the Alzheimer's Association, we have a lot of different support groups.

We have support groups in every state.

In Bismarck here, we have three support groups that meet in person throughout the week.

One is every Wednesday.

We have one on Tuesday evenings and throughout the week.

But we also have them online.

So, if someone isn't able to come and meet with us in person, they can join a support group online.

Sometimes that's the only way to join a support group because you're at home caring for someone that's living with a form of dementia.

We also have a lot of resources on our website.

We offer free education all over the place, virtually, in person.

We try to meet people where they are.

And again, all of our services are free.

So there's no cost to anyone to find support and help.

- Yeah.

Well, I know June is awareness month for it, but understand there's a big walk coming up in Bismarck in October.

- [Joan] Yes.

- Can you tell us about that?

- Yeah, so it's our annual fundraiser, the Walk to End Alzheimer's.

And this happens across the nation and actually in a lot of different cities around North Dakota.

The walk here in North Dakota, we raise funds for basically research.

A lot of our, majority of the funds that we raise go to research.

It's over 70%.

And then other funds help to provide resources for us to deliver our programs and services that we offer.

So the walk is happening on October 11th here in Bismarck at the Capital Grounds.

And I believe we typically start about 9:00 AM in the morning.

- Yeah, for people that contact your organization, you know, I mean, you said your services are free, but are people sometimes shy or reserve in asking for assistance?

- Yeah, yeah.

You know, Alzheimer's disease and any form of dementia is very scary.

And so it does take some gumption, right to be able to step outside of your comfort zone and support and ask for help, right?

And so it is a little bit challenging, but we're finding more and more people that are connecting with us.

They wanna know if they themselves have it or if they have concerns with someone else.

And so, we're finding that that stigma is starting to break down, which is really good.

It means that we're doing our job where people are reaching out and asking for help and trying to find out more.

Maybe they just wanna learn more about it so they can see it in themselves or someone else in the future.

- Yeah, you mentioned that you hoped there would be a cure, but do you ever think there will really be a cure and what would it take to get there?

- So, I believe at some point there will be a cure.

I am hopeful that it would happen in my lifetime, but really, I don't know, right?

It all depends on research.

It all depends on what we're able to do.

Now, what's extremely gives me a lot of hope is the advances that we've made in the last year and a half.

We have come light years within the last 10 years even.

So we know, just like cancer, there's been, you know, it takes time, but once you find treatments that can slow down a disease, there's hope.

It doesn't mean that you might die from it, you might need to go through some treatments, right and slow it down.

So I'm hopeful for that because we do have these treatments available now that are slowing down the progression of the disease, but it's gonna take a lot more research and a lot more funding from across the globe to be able to do this.

And we need to make sure that that happens within the US.

- Well, as we're out of time, if people want more information, where can they go?

- Yeah, so simply just go online.

You can go to az.org/mnnd.

You can find support groups, free education.

You can find out about treatments, about volunteers.

We look for volunteers all of the time.

And also we have a 1800 number where anyone can call from anywhere, anytime.

It's 24/7 helpline so if anyone's struggling or they wanna find out more, that's 800 272 3900.

- Thank you so much for joining us today.

- [Joan] Yeah, thank you for having me.

Appreciate it.

- Stay tuned for more.

(bright music) Traditional Chinese dance is a wonder to behold and watch.

The Chinese Heritage of Recreation and Dance is a group that is keeping this ancient art form alive and well in the Fargo-Moorhead area.

The dancers all have Chinese ancestry and love sharing this with the community.

(Chinese traditional music) - [Speaker] Oh, that's what we live for.

(laughs) I think any dancers can tell you that stage moments are the magical moments.

In the zone, like that's what I feel most natural.

It's almost you just forget about everything.

(Chinese traditional music) - I've always been like a stage girl.

I feel like before I'm like, you know, it's okay and then I like have a little woo and then when I'm on stage, I'm like, I'm rocking this.

- This is surreal for me.

Like today, I never thought I would be able to perform in front of crowd and people that I don't know.

So yeah, it's sort of like dream come true, but it's a surprise dream come true.

- My name's Lexy Liu.

I've been in North Dakota for a little bit over 10 years.

Moved here with my families in 2015.

So as a kid I loved dancing.

It was one of my biggest passion, but I didn't get to dance as much as I wanted to because my parents wanted me to gear toward academic side.

So as adult, I start dancing more and just pursuing it, taking dance classes and kind of learning choreographies or free styling.

So after I moved here in 2015 with my family, the United Chinese American Fargo Moorhead started hosting Chinese New Year celebration.

And that's when like once a year, all the Chinese Americans get together.

So it kind of started slow.

I think it was Yechun.

I call her my dance wife.

We dance together and we are like, we work great together as in court on Chinese Heritage of Recreation and Dance.

So, we started our first long sleeve dance in 2017, I believe, and then just went from there.

- I came to United States in 2002 going to graduate school.

I definitely love dance.

I want to be a dancer when I was little.

I actually dance on my own randomly when I was little at home.

- And then we were like, well, you know, since more people are interested in this art form, why don't we show it to the local folks instead of just keeping it in our small community?

So that's when Annie, Yechun and myself, we organized the Chinese Heritage of Recreation and Dance, that's affiliated with the UCAFM.

And we started having more organized dance practices, recruitment and organizing like public relations to have fine chances to dance in the community.

So, it's been a great journey.

(Chinese traditional music) Traditional Chinese dance, the form, dated back thousands of years to the Dunhuang, the Silk Road they have, the cave paintings that have, it's actually one of the swirl dances that was painted on the wall in the Silk Road.

You kind of got infected that way in a good way.

You learn how the story behind it so the traditional Chinese dance has many genres and there are stories and behind it and the musical instrument are often traditional as well.

So as for the choreography, there's a lot of available on the internet that we can search it up, and then change it to accommodate to our level.

- Then, when we move to this country and realize there's a big cultural differences there.

And also there's surprisingly some common stuff between different art forms or between different dance forms.

And even some moves in Chinese dance are similar to ballet even.

So, it's very interesting to bring it to Fargo in this area, to show people that differences and show them the the common areas.

And then maybe we can sparkle something new.

The style is a mixture of pop song and Chinese opera.

There's a middle part that's a very typical Chinese opera passage, like pretty much every Chinese opera would use that passage to link from section to another section.

- My two apprentices, Gabby and Cadence, they are wonderful learners.

They pick up the choreography so fast.

The long sleeve dance represent the Tang dynasty and the Tambourine dance, which is in Yuan Dynasty, which is like a little bit more modern compared to the long sleeve dance.

(Chinese traditional music) - Being a Chinese American coming from immigrant parents, I feel like I'm losing culture a little bit.

So like being able to dance and perform part of my culture brings me closer to it.

And I feel like I should share that.

- We actually went back to China this summer and I got to take Chinese dance lessons from an instructor and she was very kind and she really dug deep into the roots.

And I think we also do that at dance and we learn about what the dance is really mean, which I feel like would definitely bring me closer to my culture.

- The one thing I like to teach my apprentices is being a dancer doesn't mean like how high you can kick or how many turns you can do is about how you can express yourself through the dance.

So, really imagine yourself in that cultural environment, like in that full moon festival, like you are curious about everything and you're just cheerful.

It's a two hour class normally we have.

Of course, I learned the choreography first and then I will demonstrate and then they practice.

(Chinese traditional music) - We have already started to think about what new dances we are gonna do.

We are pretty ambitious in that.

Yeah, I want the audience to first of all appreciate the music itself.

It's obviously different from people here.

And then just purely enjoy the music, enjoy the visual effect that we created.

- I think this is something I didn't think about when I was in China 'cause I was in it.

It was like not that special.

But while we are living in here, we have less opportunity to practice, to celebrate, and all the special days seem more special.

Therefore, being able to dance with my friends and dance with like my own family and the younger generation means a lot to me because I love Fargo.

I love the whole atmosphere in North Dakota, but I also want to bring more to here because we want to make positive influence to the world.

(Chinese traditional music) - Well, that's all we have for Prairie Pulse this week.

And as always, thanks for watching.

(bright music) - [Narrator] Funded by the North Dakota Council on the Arts and by the members of Prairie Public.

(bright music)