Families Touched by Dementia Support MIND Center

Most of the private gifts for the new Fred R. Adams Jr. MIND Center and Geriatric Clinic have been given by families or individuals directly affected by diseases of the mind.

For example, Anna Katherine and Ron Scott, of Ridgeland, met on a blind date in the Washington, D.C., area 30 years ago. He was an independent shoe retailer; she worked in television advertising. They led a beautiful life together, enjoying the bustle of the nation's capital and traveling extensively for work and leisure.

But four years ago, their lifestyle began to change.

"Ron became more withdrawn, and I noticed subtle changes in his mood and language skills," Anna Katherine Scott said. "At the recommendation of his urologist, we made an appointment at the MIND Center in 2022.

"In hindsight, we were clearly facing some sort of cognitive decline. Ron's aphasia started in late 2022."

After multiple tests and appointments, doctors diagnosed Ron Scott with frontotemporal dementia in August 2023. His full diagnosis became frontotemporal dementia, primary expressive aphasia and parkinsonism.

"Admittedly, I did not handle this well, especially in the beginning," his wife said. "It was so much information, and I could not comprehend it all. It was hard to believe that our lives were shifting so significantly.

"In 2023, we took 10 trips focusing on going to as many places as we could, knowing our travel days ahead were fading."

Although Ron Scott has become wheelchair-bound, he is still able to stand and pivot, but it is becoming more challenging, which means he needs assistance around the clock. His wife, once director of a national sales team, manages a full-time staff of health care workers in their home.

"I'm cognizant of how blessed we are to be able to have him at home," she said. "I suddenly found myself a true caregiver, and I love taking care of him. He is so content and so sweet.

"I consider it a privilege to walk through this season of our lives together."

It's the Scotts' experience that led them to make a major gift in support of the new centralized campus.

"I feel strongly about this new centralized campus for the MIND Center that will expand the opportunity for more people to be served and served faster," she said. "The MIND Center is a huge gift to not only the city but also the state. It's an incredible place, and I feel honored to be about to contribute to this exciting project."

Nancy Brown, of Oxford, hopes the center will lead the charge toward finding a cure for Alzheimer's and related illnesses.

Brown faced 10 years of challenges as her parents' primary caregiver. In the early 2000s, her mother, Thelma Haas, began showing symptoms of vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease that prevented her from providing adequate care for Brown's father, Harry Haas, who had lung cancer.

"Dad was in hospice at home, and Mom was supposed to help take care of him, but she couldn't do it," Brown said. "I got frustrated because I would give her his medication instructions and later find that she hadn't done anything. I got angry, which I guess is common among caregivers.

"Mom would call and say, 'I don't know what to do.' Well, that was my feeling as well. So, my father got worse. I had to go to their home every single day and spend hours, just making sure he was eating or drinking because she couldn't do it. At the very end of his life, he drew me to him and whispered, 'Find out what's wrong with Mom.'"

Brown researched the complicated processes associated with finding a diagnosis at a time when the MIND Center did not exist. She shuffled her mother through two different hospitals and admitted her into an assisted living community, an Alzheimer's care unit and ultimately a nursing home, all while undergoing chemotherapy and surgery for breast cancer and working part-time as a math teacher.

It was these experiences that led her and her husband, Cecil, to make a $50,000 gift to the campaign.

"Our commitment to the MIND Center is very personal to me, and I hope that the researchers find what's causing Alzheimer's, so they can stop it or slow it down so families don't have to keep doing what they're doing," she said. "I want the MIND Center to have as much money as they need, and I will continue to support them as long as I'm able. This disease is something that must be figured out."

Lyons Brewer, of Atlanta, made a $100,000 gift to the campaign to help build awareness for the clinic that provides not only comprehensive care to patients but also compassionate outreach to family members who often feel the strain inherent in caregiving.

"After at least three generations of family loss to Alzheimer's disease, our family gratefully supports the MIND Center in its vital efforts to support our family and friends affected by dementia," Brewer said.

The Fountain Family Foundation, of Jackson, made a $75,000 gift.

"With the clinic's emphasis on Alzheimer's treatment and research, we believe this is a very worthwhile way to focus our efforts," said Lynette Fountain, representing the foundation. "Having family members impacted by this dreadful disease, we hope that in some way our contribution can help lead to effective treatment options and ultimately a cure."

MIND Center board member Todd Tauzin, of Ridgeland, whose family and clients were also touched by the disease, made a $50,000 gift to the campaign.

"Once I got involved with the MIND Center, I realized it's not well known, and it's a phenomenal facility to have in this region," Tauzin said. "My passion is to spread the word about its deep impact on our community with respect to research and, most importantly, how we serve people with Alzheimer's and their families."

UMMC is honoring the donor's support by naming a diagnostic room in honor of his father, Joseph C. Tauzin, who died in 2022 from Alzheimer's, as did his paternal grandmother previously.

"We also have had clients – at least six males under the age of 62 – impacted by the disease, and all of that inspired me to want to get involved with helping to raise money for this new clinic," Tauzin said. "It's going to be very accessible for people with Alzheimer's and it's going to be a really nice, great environment for the clinical staff as they treat patients."

The 30,000-square-foot stand-alone facility is expected to open in 2026. Physicians could see more than 6,300 patients each year in the four-story clinic that will feature 28 exam rooms; consultation, therapy and counseling rooms; learning rooms for training of future doctors; radiology and onsite lab services and a large community room.

The third floor, dedicated to research, will also be home to The UMMC MIND Center-Mayo Clinic Study of Aging, which offers older adults opportunities to participate in groundbreaking research on the causes, prevention and treatment of dementia.

The multidisciplinary clinic team will include geriatricians, neurologists, consulting psychiatrists and neuropsychologists, pharmacists, nurse practitioners, nurse case managers and social workers, all trained in the care of older adults and persons with dementia.

To support the MIND Center at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, click here or contact Lee Anne Bryan, the MIND Center's director of philanthropy and engagement, at 601-815-4299 or lbryan@umc.edu. 

TOP: Serving as her mother's caregiver was an experience that led Nancy Brown (right) and her husband, Cecil, to make a major gift in support of the MIND Center. The new Fred R. Adams Jr. MIND Center and Geriatric Clinic will feature exam, consultation, therapy and counseling spaces, learning rooms for training of future doctors, and radiology and onsite lab services for patients and their families. Photo by Bill Dabney/UM Foundation