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BATON ROUGE — At mid-night on Aug. 13, the flood-waters began to flow intoEllen Sager’s Baton Rouge

home.Her husband grabbed some

important family documents, thenthe couple gathered some snacksand headed to a room on the sec-ond floor with their two teenagechildren.

Sager assumed the waters wouldrecede and the family could returnwithin several hours. But after

spending the entire next day coopedup in the room, the Sagers had tobe evacuated from their block byboat. The water had risen to fourfeet outside the house and to twofeet on the first floor.

Now their belongings sit in a heapon their front lawn. The house hasbeen gutted — baseboards, floormolding and walls all removed —leaving a shell. With flood insur-ance, the Sagers have rented fur-niture and moved into athree-bedroom apartment, wherethey will live for the next six months.

The high school their son anddaughter attend has moved into achurch. They and their classmateswon’t have lockers and will be lim-ited by space to one notebook each.

“People are paralyzed,” said Sager,executive director of the Jewish Fed-eration of Greater Baton Rouge.“People don’t know what to do.You’rewatching your life being hauledaway into a dumpster and you needto start all over.”

Sager’s was among 34 Jewish fam-ilies who lost their homes in theflooding that has hit the BatonRouge area since Aug. 12, whenheavy rains led rivers to overflowand fill whole neighborhoods. Thir-teen people have died in the floods.

The Baton Rouge Area Cham-ber, a local business group, has esti-

A lzheimer’s disease can liedormant in the humanbrain for 20 years beforeit attacks. Once it reaches

the end stage, the disorder haswreaked irreparable brain dam-age. Death is inevitable.

This explains researchers’ rigor-ous attempts to prevent Alzheimer’sbefore it’s too late, according toDr. Huntington Potter, vice chairof basic research at CU AnschutzMedical Campus and one of theworld’s preeminent Alzheimer’sinvestigators.

“It’s very important thatAlzheimer’s research be directedin two major ways,” he says. “Oneis in early detection, and the oth-er concerns successful interven-tion to either prevent the diseaseor treat it once it develops.

“We think it’s going to bealmost impossible to find a mag-ic bullet cure for people withsevere Alzheimer’s disease andmake them better. They havelost so many nerve cells in thebrain. So far we have not beenable to regenerate large num-bers of brain cells.”

Potter says that preventiontherapies must be administeredbefore the disease reaches thepoint of no return.

“We have to identify people,preferably in their 50s oryounger who are at greater riskfor developing Alzheimer’s, sothat drugs currently underinvestigation can be appliednow,” he says.

“Prevention, early detectionand diagnostic research mustgo together.”

CU researchers are current-ly conducting two major studies.

The Leukine (pharmaceuticalname for Granulocyte Macrophage-CSF) intervention trial that Lin-da Forrest just finished is thefirst human trial for the drug,whichhas improved cognitive function incancer patients undergoingchemotherapy and in animals withAlzheimer’s.

Participants in the Leukine tri-al, expected to expand from threeweeks to three months and per-haps longer,are in the mild to mod-erate Alzheimer’s range.

If the Leukine study is success-ful, the drug also will be tested inindividuals with Down syndrome,a dominant precursor forAlzheimer’s disease.

(On Aug. 2, Potter received a$1 million grant from theAlzheimer’s Association to conductfurther studies on Leukine, neuro-inflammation and Alzheimer’s.)

P otter’s second area ofresearch further investi-gates the irrefutable linkbetween Alzheimer’s disease

and people with Down syndrome,most of whom will developAlzheimer’s.

Potter, head of the Alzheimer’sdisease program at the Linda CrnicInstitute of Down Syndrome, firstsuggested a strong relationshipbetween the disorders in 1991.

He has sought mutually bene-ficial therapies ever since.

Alzheimer’s disease can startforming in people with Down syn-drome in their teenage years oras early as infancy, says Potter,whojoined CU Anschutz in 2012.

“By the time they are 30 or 40,they have full-blown Alzheimer’sin the brain.And by 50, most Downsyndrome patients are demented.It’s very sad.”

Like Alzheimer’s patients, peo-ple with Down syndrome havethree copies of chromosome 21, theAlzheimer’s gene.

Simply put, Alzheimer’s diseaseand Down syndrome have the samepathology.

The CU Anschutz study moni-

tors current cognitive function andbrain scans of persons withAlzheimer’s and individuals whohave Down syndrome.

Their progress is recorded overthe next five to 10 years.

“Will people with Down syn-drome develop Alzheimer’s, or

Please see ALZHEIMER’S on Page 17

By ANDREA JACOBSIJN Senior Writer

By ANDREA JACOBSIJN Senior Writer

By BEN SALESJTA

Jews flooded in Macedonia — Page 13

Vol. 103, No. 35 Av 22, 5776 AUGUST 26, 2016 © Published every Friday, Denver, CO $1.75

INTERMOUNTAIN

JEWISH NEWSWWW.IJN.COM

®

CANDLELIGHTING DENVER 7:21 p.m. BOULDER 7:23 p.m. ASPEN 7:28 p.m.

Curtainsforkashrut?Shalom Cares vote set Sept. 19

The creation and evolutionof Shalom Park — the Jew-ish community’s skillednursing home and con-

tinuum of care campus — derivefrom the Beth Israel Hospital andHome for the Aged, erected in1923 in the heart of Denver’s WestSide Jewish community.

Beth Israel Hospital and Homemandated kashrut (kosher food)

for its residents and continueddoing so until it closed.

By August, 1992, communityleaders had raised millions of dol-lars to open a successor institu-tion — Beth Israel at ShalomPark, a skilled and intermediate-care nursing facility — at 14800E. Belleview Dr. in Aurora.

The founders of the new facil-ity, later renamed Shalom Parkas the campus grew, sustainedthe kashrut policy that had beenin place for decades.

The iconic Denver Jewish land-mark, now called Shalom Cares,provides OU-standard kosherfood under the supervision ofScroll K, the Vaad Hakashrusof Denver. It is the largest kosherkitchen in the intermountainarea.

But the future of the kashrutpolicy is imperiled.

Shalom Park’s upcoming voteon a proposal to eliminate itskashrut requirement has ignit-

Please see KASHRUT on Page 16

Please see FLOODING on Page 18

Policy stretchesback to 1923

Dr.Huntington Potter,vice chair ofresearch at CU Anschutz and a pre-eminent Alzheimer’s researcher.

T H R E E - PA R T S E R I E S

A L Z H E I M E R ’ SPart III: Detection & Prevention

INSIDEBusiness.....................................13Classifieds .................................19Columnists..........................15, 23Editorials ..................................24Leisure ......................................12Lively Opinion ...........................4Obituaries .................................20Readers Speak............................5Shmoos ......................................22Synagogues & Calendar .........21Today’s Life..............................11

Weekly Calendar, Sports 14

PART THREE

RESEARCH

ALZHEIMER’S3-Part IJN Series

Floods

Jewish young adult volunteers from New Orleans help with themassive clean-up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Aug. 20. Up to110,000 homes have been affected; 100,000 people have appliedfor disaster relief from FEMA. Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans

N EW YORK (JTA) — Some30 people attended thefuneral in New York for awoman they did not know

in response to a Facebook plea bya rabbi’s daughter.

The rabbi learned at the ceme-tery that Stein had been a musi-cian and teacher at the JuilliardSchool.

Francine Stein, 83, was buriedAug. 17 following a graveside funer-al at Temple Israel Cemetery inBlauvelt, in suburban RocklandCounty.

Ora Weinbach, a New Jersey highschool teacher, had made the Face-book request for mourners to beat the service conducted by herfather, Rabbi Elchanan Weinbach.

The post read: “Huge mitzvahopportunity. A woman is beingburied tomorrow who has LITER-ALLY NO ONE attending her funer-al, other than the funeral home

No one tobury her . . .Online mitzvah in aNew York cemetery

Please see BURIAL on Page 18

will they stay cognitively normaland healthy?” Potter inquires.“If so,what is in their blood protein pat-tern that predicts whether or notthey will get Alzheimer’s?”

Alzheimer’s disease and Downsyndrome are two sides of the same

coin, he wrote in 2012. “Studyingthem together will best hasten thedevelopment of new treatments forboth.”

P otter, 66, began amplifyingthe quest for early detectionand preventative methodsto halt the progression of

Alzheimer’s ever since the defiantdisease first sparked his curiosity.

Trained in genetics, physics andbiochemistry, “I was always inter-ested in how diseases develop,” saysPotter, who came to CU Anschutzafter a laudable career as aresearcher and professor at Har-vard, his alma mater.

“A student who was an expert inAlzheimer’s disease wanted to joinmy lab. I had gone to a meeting onAlzheimer’s in Switzerland and wasintrigued because it is both a genet-ic and biochemical disease.

“Alzheimer’s was the most impor-tant neurological problem facing us,and I was in the neurology depart-ment. Everything fit together.”

Intense competition for fundingsources in no way diminishesresearchers’ admiration for oneanother. They hold disparate dataup to one discerning light.

Potter is enthusiastic about pre-liminary results from a trial thatwere reported at the recent inter-national Alzheimer’s Association con-ference in Montreal.

“Researchers targeted an enzymewe call base,”he says.“We know fromanimal models that if we reducethe amount of base enzymes, thereare going to be less cognitive prob-lems as the mouse ages.

“This is the first human trial ofa base inhibitor, and so far it lookslike it did what it was supposed todo — reduce the amount of abetapeptides (proteins found in amy-loid deposits). This was spectacular.

“We don’t know yet whether ithelps cognition in human beings.But we’re hopeful.”

Researchers at CU Anschutz con-duct numerous trials simultaneous-ly. Regardless of how long it takes,the focus is producing novel, bene-ficial therapies. “One trial we devel-oped was based on the fact thatpeople with rheumatoid arthritis(RA) never develop Alzheimer’sdisease,” Potter says. “They seemto be protected about tenfold.

“At first we thought this mightbe due to the anti-inflammatory painkilling drugs they take. By hap-penstance, those drugs also prevent-ed inflammation in the brainassociated with Alzheimer’s disease.

“That approach didn’t show any-thing beneficial in Alzheimer’spatients, so we moved to mildlycognitive impaired people at risk forAlzheimer’s disease. Unfortunately,some got worse and the trial wasdiscontinued.”

The research team developed anew model that suggested peoplewith RA were naturally protectedby some aspect inherent in thedisease.

Potter sent a graduate studentto the library, where he collected along list of properties unique torheumatoid arthritis. “We focusedon a few,” Potter says, “and foundthat the protein GMCFS (Leukine)is higher in the blood of people withRA.

“We injected blood samples intomice with Alzheimer’s disease.With-in a week or two, the amyloiddeposits in their brain decreased,and their cognition improved to suchan extent that it reverted to nor-mal.”

CU Anschutz must wait until2017 to compete for a grantfor the first Alzheimer’sresearch center in Denver.

Called the Rocky MountainAlzheimer’s Disease Center(RMADC), Potter will be the direc-tor.

For four years, Potter has ledthe fight to make Anschutz the homeof the first National Institute onAging-designated Alzheimer’s cen-ter between St.Louis and San Fran-cisco.

“We have applied for a major grantfrom the Alzheimer’s Associationamounting to at least $1 million ayear,” Potter says. “But there arealready 30 similar centers in thecountry. If we were to get the grant,one of the other centers would beclosed.”

The state of Colorado and pri-vate philanthropy already providesupport for the RMADC.

The $1 million grant for theLeukine study will enlargeandchange the clinical trial’s perameters.

“Before it was a 50-50 study,with half of the participants tak-ing Leukine and the other half place-bos,” he says.“Now we’d like to makeit one-third placebo and two-thirdsLeukine.

“The goal is determining Leukine’sefficacy in improving cognition inmild to moderate Alzheimer’spatients.

“But at this point, drugs do notprevent Alzheimer’s,” he adds.“Theyserve as crutches to help nervecells work better.”

Potter strongly encourages theestimated 60,000 people living withAlzheimer’s disease in Colorado toenroll in upcoming clinical trials gen-erously funded by the Alzheimer’sAssociation, medical and privatefoundations.

“There are three options,” he says.“Patients and their families cancheck the Alzheimer’s Association ofColorado website and look under ‘tri-al match.’ This helps patients matchtheir interest to trials conducted intheir geographical area.

“Clinicaltrials.gov, the governmentwebsite that lists clinical trials allover the country for Alzheimer’s andcountless diseases, is anotherresource, although the site needsto be updated.

“Interested participants in Den-ver and surrounding locales mayalso contact CU Anschutz directly.”

Asked where Colorado ranks interms of funding for Alzheimer’s dis-ease, Potter offers a multi-prongedresponse.

“The problem with Colorado isthat it’s a large state with only onehigh-density population site,” hesays.

“The major medical research cityis Denver, and CU Anschutz is thelargest research center.

“If you compared the total num-ber of Alzheimer’s grants awardedto scientists in Boston to Denver,Boston’s rate would be much high-er because it has many more

Alzheimer’s researchers.“But we’re already recruiting peo-

ple to join the Rocky MountainAlzheimer’s Disease Center, so thenumber of researchers here willincrease tremendously over the nextthree to four years.”

Despite its skyrocketing preva-lence, Alzheimer’s disease receivesless research funding than cancer,heart disease and diabetes at thenational level.

“Alzheimer’s disease is one ofthe least researched diseases perpatient measure,” Potter says, “butit’s increasing rapidly. Last year, thefederal government gave the Nation-al Institutes of Health an extra $350million to study Alzheimer’s, andthat figure may soon be bumped to$450 million.”

“Our state legislative representa-tives definitely recognize that thisis a problem that must be solved.”

A ccording to availableresearch, no specific ethnicgroup is predisposed forAlzheimer’s disease, includ-

ing Jews. But it’s possible thatAfrican Americans, who are proneto vascular problems, face more risk.

“Women have an increased riskof developing Alzheimer’s,” Pottersays. “There is some question as towhether this is due to estrogenloss in menopause or because untilrecently,women have not been CEOsof major corporations.

“A paper presented at the Toron-to conference indicated that men areoften misdiagnosed, which suggeststhat more men have Alzheimer’sthan we think.”

How does he rate the efficacy ofAricept and Namenda, two hallmarkdrugs given to Alzheimer’s patients?

“Aricept and Namenda are effec-

tive,” Potter says. “People are notgoing to get better on them, but theycan slow the Alzheimer’s decline.”

He adds that Aricept and Namen-da “can not only be helpful in extend-ing patients’ happiness and qualityof life.

“They also give families time topsychologically adjust to this diag-nosis — and perhaps help patientsto grasp the life they have morefirmly.”

Promising areas of Alzheimer’sresearch include biomarkers, asignaling protein that measuresAlzheimer’s disease in a livingpatient; brain and neuro-imaging,which can detect whether the brainhas atrophied with age (another indi-cator of Alzheimer’s); the nature andprevention of amyloid deposits.

And everything under the scien-tific sun. Observation, causality,hypotheses, analyses and method-ologies may be researchers’ refinedlingua franca, but the universal lan-guage is hope.

“We’re hopeful that the manydrugs being tested around the worldwhich interfere with the progres-sion of Alzheimer’s disease areattacking the necessary targets,”Pot-

ter says.“And we’re very excited about

Leukine. The drug appears to getrid of amyloid deposits; assist thebrain in growing new neurons andblood vessels; and increase function.It’s a home run.

“As I said, I don’t know if wecan cure people in the advancedstages of Alzheimer’s disease. Butyes, I’m confident we will find away to prevent it.”

R ichard and Linda Forrestno longer enjoy the same con-versations due to her alteredcognitive function. Yet

despite the ruthless progression ofAlzheimer’s disease, they are stillvery much in love.

“We have over 42 years of sharedexperience,”Richard says.“When we

hear a song from the 1960s, weask each other, ‘Was that from theeighth grade or the ninth grade?’ Welaugh. But of course I miss her.

“Yes, this is the long goodbye peo-ple describe when talking aboutAlzheimer’s,” he nods. “And I worrythat it’s going to be shorter than Iwant it to be.

“In my darker moments, there’sa tiny part of me that wonders if Ihave the strength to make it throughthis ‘long goodbye.’

“Intellectually I understand what’scoming,but emotionally . . .You wantit to be over, but you know youreally don’t.”

The moment he utters what near-ly all families of Alzheimer’s patientshave felt at one time or another, hedismisses the darkness. Life with-out Linda is inconceivable.

“People tell me that I’m a littleslow about bringing in a health-care professional to help me athome,” he says. “I don’t think so,because I’m still comfortable doingeverything for Linda.

“But pretty soon I’m not going tobe able to do it.”

Asked whether he’s consideredthe possibility of transferring Lin-

da to a memory-care facility in thefuture, Richard shakes his head.

“For anyone with Alzheimer’s dis-ease, residential care is not a pos-sibility. It’s a probability.

“But I’ll be there all day, everyday, seven days a week. I’ll be therewhen she eats breakfast and whenshe eats dinner, and I’ll check inon staff at odd times, like two o’clockin the morning, to make sure they’rewatching her.”

Richard pauses.“You might call this Linda’s last

class,” he says. “She would want toeducate people about her disease.”

Information: Alzheimer’s Associ-ation of Colorado,303-813-1669;24/7multilingual helpline, 1-800-272-3900.

Andrea Jacobs may be reachedat andrea@ijn.com.

CU Anschutz plans to establish a majorAlzheimer’s research center

‘I don’t know if we can cure people in theadvanced stages of Alzheimer’s, but I’mconfident we will find a way to prevent it’

ALZHEIMER’SThe researchers’ motto: ‘We’ll keep trying until we find the solution’

August 26, 2016 • INTERMOUNTAIN JEWISH NEWS • 17

N E W S

ALZHEIMER’S from Page 1

RICHARD AND LINDA FORRESTTim McClanahan

Alzheimer’s andDown Syndromeare two sides of thesame coin. Whatworks for one willbenefit the other