‘Shark Tank’ star Barbara Corcoran talks about her mother, 'genius' senior living caregivers, Alzheimer’s and agitation - McKnight's Senior Living

Barbara Corcoran — yes, that Barbara Corcoran — thought it was “genius” the way a nurse at the senior living community where her mother lived had solved her mother’s wandering.

Florence Corcoran, parent of the entrepreneurial “Shark Tank” star, was living with Alzheimer’s disease and was wandering so much that the staff had taken to locking her in her room to protect her, Corcoran told me on Thursday.

One day, however, “a nurse had the thought to ask her where she was going, and she was looking for the laundry room,” she said, explaining that Florence Corcoran had raised 10 children so had spent years doing multiple loads of laundry every day.

The nurse, Corcoran said, “took her to the laundry room for the facility, and they gave her the same 10 towels over and over again. She folded them all day long, and she was happy.

“You don’t think people know what they want, but somebody took the time to actually figure it out, and it made a big difference in her,” Corcoran continued. “She stopped the wandering. She just sat in the laundry room, very happy.”

The real estate mogul, author and investor was speaking with me on the day Otsuka America Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Lundbeck LLC kicked off a new campaign, “I Wish I Knew,” with Corcoran’s assistance. The campaign’s goal is to help the more than 11 million family caregivers of people living with Alzheimer’s better understand the signs and symptoms of the agitation that can occur as part of the disease. Otsuka and Lundbeck are the co-developers of brexpiprazole (Rexulti), approved in May 2023 as the first and only pharmaceutical treatment for agitation in people living with dementia.

“About 50% of patients who are suffering with Alzheimer’s have agitation Alzheimer’s dementia, which I’m sure my mother did,” Corcoran told me. “It kind of creeped up on us. It wasn’t very apparent in the beginning, but it was very apparent that she had a changed personality toward the end of her illness, which was very hard for us to deal with.”

Florence Corcoran passed away in 2012 after living with Alzheimer’s disease for nine years. Florence’s mother and four brothers had died with Alzheimer’s, and for many years, the “Shark Tank” star was convinced she would share their fate.

“I was worried about her and convinced that I would have it. It wasn’t until only eight months ago that … I finally went in for the test and found out I didn’t have it,” Corcoran said. That discovery, she added, was one of the reasons she felt able to become involved in the campaign.

One of the goals of the “I Wish I Knew” campaign is to share caregiver resources for those who have loved ones who are living with dementia and experiencing agitation. People can visit RecognizeAlzheimersAgitation.com to learn more.

When she was caring for her mother, Corcoran said, a name didn’t exist for the agitation that can be part of dementia. Or if one did, “we didn’t reach out to find out,” she said.

“We thought that Alzheimer’s was Alzheimer’s,” Corcoran said, adding that she now advises that with any medical condition, consumers should “ask a lot of questions and reach out for help” from healthcare professionals.

Corcoran’s other advice for anyone — paid or unpaid — caring for someone living with dementia is to “step into their world.” Doing so, she added, can help them avoid the escalation of agitation.

“My brother T illustrated that one day when we visited one Sunday afternoon, and she was so upset, ridiculously upset, over the snakes under her bed,” Corcoran said of her mother. “I was showing her under the bed [and saying], ‘There’s no snakes, Mom. There’s no snakes, Mom.’ And my brother corrected us and said, ‘I see them.’ And he got a broom and ‘killed’ the ‘snakes.’”

Corcoran and her nine siblings, including one sister who left her paid job to become a family caregiver, were able to take care of their mother at home for most of the duration of the disease. Another sister was a nurse and worked at the continuum-of-care senior living community where Florence Corcoran (and her husband, Edwin) ultimately would live.

All the while, Corcoran said, she was private about her mother’s condition because she felt that she already had a good support system among her brothers and sisters.

“We weren’t alone, and we weren’t ashamed, but it was like we were in our capsule taking care of my mom and doing a good job, we all felt,” she said.

Corcoran said she knows, however, that some people don’t have a ready-made support team — and that even those who do may need additional assistance.

“You may handle it physically, you might have the right facility, the right help, but you can’t handle it alone,” she said. “Join hands with somebody. You need company, and there are so many support groups.”

To learn more about Corcoran’s experience, connect with other caregivers and find other information and resources, visit RecognizeAlzheimersAgitation.com.

Lois A. Bowers is the editor of McKnight’s Senior Living. Read her other columns here. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at Lois_Bowers.