MCA helping to create awareness of Alzheimer

Star: IPOH: Businesswoman Estee Yong had no idea her mother was suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease when the woman started forgetting her own birthday or whether she had eaten breakfast.
Yong later found out why Chong Choon, 83, had a habit of constantly misplacing her wallet or calling her grandchildren by the wrong names.
The cheerful octogenarian, however, had no problems recalling how she came to Malaya from China at the age of 14 to work in a rubber estate.
“She used to play mahjong with her friends but now they don’t play because she tends to forget things,” Yong said.
“It’s sad but I hope she can recover. She’s always such a bubbly person and she and my father remain a very loving couple to this day,” she added.
Chong was one of two patients whom Datin Seri Wendy Ong and the wives of state assemblymen and members of the Alzheimer’s Disease Foundation of Malaysia visited yesterday.
Wendy, wife of Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting, told reporters that the purpose of the visit was to raise awareness of the little-known disease among people at small towns and villages.
“Our aim is to go beyond Kuala Lumpur to spread the message. We also want to speak to the family members because some of them feel that they should stay away or not mention the disease.
“Some of these caretakers feel helpless because they don’t know where to go or what to do about the disease,” said Wendy, who is the patron of the foundation.
“As a result, the family members and even the patient resort to arguing out of frustration and fear,” she added.
So far, the foundation members have visited patients in Johor, Penang and Singapore. They hope to visit Malacca at the end of the year.
As part of the campaign, the foundation and MCA are organising a public forum with health screening on the disease at Syuen Hotel here on Sept 22 from 1pm to 6pm.
For details, call Jimmy at 012 2910059.