For many in caregiving situations, the holidays can be really tough. Adding to the difficulty are memories — both positive and negative ones. To make things worse, it's also the time when everyone else is cheerful, yet you still have to face the struggle.

For those who are no longer caregivers, it can be especially difficult to remedy the memories of the past with your present, whether from moving the loved one into a facility or in the event they’ve passed on. It's the uncomfortable part of being human, the "touchy-feely" mess that we try desperately to ignore.

I lost my mother to Alzheimer's in 2015. Looking back on that long and painful journey, which many call "the long goodbye", I regret that we didn't make better decisions at the earliest stages. Fear, unnecessary shame and stigma, and lack of information all contributed to a process that - above all else - deprived mom of a voice in her care as the disease progressed.

How did we make the mistakes we did in an age where any information we needed resided in the cell phones in our pockets, instantly accessible anywhere, anytime? I believe the answer is that the way we talk about the disease still perpetuates every negative notion we have about it. To put a twist on the famous Steve Jobs quote, we need to "talk differently".

To do our part, we've invited a panel of industry leaders and experts to share their advice, insight and encouragement on virtually every aspect of the disease.  Together, we're Turning on The Dialogue about Alzheimer's and dementia.

Our goals are straight forward and bold: We hope to inspire earlier detection and diagnosis, better brain (and body) health, better quality of life, better quality of care, and a wholesale change in the way people with the disease think about themselves. 

Jeff