This story was originally published by .
When Kyra Elzy steps onto the court, she often thinks about the coach who helped her get there. In late January, inside Memorial Coliseum, Coach Elzy was thinking about Coach Pat Summitt, as she helped present a check to the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, from the Pat Summitt Foundation.
鈥淚 think Coach Summit would be so proud,鈥 Elzy says. 鈥淪he was always about servant leadership, and paying your blessings forward, and for me and my family to be able to do that, to help find a cure for this awful disease, it鈥檚 heartwarming. I know she鈥檚 smiling down in heaven.鈥
The $25,000 donation comes from the late Tennessee coach鈥檚 foundation, dedicated to finding a cure for Alzheimer鈥檚. Since that day on the court, Sanders-Brown has been using the funds for programs helping both dementia patients and their caregivers. Coach Elzy is familiar with both. Her grandmother had dementia.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e mentally fatigued, you鈥檙e sitting in the house all day, taking care of someone that can no longer do anything for themselves, and until you鈥檝e done it, people do not understand,鈥 she notes. 鈥淚t鈥檚 so difficult I don鈥檛 think people really understand the mental and physical toll that it takes on you, just seeing someone that you love who can no longer remember anything.鈥
Dr. Elizabeth Rhodus is using part of the Pat Summitt donation on sensory kits for caregivers.
鈥淭he more that we can empower caregivers with the skills in the techniques to properly provide care, the more empowered they feel, the less burdened, the less stress, and the calmer the situation between the person with dementia and the caregiver,鈥 says Rhodus. 鈥淲e send out lavender-infused lotion, so that people are getting some tactile input through the body to help them feel calm. We send out what鈥檚 called a tactile brush. It鈥檚 really a silicone brush to help activate the hands, because the hands, the mouth, the feet, are some of the most sensitive areas throughout the entire aging process. So we really want to make sure that people are getting input from their body to their brain.鈥
Dr. Rhodus鈥檚 research in pediatrics helped guide her current work with dementia patients.
鈥淧eople with dementia lose the ability to initiate and to engage with the self soothing activities. So we use a sensory based approach to teach those mechanisms to caregivers, to help the nervous system feel calm,鈥 notes Rhodus.
Copyright 2023 WKYT. All rights reserved.