Houston neurologist helps create website to connect families caring for loved ones with dementia find support

HOUSTON — November is Alzheimer's Awareness Month and according to the Alzheimer's Association, nearly 7 million Americans ages 65 and older are living with the neurodegenerative disease.

While we often talk about the disease's impact on those diagnosed, we don't always talk about its effect on the family and friends who care for them. One Houston neurologist is hoping to change that.

Neurologist Dona Murphey, the founder of website PrognosUs , hopes her platform can give caregivers a place to find support in each other.

"This caregiving journey in dementia, it is profoundly sad, it is frustrating, it is confusing. There is a lot of resentment, I think, that people have and a lot of what we do is provide the space and resources to heal through relationships with other people who are going through the same thing at the same time and in the same place," Murphey said.

For Laura Lam, a single mother, the caregiving journey hasn't been easy.

"It's very challenging for sure," Lam said. "You lose a lot of your identity and every day is just spent doing the caregiving tasks."

But she said she no longer feels alone thanks to her support system, which includes Murphey. The two met through PrognosUs.

The website offers more than 400 short story audio recordings in multiple languages from caregivers in the community sharing their experiences and challenges that come with being a caregiver.

"When you go to a website and you are struggling with your loved one who is now wandering, or who is aggressive and agitated, and you don't know what to do, it is one thing to read about what the definition of wandering behavior is and the bullet point list of things you should do, and another thing entirely to actually hear a caregiver telly ou in context of that experience what they did," Murphey said. "That is much more powerful in learning."