LEWY BODY DEMENTIA ASSOCIATION ANNOUNCES 2008 VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR AT SHERRILL HOUSE

 

Victoria Ruff (above, right) was named Volunteer of the Year by the Lewy Body Dementia Association (LBDA) at an educational symposium held at Sherrill House on November 6.  Sherrill House sponsors a monthly Lewy Body Dementia support group, the only one of its kind in Massachusetts.  Ms. Ruff coordinates the 60-member support group as a volunteer for the LBDA.

 

Featured speakers at the Sherrill House program included Stephen Gomperts, M.D., Ph.D., an attending in Neurology in the Memory and Movement Disorder Units at Massachusetts General Hospital and an Instructor at Harvard Medical School.  In addition, Dr. Thomas Grayboys, celebrated cardiologist and the author of Life in the Balance: A Physician’s Memoir of Life, Love, and Loss with Parkinson’s Disease and Dementia, spoke about his personal experience with illness and signed copies of his book. 

 

Kim Mitchell, CEO of the LBDA (above, left), presented Victoria with her award.  Ruff, whose mother had Lewy Body Dementia, has been a volunteer with the association since 2006.  She said, “After the passing of my mother, I chose to continue the fight, because there is so little information about LBD out there.  If I can help just one caregiver or family avoid going through what we went through during my mom’s journey, it’s all worth it.”  In addition to working with her support group, Ruff set up a chat room on the LBDA website for caregivers, and distributes materials about the disease to physicians’ offices and nursing homes.

 

For additional information on Boston’s LBD Local Support Group at Sherrill House please contact Melissa Muccioli, Director of Community Outreach and Volunteer Services at 617.731.2400 X3017 or mmuccioli@SherrillHouse.org.