WASHINGTON — U.S. regulators on July 6 formally approved an Alzheimer’s drug developed by Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai Co. and U.S. firm Biogen Inc. that has become the world’s first medicine shown to slow the onset of the degenerative brain disease. The Food and Drug Administration granted its approval for the new drug, known chemically […]
Rose Tajiri, time traveler, a history keeper and a chronicler of Japanese American experience
At first glance, viewers may be a bit perplexed by what’s happening with Rose Tajiri Noda, the 93-year-old central character in “Wisdom Gone Wild,” a new feature documentary by Rose’s Sansei daughter, award-winning filmmaker Rea Tajiri. Rose has dementia, but rather than make a film about the disease of dementia, Rea Tajiri has centered her […]
Caring for people with dementia
Note: In the Nichi Bei Weekly’s Dec. 17, 2020 issue, Dr. Christine Nguyen’s article featured June Yasuhara’s experience caring for her parents, both of whom have dementia. Yasuhara said she thinks dementia is poorly understood, adding, “Not a lot of Asians share about it, and that’s what I’m trying to figure out. Is there still […]
Health registry centers AAPIs
Asian and Pacific Islander community members from California gathered for an online presentation by the Collaborative Approach for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Research and Education the morning of Jan. 23. CARE is a collaboration of multiple academic and community partners: the University of California, San Francisco, UC Davis Health, UC Irvine, National Asian Pacific […]
Her parents survived a bombing and an incarceration camp. Now she’s their caregiver. In San Jose’s Japantown, June Yasuhara learns more about her parents’ dementia daily
June Yasuhara, 55, suffered bouts of severe anxiety all her life. During a major episode, she couldn’t even mail a letter. “You don’t feel you are capable of anything,” she says. Worry about her parents’ health was always a major trigger. So when both her mother and father developed dementia, Yasuhara’s anxiety should have came […]
Keeping an elder loved one connected to culture
These are tough times to find a place for a loved one who needs to be in assisted living or a nursing facility. Even along the West Coast, where most of the Japanese American population is clustered, residential facilities that specialized in Japanese seniors have closed or sold to new owners, and have switched to […]
Youth’s ‘smart’ invention helps elderly and their caregivers
Two years ago, Kenneth Shinozuka’s grandfather began wandering at night, resulting in accidents. Shinozuka witnessed his aunt struggling to stay up at night to watch over her father, who has Alzheimer’s disease. The 16-year-old Shin-Nisei realized that his family is far from alone. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, some 5.2 million people suffer from […]
CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE: Senior service organizations help sandwich generation care for aging parents
In the United States, the typical caregiver is a 48-year-old woman providing care for a relative, according to a 2009 report by the American Association of Retired Persons. The report states that 31.2 percent of U.S. households have had at least one person serve as an unpaid caregiver within a year. The “sandwich generation,” adult […]
Family of dementia patient files wrongful death suit against conservator, transit agencies
The family of a San Francisco dementia patient who died last year filed a wrongful death suit against transit agencies responsible for his transportation and his conservator for what they call elder abuse and negligence. San Francisco attorney Ingrid Evans announced the litigation in a news conference on Feb. 8 with members of Kenneth Chin’s […]
Alzheimer’s Disease: An overlooked killer
Kimochi Inc., a San Francisco Japantown-based nonprofit that provides culturally sensitive care to San Francisco’s seniors, invited the Alzheimer’s Association to present on the disease during a community event. Through a PowerPoint presentation at an event held in Japantown July 18, Edie Yau, director of diversity and inclusion for the association, described the disease, which […]
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