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<p>LUZERNE &#8212; Suppose an older customer asks for Tylenol and you find it for him. Then the customer becomes agitated and says he doesn&#8217;t want Tylenol. He may even curse or yell at you.</p><p>If that happens, Alyssa Maria told a group of pharmacy workers not to get upset. The customer could have Alzheimer&#8217;s disease or another form of dementia &#8212; as do an estimated 1 in 9 people age 65 and older. In that case, it&#8217;s the disease talking and the students shouldn&#8217;t take the unpleasant behavior personally.</p><p>A better reaction is to remain calm and polite, Maria said, and apologize even though you&#8217;ve done nothing wrong.</p><p>&#8220;We always blame ourselves,&#8221; pharmacist Mary Ann Roberts said, explaining she and her co-workers at The Medicine Shoppe pharmacy in Luzerne are already on board with that strategy. &#8220;We say, &#8216;Oh my gosh, I&#8217;m sorry.&#8217;&#8221;</p><p>Maria, owner of the Home Instead Senior Care in Luzerne, shared tips with the pharmacy staff during an early-morning workshop designed to train workers so the pharmacy can be designated an &#8220;Alzheimer&#8217;s Friendly Business.&#8221;</p><p>She talked about physically approaching a person with Alzheimer&#8217;s from the front so as not to startle them, and she discussed redirecting, in which an agitated person is distracted away from the source of their frustration by a question.</p><p>Her Home Instead workers, who provide companionship and personal care in private homes, record pertinent facts about their clients so they can offer such distractions as, &#8220;Could you tell me about that dress factory where you used to work?&#8221; or &#8220;What was it like when you visited your grandparents&#8217; farm?&#8221;</p><p>Because people with Alzheimer&#8217;s have a low threshold for stimulation, Maria said, it can be helpful to offer a simple choice instead of a long litany of possibilities. &#8220;It&#8217;s like with a child when you ask them if they&#8217;d like macaroni and cheese or a hot dog.&#8221;</p><p>With the Alzheimer&#8217;s population in the United States estimated at 5.1 million in 2010 and projected to increase to 13.8 million by 2050, Maria said the challenges of dealing with the disease are &#8220;going to get worse and worse, unfortunately.&#8221;</p><p>Roberts and pharmacist Tony Raineri, who owns The Medicine Shoppe, said they&#8217;ve seen long-time customers become confused, and they&#8217;re glad the staff is able to act as advocates.</p><p>&#8220;Our drivers (who deliver prescriptions to homes) notice when their (customers) clothes are not changed, or the house isn&#8217;t tidy or there&#8217;s food all over,&#8221; Roberts said, explaining the pharmacy tries to contact family members or a family doctor when they become aware of such problems.</p><p>&#8220;Every single person who works here gives more than 100 percent,&#8221; Roberts said. &#8220;Our drivers, they&#8217;ll take out the garbage, change a light bulb.&#8221;</p><p>Another way the pharmacy tries to help people live independently is by providing disposable &#8220;pill boxes&#8221; that contain a week&#8217;s worth of medications, all sorted into separate compartments based on the time of day they&#8217;re to be taken.</p><p>The compartments are see-through and sealed, which is helpful for determining whether someone already took the pills, and a list of all prescriptions is attached to the front of the box.</p><p>The pharmacy is sometimes a customer&#8217;s first point of contact regarding medical matters, manager Eric Leedock said, describing a situation when an individual called and described symptoms of a stroke. The pharmacy directed the caller to waste no time in getting to an emergency room, possibly saving his life.</p><p>&#8220;You guys are great,&#8221; Maria said. &#8220;You&#8217;re on top of it.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Alyssa Maria of Home Instead Senior Care gives the staff at The Medicine Shoppe in Luzerne a workshop on how to deal with customers who have beginning stages of Alzheimer&#8217;s Disease. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_TTL091515alzheimers1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Alyssa Maria of Home Instead Senior Care gives the staff at The Medicine Shoppe in Luzerne a workshop on how to deal with customers who have beginning stages of Alzheimer&#8217;s Disease. </caption0><photoCredit0>Clark Van Orden | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>The Medicine Shoppe staff goes through training</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p><strong>By Mary Therese Biebel</strong></p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>MORE INFO</strong></p><p>Shops, restaurants and other businesses interested in a free training session on how to deal positively with people who have Alzheimer&#8217;s Disease may call Home Instead Senior Care at 570-763-4800. Participants receive a window decal designating them as an Alzheimer&#8217;s Friendly Business.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT</p></shirttailMeta></div>

The Medicine Shoppe in Luzerne becomes an ‘Alzheimer’s Friendly Business’