KAPAA — Judge Kathleen Watanabe said her family needed to be at the Alzheimer’s Walk that spilled onto Ke Ala Hele Makalae Saturday fronting Kapaa Beach Park.
“We just lost Wayne (Watanabe) Tuesday,” Judge Watanabe said of her husband. “He suffered for more than 10 years with Alzheimer’s. Now he’s in a better place and is not suffering.”
The Watanabe family, garbed in commemorative Team Watanabe shirts, was part of over 200 people walking to raise awareness about Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementia diseases.
Walkers could be those who suffer from Alzheimer’s, their caregivers, or those who support the cause.
Laura Marsh, recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, struggled to find the words.
Finally, in frustration, she blurted out, “Alzheimer’s, go away!”
Josie Pablo, the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation Kauai Region recreation director, said staff, residents and volunteers formed Team Mahelona from Samuel Mahelona Memorial Hospital for the walk.
“Several of our residents have Alzheimer’s, and a lot of others live with dementia,” said Pablo.
“The residents went around the hospital and solicited donations and pledges to fight Alzheimer’s. This is something that we will continue to do from now,” she said.
Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard was among the dignitaries sharing their support.
Gabbard’s Kauai liaison, Kaulana Finn, said Alzheimer’s affects more than 29,000 people in Hawaii with 100,000 residents impacted annually.
In the next five years, there is a projected 21% increase in the number of residents in Hawaii with Alzheimer’s.
“This irreversible, costly and progressive brain disorder is one of the leading causes of death in the United States, and affects one in three of our kupuna here in Hawaii,” Finn said.
Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami singled out the efforts of Chloe Waipa, a Girl Scout from Troop 823, who approached his office in search of “dementia friends.”
“We’re doing this to raise awareness about the disease,” Waipa said. “My grandparents were having a hard time, so I wanted to figure what was happening to them.”
Teresa Caires, troop leader, said Waipa’s project is for her Silver Award — the highest achievement possible for a Cadet Scout, and the second-highest in Girl Scouting.
As the walkers led by Steve Kruger departed through a purple arch, an elderly lady, Charlotte Apo, approached emcee Ron Wood with ukulele in hand.
“She played with some of the top entertainers in Hawaiian music. She has had Alzheimer’s for eight years now and, more recently, she suffered a stroke,” said Kauai County Councilmember Felicia Cowden. “Her son Paul Ventura is with her, and through music and cultural practice, has made her healthy.”
Walkers enjoyed breakfast prepared by Arnold Leong and volunteers.
Jasmine Yukimura, an event coordinator, said the totals came up a little short of the $60,000 goal. But people have until Dec. 31 to continue giving.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
Aloha Kakou,
While it’s wonderful to see people get behind and support a community effort by doing a…literally…Walk for a Cause (?)…And it was a Walk to get closer to ridding communities of whatever ails too many people; and in this case it is the dreaded Alzheimer’s.
This “WALK” like so many others for a Cause…is never about finding the actual Cause of the disease problem they are walking for, but to raise money for what intent is never mentioned.
It’s not so much what the money will be used for, but just what are the doctors and scientists in charge of solving the problem actually doing to solve the problem.
When they are looking in that Test Tube for the treatment of Alzheimer’s or any other disease, and it’s always a chemical treatment made into medicines, etc., often lethal like radiation therapy is a killing device. It might behoove our tax dollars and people’s Pain and Suffering and early loss of life to put that test tube back in the drawer and start looking for the Cause of Diseases.
There appears to be an overlap in the Causes of Diseases, just as there is an overlap in the diseases themselves, as many people suffer from dual or multiple diseases at the same time.
It’s been said at least by some doctors and scientists in the business of Alzheimer’s disease, that the prevention of Alzheimer’s is in a TEST TUBE somewhere. It’s just that the well intended doctors and scientists, in their white coated uniforms, are looking into fake test tubes with fake theories.
REALLY? The proverbial test tube solutions and answers that are always out of reach, over the horizon somewhere, and no matter how close it seems to get to that Test Tube, and it’s ingredients, that it just keeps moving further away, out of reach, and just whatever is in that test tube does not prevent the diseases, in this case, Alzheimer’s, nor does it successfully treat it, as all the diseases that science and doctors are seeking treatment for turn up ineffective, empty handed. Oh yes, there is symptomatic relief, but not a reversal of the disease process itself, in spite of the claims.
Why is that? There’s a simple answer. There is really no treatment for disease because disease is an ongoing accumulative process. Doctors and their research cohorts should put aside the Test Tube approach, forget about what chemical (petrochemical) Treatment is hiding in the Test Tube, and that they could sell…at the pharmacy…but instead, the Road to Prevention, Can only be found by finding the CAUSE of disease…and removing the Cause…which amounts to Prevention.
So when the mysterious Cause of Alzheimer’s is found, the only sensible thing one could do to prevent Alzheimer’s is to remove the Cause. Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease, is removing the Cause. And if you are a doctor or scientist and can’t see or understand that then you are practicing FAKE science, or ignoring reality, ignoring the truth, or just plain old enjoying the money people walked for, or people’s tax money earnestly donated by government to find the elusive treatment while watching the sick and diseased continue their sad journey to a shortened and or suffering life.
When the good layman more earnestly asks, what is the Prevention to Alzheimer’s, or any other Disease, the Prevention is removing of the Cause.
In the World of Disease Care, causes are not looked for, but treatments are. Removing the Cause of Diseases removes the need for the sales of the treatments. Remove the need of treatments and the money paid for them dries up. The treatments are chemicals, and those usually petrochemicals, those made from oil or coal, that is, petroleum, which is carcinogenic.
We can win this, the thought of paper, ink, typewriters, and mail, all have become completely or partially obsolete with the computer and email, so too, cameras with film inside have also gone the wayside for the most part with digital phones with cameras.
We can make obsolete the practice (on you) of drugs and surgery by determining the Cause of Disease instead of their treatments. Treatments are profitable with side effects requiring more treatments.
Determining the Causes of Diseases and removing them is non-profitable. Which do you,prefer…living with Health, or fighting Disease with a theoretically obsolete asinine method…that is, drugs and surgery. Of course we are not talking about crisis emergency and injury care. We are talking about the day in and day out process of chronic sickness and disease that promotes the sales of prescription and over the counter self treatment drugs that almost the entire population of our nation relies on, making us a sick and weakened nation by the profits of fake health care, which is disease managing care. Managing the perpetuation of disease is read or removing the causes.
Petrochemical treatments are found in the proverbial test tube, and under the microscope, looking to find another unproven, and changed every 6 to 12 months chemical drug treatment, for another ineffective and unsafe treatment. TV ads for drugs come and go when the drug proves to,be ineffective, or causes too many side effects, or the lawyers with TV ads force it off the market.
Sadly this is what science has deteriorated to. Our brilliant science minds looking for a different pill for every ill. And while the drug treatments allow you to happily go along in your now shortened life, the drugs are managing your disease while your signs and symptoms are being masked or hidden from you, but when it comes to restoring your health the results are zero, and when it comes to the monetary income of the business of disease, it’s an annual, year after decade, ever increasing $4 Trillion dollars a year with only the doctors, hospitals, pharmacy, drug companies, and insurance companies reaping the $$$ benefits, while the public is weeping the loss of lives and love by disease and drug induced shortened life Longevity…along with the pain and suffering associated with disease.
$4Trillion, and not one thin dime spent on looking into the causes of disease.
Well there are exceptions, science hands down knows that nicotine is highly, no extremely addictive, and tobacco tar and the added and existing chemicals in tobacco Cause lung cancer. Yet buy a 1,000 brands of cigarettes on every street corner “convenience” store, along with gallons of alcohol of every flavor, and over the counter drugs sold by the bushel, and snacks crammed with buckets of sugars, flavors, preservatives, chemicals, and aromas…and people are naively willing to wait for disease to rear its ugly head so that in another test tube another treatment can be developed and sold to you with the aid of your “health” insurance company, drug company (petrochemicals), pharmacy, hospital, and doctor.
Makes you wonder just whose side are they on? We deserve better…!
A factoid is a lie you hear or read over and over until you finally believe it. Yes it’s used in science, advertising, pollution, and poison, and even thousands of years ago in religious belief and Blind Faith…at least with Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy people, like when they are older children wake up and appreciate the ruse of childhood fantasies in spite of the fact that those little white lies are the start of Blind Faith leading to later belief in horrendous lies that cures are found in test tubes, though none so far have been found.
The troubling thing about the Test Tube theory, as it applies to disease is that the “test tube” is used to find treatments but not the Causes of Disease.
The interesting thing about Walking for a Cause, albeit be A to Z, that is, Alzheimer’s to Zits, is that walking is a an actual 100% act of participating in HEALTH CARE itself. You see, because Life = Motion…proof is: All Dead Things don’t Move…! KEEP WALKING, daily…!
Get out there and walk, it does a body good. Wish there was time today to explain the Cause(s) of too many diseases.
In today’s age today they have many varied medical screenings designed to find disease and sell you a treatment: just come in for a check up and see your doctor, who most believe in the unproven so far test tube theory, and that Is because that is all they are taught. After all you only know what you have learned. And if that is all you learned, that is all you know.
We can’t fault our doctors, but we do Deserve Better.
Imagine one day doctors will meet all their patients on the same day at the same time at the same healthy place with air and go for a walk to tolerance and ability) and as physicians they will teach while they walk about the Causes of Disease and about the proactive things one should do every day to promote their own Health Care. That we deserve.
There are a few factors that actually enhances this illness and should stop its usage in toothpaste and drinking water such as fluoride. Like muscles, the brain needs to be exercised and one not live a life of routine endeavors, but instead use one’s brain in multi-tasking and utilizing complex challenging brain work, which in turn will encourage brain dentrix connections