Additional information
by Elizabeth K. Geary (Author)
I started working on Remembery as means of outreach to the countless patients and families out there who are confronting the dementia diagnosis or living with dementia. It evolved over many years, but in the background, dementia began to enter my life on a more personal level. After years of working with patients, my professional life merged with my personal life in 2013. It started slowly. Initially, I was annoyed by the changes in my mother, as I now know that I was in denial. Even when I provided my family with the objective facts, I was met with resistance. I later risked jeopardizing those family relationships in my desire to break through that resistance.
Remembery is part self-help and science and aims to disseminate knowledge about the various forms of dementia. It hopes to demystify the process of diagnosing dementia. Critically, Remembery aims to discuss honestly the changes that may occur so that patients and their families can attempt to engage in some proactive behavior to promote continued independence and aim to maintain a high quality of life.
Remembery wants to share that even something who should have "all the answers" found herself struggling when her mother began evidencing symptoms of early-onset dementia. That sort of learning could not be found in any textbook, but proved invaluable in understanding that dementia impacts the patient and their family in profound ways. That understanding can lead to empowerment. If we finally start talking about dementia, we can start engaging in proactive behaviors that may delay dementia onset. Remembery hopes to engender dialogue about what makes sense for the patient with dementia and their family in particular. We need to start talking honestly about dementia because as a disease, it does not appear to be going away. Dementia is not a shameful condition to be whispered about. It is a health crisis and a crisis we desperately need to find a way to survive.
Remembery has been a finalist in the Memoirs-Career category for the 2025 Next Generation Indie Book Awards and in the Aging category for the 2025 National Indie Excellence Awards. Remembery has proven a useful teaching guide for college and graduate level students interested in neuropsychology and dementia.
