ALZHEIMER’S ADVOCATE
Pat
Summitt
CRUSADER
FOR THE ELDERLY
Irene Zola
IRENE ZOLA LOVED to boast
to friends about her elderly
mother’s independence. Not
only did her mom, Faye, live
by herself into her 90s; she
also “drove until she was 91
and played piano at family
functions,” says Zola, 66.
After a stroke at 97, however,
Faye was left partially para-
lyzed and had to move into
a nursing home. Her first
night there, Zola recalls, “I
found my mother moaning
in bed with all her clothing
and bedding soaked in
urine.” Faye passed away a
few months later, but Zola
couldn’t sleep, thinking
about her mother’s plight.
Not long afterward she
founded Lifeforce in Later
Years, a nonprofit whose
goal is to improve the quality
of life for every community’s
oldest members. The first
project? Morningside Village,
which pairs 57 seniors in
Manhattan with 70 volun-
teers, who help with such
tasks as grocery shopping,
preparing meals, and getting
to doctors’ appointments.
Morningside has been such
a success that Zola has put
together guidelines to help
other communities across
the country develop similar
groups. “The volunteers get
very close to their seniors,”
Zola says. “They really start
to feel as though they’re
family.” —Natasha Stoynoff
FOR 37 SEASONS Pat
Summitt, the head coach
of the Tennessee Lady Vols
basketball team, has taught
her players three values:
dedication, the refusal to give
up, and the commitment to
honesty. In August 2011 she
displayed those same traits,
as well as her legendary
toughness, in announcing
her diagnosis of early-onset
Alzheimer’s disease. “There’s
not going to be any pity party,
and I’ll make sure of that,”
declared Summitt, 59, who
has never had a losing season.
Summitt has won eight NCAA
national championships,
and as of press time she’d
won 1,071 games, more than
any other NCAA college basketball coach. She is not yet
displaying symptoms severe
enough to make her step
down and has told her players
she will stay on at her post
“as long as the good Lord is
willing”—three more years,
if possible. “I just want them
to understand that this is
what I’m going through, but
you don’t quit living,” she said.
“You keep going.” —Alanna Nash
