Free Alzheimer's Educational Conference for Illinois residents

ILLINOIS (WAND) - The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (AFA) will host a free virtual Alzheimer’s educational conference for Illinois residents on Wednesday, May 4, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. CST as part of its 2022 national Educating America Tour.

The conference, which is free and open to everyone, will allow participants to learn from, and ask questions of, health and caregiving experts. To register, go to www.alzfdn.org/tour.

“Knowledge is a useful and powerful tool that can help make any situation easier to navigate, especially something as challenging as caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease,” said Charles J. Fuschillo, Jr., AFA’s President & CEO. “Connecting families with useful, practical information and support that can help them now and be better prepared for the future is what this conference is all about. Whether Alzheimer’s is affecting your family, you are a caregiver or just want to learn more, you can participate in this free virtual conference from the comfort of your home or office.”

Sessions during the AFA virtual conference will include the following presentations:

Testamentary Capacity and Delirium - a discussion with Sanford Finkel, M.D., regarding research undertaken to assess one’s testamentary capacity and identify questions that should be asked in cases where someone changes their will or estate plan towards the end of their life in the presence of delirium.

Dr. Finkel is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Chicago Medical School and a member of AFA’s Medical, Scientific and Memory Screening Advisory Board.

A Dementia Diagnosis – Now What? – Amy Delaney, Founding Partner of Delaney Delaney & Voorn, Ltd., in the Chicagoland area, will advise on legal strategies that must be considered after a diagnosis of dementia, including levels of capacity required to execute certain estate planning documents, how family members can help the process of estate planning, obtaining medical evidence to support competency, and what to do if the window of opportunity for estate planning has closed.

Amy is a board member and President of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) in Illinois, is a Certified Elder Law Attorney by the National Elder Law Foundation, and professor emeritus of The John Marshall Law School.

A Caregiver’s Testimony – Chicago’s Luisa Echevarria will talk about her own experiences as a caregiver to her mother and grandmother, both of whom lived with Alzheimer’s disease. She will discuss what strategies worked for her and offer caregiver tips to help improve quality of life.

Luisa is a member of the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America’s Board of Directors and is involved with numerous Chicago-area community organizations. She is the former Director of Community Empowerment for Univision Communications Inc. in Chicago.

For more information or to register, go to www.alzfdn.org/tour.