Kim Campbell: Need for Alzheimer’s care ‘great’ and ‘growing’
Published 8:27 am Saturday, September 30, 2017
- (Ben Kleppinger/ben.kleppinger@amnews.com) Audrey Ping, right, and June Wiley, left, Morning Pointe residents, hold hands with Kim Campbell.
Before her big event at Centenary United Methodist Church in Danville Thursday, celebrity spouse and Alzheimer’s care advocate Kim Campbell toured the Morning Pointe retirement community off of Perryville Road.
(Ben Kleppinger/ben.kleppinger@amnews.com)
Morning Pointe Executive Director Lisa Keller, right, leads a tour of the retirement community for Kim Campbell, center.
Campbell, the wife of the late singer and actor Glen Campbell, met Morning Pointe residents and visited the facility’s specialized Alzheimer’s unit, The Lantern.
Glen Campbell died Aug. 8 due to Alzheimer’s disease, a chronic neurodegenerative disease that causes memory loss.
After her tour, Kim Campbell was honored at a short ceremony held in a meeting room at Morning Pointe.
“Your late husband meant a lot to me,” Danville Mayor Mike Perros told her. “The Glen Campbell Good Time Hour — y’all remember that? Wednesday nights, I think it was 7 o’clock. That was prime time. Homework? Forget homework; we’re watching Glenn Campbell.”
(Ben Kleppinger/ben.kleppinger@amnews.com)
Danville Mayor Mike Perros, left, presents an honorary key to the city to Kim Campbell.
Perros said Glen Campbell and people like him provided a sense of “steadiness” while the country was going through turmoil in the time of the Vietnam War.
“I had the pleasure and privilege of seeing him … in 2011, and while he dealt with the Alzheimer’s, he still had it,” Perros told Kim Campbell. “It was a high point in my life and you make another very high point in my life. I appreciate you for being here and I understand the challenge of dealing with an Alzheimer’s victim. Anybody that does that is a warrior and I very much appreciate you for that because he was kind of my hero.”
(Ben Kleppinger/ben.kleppinger@amnews.com)
Kim Campbell, far right, meets with members of the Morning Pointe staff in The Lantern, the facility’s specialized Alzheimer’s care unit.
Kim Campbell said she enjoyed her tour of the Danville retirement community, which is the fifth Morning Pointe facility she has visited. Campbell said she’s pleased to hear there are plans to expand Morning Pointe’s Alzheimer’s unit.
“There is such a great need and it’s growing,” she said. “We’re all at risk of getting Alzheimer’s and it’s a devastating illness. I’m still recovering from losing my husband just seven weeks ago. It’s a hard transition to make. Even though you think you’re prepared for it, when it happens, it’s pretty devastating.”
She said she is thankful that “Glen is with the Lord and that he had a happy life.”
“Even though he had Alzheimer’s, he had quality of life. Because he was in a great community and surrounded with love and music.”
(Ben Kleppinger/ben.kleppinger@amnews.com)
Kim Campbell, left, talks with Morning Pointe resident and long-time area resident Jean Donavan in the front lobby of the retirement community building.
