Discover the importance of dementia screenings during Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month at UT Tyler’s Memory Assessment and Research Center (MARC). Learn how these free screenings can make a significant difference for older adults who might not be able to afford them otherwise.
And hear the critical role neuropsychology plays in brain-related issues, the support services MARC offers, its partnership with the Alzheimer’s Alliance of Smith County, and the progress made in treating dementia.
Mike Landess: For UT Tyler Radio, I’m Mike Landess. June is Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month, and UT Tyler is offering free dementia and other brain-related screenings. It’s part of UT Tyler’s Memory Assessment and Research Center directed by Dr. Michael Barnett. With us today to talk about those free screenings and the work of the center is third-year clinical psychology doctoral student Logan Guillory. Welcome.
Logan Guillory: It’s a pleasure to be here.
Mike Landess: Let’s talk about the free screenings. How and where are they done?
Logan Guillory: Yes, sir. So, what you can do is you can just call us up there at the clinic, and so we can give like, it usually takes about 5 to 8 minutes. We can just do it right there over the phone, as far as just an “ice screener.” We’ll be able to tell you if we see anything that’s possibly flagged and whether we think that you probably also need a full clinical evaluation, also free of charge. And so, the clinical evaluations that we do are very thorough. It’s exactly what you would see in a professional context, and those price ranges for that can usually be around $2,000. And so, it’s a lot of good bang for your buck as far as what we’re doing is exactly what the professionals are doing in a non-teaching clinic, and it’s free of charge.
Mike Landess: Where are they done? They’re done here in Tyler, right?
Logan Guillory: Yes, sir. They’re done at the Memory Assessment Research Center, so the MARC. We are located at 3531 South Broadway Ave., and we’re housed inside the Alzheimer’s Alliance Center of Smith County. They’re partners with everything, and so they handle a lot of our different patients who will need therapy and stuff after, and so it’s a collaborative effort. Yes, sir.
Mike Landess: Dr. Barnett has said that the goal of the screenings is to reach as many older adults as possible who might not have the resources for the help they need. How big an issue is this in East Texas?
Logan Guillory: So, with East Texas, it is definitely a situation where we do not have as many resources here as we would in, say, some of the metro areas such as Dallas or Houston or Austin. That can actually be something that’s pretty common with neuropsychology. It’s kind of a little niche specialty, and so I guess an important thing, too, is talk about what we do with neuropsychology–and so what we’re looking at is really the psychological disorders that affect overall the brain working, such as cognition, memory, executive functioning, attention, all those different things. And so really what we’re looking at, too, and to get back to your question — I’m sorry — is frankly, we have a lot of people who are on Medicare or Medicaid here at the end of life, and there are certain situations, and a good bit of the time, where those insurance coverages maybe won’t cover something like this. So people will have to pay a good amount of money out of pocket, and so this kind of does start to weed itself out to really those older adults who are only pretty well off there at the later years, unless they have some really awesome insurance coverage. But a lot are going to have more of that Medicare, Medicaid, or they’ll have to pay out of pocket. And not everybody has $2,000 to $3,000 just laying around.
Mike Landess: You’ve worked in the neuropsychology field with patients for about 5 years. What made you want to pursue a doctorate in this field?
Logan Guillory: To be honest, it was a fear of needles and blood, so I could not go into medical school. It was a “no” for me, but I always just found the brain fascinating. I was always kind of one of those people who found just natural curiousness, I guess, always one to explore things. And so it was something that really interests me, and it was always the brain. And being able to see people and help those coming to you in a neuropsych setting. People don’t just wake up in the morning and say, “Man, I need to see a neuropsychologist.” Typically, it’s kind of after they’ve been passed around doctor to doctor, and we haven’t really found a whole lot of solutions. And so a lot of times people whom we see, it’s kind of people who are there, kind of the end of their rope as far as that hopefulness, and, like gosh, “I really just want to figure out what’s wrong with me.” That’s what really got me engaged with it. And being able to help people that, frankly, they’re pretty down on their luck now. And so it’s always a really good blessing to give those families closure, give the patients closure. And here at the MARC, we work strictly, or predominantly, with older adults, so about 55 and up, for more of a gero-psychology clinic. We focus on those specialties, such as the different dementias, which would be one of the most popular ones: Alzheimer’s that everybody talks about and hears about. We also do Lewy Body, traumatic brain injuries and vascular dementia, which is anytime somebody can go through heart attack, heart surgery, causing fluctuations in that blood flow in the brain. And that can then lead to dementia-like settings taking charge.
Mike Landess: You used the term “MARC,” which is the acronym for the center itself, the Memory Assessment and Research Center. It provides patient services and research, but it also offers therapeutic services for caregivers and family members of those suffering from brain-related issues. Can you tell us about that?
Logan Guillory: Absolutely. Yes, sir. So that is going a lot hand-in-hand with our partnership with the Alzheimer’s Alliance of Smith County. They do some awesome work over there, and usually what we can do as well, is if we’re in a feedback session, and we’re bringing in a patient and the family to talk about their report with them, the diagnosis they found. If it’s something that is along a pretty significant diagnosis such as Alzheimer’s or something like that, and they didn’t really kind of have an idea that was going to be coming, a lot of times we’ll bring in one of the counselors. Her name is Ms. Kathy McCabe over there at Alzheimer’s Alliance. And so, she’ll actually sit in with the feedback with us. And so that way, we can kind of start to build that rapport and that connection between her and that upcoming, you know, hopefully, counseling client, and they do some awesome work as far as just individual therapy. They also do some social clubs for those who do have such, you know, are kind of going through those cognitive impairments, and so they can still socialize. Because we found with research that a lack of socialization during this time can actually bring about more significant cognitive deterioration, rather than if somebody is staying engaged in conversations, you know, just getting out there in the public. But yes, also as far as family members and those primary caretakers, because this can be a lot on them as far as if it’s a mother or brother or sister, whatever it is, that can take a toll. But also, if they’re the primary caretaker, that’s a full-time job. Because one of the things and one of the sayings that I heard about two weeks ago that makes a lot of sense to me, is this is an irrational disease. And so, people who try and make sense of it, people who try and predict what’s going to be coming, you can’t predict things that could just be irrational. Because as Alzheimer’s progresses, we’re going to see the different learning functions, and all of those things where it’s outside of that box. And so, caretakers sometimes just need that support system, know what it’s like from other people to hear their story, and then, “Oh, I’m going through that, too.”
Mike Landess: How would you judge the progress in identifying and treating Alzheimer’s and dementia so far? What kinds of progress might be seen in the future as well?
Logan Guillory: I believe I just saw a report that we had about three different new Alzheimer’s treating medications that are hitting the market, hitting kind of case trials and case studies here this past year. The older adult population here in this country is actually the fastest-growing demographic, so it’s very important. We need to keep building this research, but it definitely seems like we’re along the right track.
Mike Landess: Our guest has been Logan Guillory of UT Tyler’s Memory Assessment and Research Center, or MARC. For more information about the dementia screenings in Tyler, you’ll find the link on our website, kvut.org. There you’ll also find this interview to hear again or to share. I’m Mike Landess for UT Tyler Radio.
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