News from the Memory and Aging Program at Butler Hospital
April 15, 2021
Their role is essential to helping research happen, but their impact is not limited to test results. It’s also felt in the personal connections they form with patients – and that’s a key part of what defines the value of working at the program for both of them.
“My mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease at 55 and she died from it at 65. I wish she had been able to participate in the kinds of studies that are being done at the Memory and Aging Program now, but it was before her time,” she says. “It is still hard on the patients and caregivers, of course. But there’s so much more hope now. And I think a lot of them enjoy coming here, because of those connections that we make with them. We take care of them as people, too.”
DeForest is a mom of two young children and an Air Force veteran who served for four years as a medic at Andrews Air Force Base. She’d been working as a phlebotomist for seven years before joining the team at the Memory and Aging Program.
“I’ve been working at the program for about a year now, and I really enjoy that I’m able to spend more time with patients than I would in traditional lab, where it’s not so personal,” she says. “I get to see the same patients every couple of weeks, and spend time with them while they get infusions, so it’s a much more personal experience.”
Charpentier worked in the lab at Butler Hospital for 25 years, right across the hall from the office of Memory and Aging Program Director Dr. Stephen Salloway, until she retired in 2012.
Retirement proved a bit too boring for her though, so when Dr. Salloway called to ask if she’d come to work part-time for the program she accepted. Just as with Deforest, Charpentier says the role has been an interesting and fulfilling one.
“Every study has a different set of rules about what and how to draw and collect specimens, whereas it’s always the same rules when you work for a traditional lab. And you do get to interact with patients much more personally than if they just came in for a one-time blood test from their doctor’s office,” she says.
As with any relationship, Charpentier and DeForest say that those personal connections do come with ups and downs.
“To be able to see patients getting better or being excited about being in a trial is really cool,” DeForest says. “But it also has its downsides, because it’s hard to see people fighting with disease. I have friends who have loved ones that struggle with Alzheimer’s, but I didn’t see a lot of the effects of that before working here."
"It’s really eye-opening to see all that patients and caregivers go through. It makes me that much more ready to go to work, and proud to work with this team of so many smart people all doing things to fight Alzheimer’s. It’s very inspiring.”
For Charpentier, the personal connection doesn’t just come from the patients at the program, but from her own family as well.
“My mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease at 55 and she died from it at 65. I wish she had been able to participate in the kinds of studies that are being done at the Memory and Aging Program now, but it was before her time,” she says. “It is still hard on the patients and caregivers, of course. But there’s so much more hope now. And I think a lot of them enjoy coming here, because of those connections that we make with them. We take care of them as people, too.”