PROFILES IN THE LAW Anne Hill Tackles Alzheimer’s Disease’s Growing Toll on Families An Advocate’s Journey By Melody Finnemore And in the process of winning, you will completely destroy the mood.” Another issue that’s particularly diffi- cult for attorneys concerns getting to the “truth” of something. That can be very subjective for someone with the disease, Hill notes. “Lawyers can feel if we don’t correct, we’re lying. And what we need is someone to say to us, ‘It’s okay not to cor- rect this person,’” she says. Also, lawyers are oriented to identify a problem and solve it, but “you can’t solve Alzheimer’s,” Hill adds. “You cannot do it. You just have to roll with it.” iStock Legal Lineage, Love of Arguing Like many attorneys across Oregon, Anne Hill was a member of the “Sand- wich Generation,” caring for an aging par- ent and young children at the same time. For a decade, Hill cared for her mother, Phyllis, as Alzheimer’s disease stole her memories and altered her behavior, caus- ing her to become argumentative and, at times, say hurtful things to Hill. With an estimated three million cases diagnosed each year, Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, accounting for 60-80 percent of dementia cases, according to the national Alzheim- er’s Association. Hill, who has co-written a book about dementia for doctors to give to family caregivers, finds that while having a fam- ily member with Alzheimer’s disease is al- ways sad, it can be especially challenging for lawyers. “Lawyers are taught to argue for what we want, but arguing with someone who has dementia never works. First of all, if you argue and you win, they will forget. 28 OREGON STATE BAR BULLETIN • MAY 2016 Hill admits that she has always en- joyed a good argument, which is part of what attracted her to the legal profession. After earning bachelor’s degrees in Eng- lish and American Studies at Willamette University, Hill graduated from Lewis & Clark’s Northwestern School of Law in 1979. She was in private practice for three years. She married Jeffrey Hill, also an at- torney, in 1984, and joined First Interstate Bank later that year as in-house counsel. During her 12 years there, she worked on commercial real estate transactions, cor- porate banking, community reinvestment issues and environmental matters. In 1996, Wells Fargo acquired First Interstate and laid off the Portland legal staff. Her sons were in the first grade and kindergarten at the time. The bank provid- ed great severance packages, so Hill came home for the summer and got the boys re- established in school. She noted that “life just worked better with me at home.” Emerging Signs of Dementia As the Portland Public Schools’ fund- ing crisis gained momentum, Hill became active in fundraising so her sons’ school could hire a gym teacher. She also en- joyed teaching children to read. She planned to return to work when the boys were in middle school, but toward the end of elementary school she noticed that her mother had begun acting strangely. “She would call me and have the same conversation three or four times in 15 minutes,” Hill says. Her mother also for- got what her favorite restaurant was. “Al- zheimer’s is always very hard for the fami- lies, and it’s often hard for the people who have dementia — not always, but often. It was really hard for mom, and that made it really hard for me,” she recalls. The situation became even more com- plicated when Hill’s siblings, who lived in other states, became involved. “I saw the symptoms first because I’m here in Portland. Then my siblings would come to town and she would be just fine,” Hill says. “That’s also really common, and no- body talks about how people with early stage Alzheimer’s can pull themselves out of it just by sheer will. People don’t realize that’s a symptom, and it creates a lot of anger and a lot of arguments.” Another challenge was the process of obtaining a clinical diagnosis of Alzheim- er’s. “It’s not like the stick turns blue or you have a blood test. You have to know that person and see what’s been going on to make that diagnosis,” she says. As Hill’s mother received treatment from Dr. Marian Hodges, a geriatrician at Providence Portland Medical Center, Hill began exploring the resources avail- able to caretakers and family members of people with Alzheimer’s. “The problem when you’re caring for someone with Alzheimer’s is that you don’t have time to read those books,” she notes. “And it’s very important to take your par- ents to the dentist because any cut or in- fection can be very dangerous, but those