Eli Caplan’s Mission to End the Suffering Caused by Alzheimer’s
Janet Caplan
It’s a story known all too well by every family living with Alzheimer’s disease. Janet and Eli Caplan’s story began like this: “No one knew what was wrong with her.”
With symptoms manifesting over years, various physicians were offering different diagnoses. For example, during one winter vacation in Palm Beach, as they were readying for bed, Janet saw Eli and asked, “Who are you?” She took a beat and said, “I think you’re my husband. I’m not sure.” The doctor believed it was caused by anxiety.
“The doctors would see her at times when she was somewhat alert,” Eli recalls. “But I saw things that no one ever saw.”
Referred to (now Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry) Steven Arnold, MD, of the Penn Memory Center, she would receive a more comprehensive battery of tests. He told Eli that Janet was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
“Oh my God, I feel so sorry for her,’” Eli recalls saying, to which Dr. Arnold countered, “I feel more sorry for you.”
Janet would be under the care of Penn Memory Center Co-Directors Jason Karlawish, MD, and David Wolk, MD, while Eli received support from Executive Director Felicia Greenfield, MSW, LCSW. But as Janet’s condition progressively worsened, Eli would find how critically he needed that support network to grow.
An Indescribable Journey
Eli Caplan
Among the members of that network was a neighbor who helped Eli bring in a professional caregiver. How quickly a loved one’s needs can escalate is stunning, and soon he would need her assistance 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It can wear out even the most dedicated caregivers.
“Yeah.” He pauses. “I just can't describe it. It's something you just can't describe.The whole family, everybody associated with the loved one, gets it, no matter how wealthy you are. I couldn’t do anything without my aide.” Their presence allowed Eli the time and space to care for himself: taking appointments with Greenfield, having the occasional meal out.
His thoughts began to turn toward others trapped in the same situation with fewer resources and financial assets. “What of all these people who can’t get out of the house?” he recalls asking Greenfield. “My heart bled for them.”
No Caregiver Left Behind
In 2016, the Caplans established the Caring Difference Fund, which allows the Penn Memory Center to make immediate investments in human capital: social workers, a patient navigator, interns from Penn’s Master of Social Work program. That, in turn, provides the capacity to deepen expertise, expand its programming, and leverage additional funding from foundations. The Janet Caplan Endowed Fellowship Fund serves to memorialize Eli’s late wife. Like the Caring Difference Fund, the Caplan Fellowship puts a focus on the Penn Memory Center’s people, accelerating the recruitment and training of early career physicians so they can gain experience – and work to transform – dementia care.
Investing in People, for People
3 hires, 35+ MSW interns, 3+ Caplan Fellows
- created opportunities for professional growth
- expanded number and variety of programming, now offered free of charge
- doubled number of families served in only 3 years
- fostered + leveraged interests of Caplan Fellows, including clinical trial protocols and narrative medicine
- attracted extramural funding from organizations like the Pew Charitable Trust, Community Care Corps, and the PA Department of Aging
Eli has hosted several fundraising events for the Center, and there’s a moment from one such event he’ll never forget. “Somebody heard my name, and he asked, ‘Are you Eli Caplan?’ I said yes, and he hugged me,” Eli recalls. “And I wondered, ‘Why are you hugging me?’ He said, ‘I’m with my wife all the time, and there would be no place to go for breaks or support if it weren't for you.’”
Meeting Deeply Personal Needs on a National Scale
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, more than 11 million Americans provide unpaid care for people with Alzheimer's or other dementias; in 2021, they provided more than 16 billion hours of care valued at nearly $272 billion. This is for the more than 6 million Americans currently living with Alzheimer’s – by 2050, that number could reach 13 million.
“You can imagine how much money you need to raise, so our family's goal,” Eli continues, “is to get other philanthropists to join our ranks to help hire really good technicians, therapists – provide social benefits for all the people. There's no place in the world like Penn and the Penn Memory Center. I don't think there's a better place you can go, and that is why I think people will get the most benefit for my giving here.”
The Penn Memory Center’s team-based approach and innovative support programs have guided patients and families throughout their journeys, raising the bar for excellence in compassionate, human-centered care. You’re invited to contact Paige O’ Malley at 267-838-0660 or pomalley@upenn.edu to learn how to make your gift to the Caring Difference Fund or toward any of the Center’s other priorities.