When asked when Alzheimer’s Disease was first detected, there are those who claim it was back in 2000 BC. No one’s around nowadays who was there when that was revealed. But for centuries the loss of memories was written off as a condition of aging. Then in 1906 Alois Alzheimer addressed the 37th Congress of Psychiatrists of Southern Germany about a 51-year-old woman, Auguste Deter. Following her death, he had found abnormal clumps and tangled bundles of fibers in her brain, which are now known as amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles.
Over the years, like other insidious diseases, Alzheimer’s was discovered not to be picky. It hit all sexes, ages, races and socio-economic groups.
Thanks to advancements of research and technological developments, the Alzheimer’s Association was formed in 1980. Just nine years later, AWARE Dallas Founder Evelyn Ponder and First-Elect President Cyndy Hudgins led a small group of passionate and civic-minded Dallas women to create AWARE Dallas.
It was during that same year in 1989 that Kim “Kimmmie” Palmisano married David McDavid Jr. on April 29. Their life together of raising a family and having plans of growing old together took a definite turn when in 2018 Kimmie was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at the age of 51. They were tireless in raising funds, battling the disease and helping each other cope with the disease’s demands until her death this past March.
But David has not given up raising funds to fight the disease. He has signed on to raise more funds by chairing the 2025 Boots, Buckles And Brain Health on AWARE’s 35th anniversary.
AWARE President Karen Koop has revealed that Sally and Forrest Hoglund, Biddie and Lee Roy Jordan, Venise and Larry Stuart and the late Ellen Terry’s children Amy Terry Kriegel and Todd Terry will serve as honorary co-chairs emeriti. Serving as honorary co-chairs will be Bo and Jeff Parker.
The 2025 AWARE award recipients will be Founder’s Spirit Award Venise Stuart and Amy Osler Spirit of Education Leadership Karisti Julia.
While the attire will be “Cowboy Chic,” the hottest look of the night will be worn by the gents (Sam Chantilllis, Pat Crow, Bart Humphrey, Mason McDavid, Tim O’Connor, Greg Osler and Tim O’Connor) in their Purple Coat of Hope. Started years ago by David in honor of Kim, he had coats made in purple since that color represented Alzheimer’s. Over the years the coats have been a favorite Live auction item at the AWARE Affair.
The fundraiser will return to Gilley’s on Friday, April 4, for a night that will include a buffet dinner just made for grazing, the Breckenridge Band providing the music for boot scooting dancing, both silent and live auctions and “a meaningful evening with friends and family, while raising money for AWARE Dallas’ 2025 beneficiaries” that include the following:
- Baylor Scott And White Dallas Foundation: Support toward the salary of a Care and Support Specialist at the Baylor Scott and White Memory Center. The Specialist guides patients and families with education, training, support groups, elder law, financial planning, and a 24/7 helpline.
- Bishop Arts Theater Center: Support for the continuation and expansion of the Creative Aging Program. The program incorporates stories, music, visual arts, and dance to improve the quality of life for individuals with Alzheimer’s and other related dementias living in predominantly low-income memory care facilities.
- Center for Brain Health: (The University of Texas at Dallas) Support for printing and distributing 1,000 copies of the “Guide to Proactive Steps (GPS),” a resource book for people affected by Alzheimer’s, and for developing and launching GPS seminars and one-on-one consultations.
- Dallas Symphony Association: Support for DSO Cares, a series of free, one-hour concerts presented within senior living facilities and hospitals in the greater Dallas community. The program features chamber music performances by select DSO musicians who perform in duets, trios, or quartets for audiences.
- For Love and Art: Support for the continuation of the Celebrating the Art Experience, an hour-long therapeutic visual arts engagement program that is presented by volunteer “Art Angel” docents in memory care facilities throughout the greater North Texas area. Docents showcase art images from partner museums around the world and stimulate conversations with program participants.
- Jewish Family Service of Greater Dallas: Support for the Older Adults Program to expand in-home mental health counseling, care management, and daily living support to older adults living with Alzheimer’s and related dementias, allowing them to remain living in their own home.
- Juliette Fowler Communities: Support for Fowler’s campus-wide dementia care initiatives which include the Continuation of Cognitive Health, I’m Still Here®, Dementia Friendly Dallas, music therapy, and caregiver support.
- NorthPark Presbyterian Church: Support for Casa de Vida, a program at the church designed to give respite relief to caregivers by providing trained one-on-one care for individuals living with Alzheimer’s and other related dementias.
- Plano Symphony Orchestra: Support for Healing Notes, a program designed to provide free music-therapy concerts by professional musicians to residents with Alzheimer’s and related dementias who live in predominately low-income memory care centers.
- The Senior Source: Support for Senior Companions, a program that matches compassionate and trained older adult volunteers with home-bound older adults living with Alzheimer’s and related dementias to provide respite to family caregivers and help with meals, errands, and light housekeeping.
- Stomping Ground Comedy Center: Support for Improv for Caregivers, a fun and interactive program that uses improvisational comedy techniques to teach effective communication skills that are specific to the needs of individuals with Alzheimer’s and related dementias.
- Texas Winds Musical Outreach: Support for the Concerts for Seniors program, which provides interactive concerts in nursing homes and adult day care facilities bringing joy, relief from isolation, and peace to individuals affected by memory loss.
- The University of Texas at Dallas (Lab of Dr. Chandramallika Basak): Support for the purchase of a portable Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) system that will include physiological measures, allowing for neural and physiological data collection from various locations in the brain, add convenience to patients, and allow the expansion of the study of brain aging beyond the laboratory.
- The University of Texas at Dallas (Lab of Dr. Kristen Kennedy): Support to add measures of newly discovered blood-based markers of neural and glial structural health to the University’s NIH funded longitudinal study. If these new cellular markers that are readily available from a simple blood draw can be closely linked with how well brain cells are aging or degrading, then powerful, noninvasive biomarkers can be found for early detection of Alzheimer’s disease.
- Wilshire Baptist Church: Support for Friday Friends, a program addressing the need to provide respite to those who care for a dementia relative at home, and who have little or no assistance for relieving them of the constant care and supervision of their loved one, while providing a stimulating day of art, music and games for the individual with Alzheimer’s.
- Myrna D. Schlegel AWARE Scholarship Fund: Support for nursing students at Baylor University, Texas Women’s University, and Texas Christian University toward their studies in gerontology, especially in the field of dementia.
* Graphic/photo provided by AWARE Dallas ** Photo credit: Rob Wythe