Five years ago, George Ramirez watched helplessly as his mother became more reclusive and disconnected. The meals left for her began to pile up, unnoticed. Only the ice cream had been touched.

Then Ramirez learned she had Alzheimer's disease, a lethal, progressive brain disorder.

Exhausted from helping to care for his mom, "I was stressed out at work, and found it harder to focus. I was constantly distracted," said Ramirez, a Port Hueneme resident.

To have more time to spend with his mother, Ramirez retired in July 2004 as a manager with the Department of Defense, though he was only 55 and had planned to work a few more years.

If the newly formed organization In Good Company had existed then, things might have been different, Ramirez said.

More than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer's, but many more lives are affected. When these patients need 24-hour supervision, sometimes their adult children make sacrifices at work or even forgo careers to be caregivers.

Alzheimer's costs California employers an estimated $3 billion annually in absenteeism, lost productivity and worker replacement, according to the National Alzheimer's Association. It takes a $60 billion toll on the workplace nationally.

Launched a few weeks ago by the Alzheimer's Association California Central Coast Chapter in Camarillo, In Good Company is a nonprofit organization established to combat these costs by raising awareness and generating philanthropic funding for Alzheimer's employee and family program services.

"This is a disease that will bankrupt our economy if we don't make provisions for its victims or if we don't find a cure," said Loretta Redd, executive director of the Alzheimer's Association California Central Coast Chapter, who founded In Good Company with Sue Murphy, director of development.

Thousands affected locally

In Ventura County, there are more than 8,000 people with Alzheimer's disease, and at least twice as many caregivers, Redd said.

Companies can join In Good Company on an annual basis by donating $1,000 or more. In turn, In Good Company offers training to help employees burdened by caring for someone with Alzheimer's or dementia. Companies do not need to join In Good Company to receive these services, which are free.

In addition to caring for people who are dealing with issues related to Alzheimer's and dementia, In Good Company advocates greater funding to find a cure and supports legislation to improve senior care facilities.

The organization creates a relationship between the Alzheimer's Association and the corporate world.

"We're running into more people who are having a workplace crisis who don't even know we're here," Murphy said. "We want to identify new people who need our services."

Redd and Murphy say In Good Company can help reduce turnover and save businesses the lost revenue that occurs when employees become caregivers. But it has to start with a conversation with senior management.

Talking about Alzheimer's today is comparable to how cancer was discussed 20 years ago — it's a topic that makes many people uncomfortable, Murphy said.

And if employees don't have a boss they can confide in, they might choose to keep their stress a secret. In some cases, workers might fear being fired because of appearing distracted and unable to perform the job, she said.

"The person at the top needs to understand this issue" and its effect on employees who are dealing with it, Murphy said. "If you've never been touched by Alzheimer's, you don't understand it."

Most executives are not fully aware of how Alzheimer's workplace issues will affect their companies over the next five to 10 years, as boomers age, Murphy said. Some employees will be distracted, have to take long periods of time off, or retire early, at significant recruiting and training costs.

Brothers Peter and Robert Dempster saw firsthand how these costs could add up when they owned North American Imaging in Camarillo.

When employees became primary caregivers for someone with Alzheimer's, Peter Dempster saw "issues that can harm the productivity and creativity within a company," including absenteeism and lack of attention.

But because their mother had Alzheimer's, they understood and could relate to employees.

"We didn't know where to turn, so we tried to be supportive, but they were on their own," said Dempster, who is president of Alston Associates in Santa Barbara and a volunteer for In Good Company. "Had we been educated, we could have helped them."

Caught in the middle

The reality for many employees of the "sandwich generation" is that they're trying to care for their own children, while they face increasing responsibilities with their own parents, Redd said.

Not only emotionally devastating, Alzheimer's is also financially draining, and can cost $200,000 throughout the course of the disease, Murphy said. Unlike many other illnesses, a person with Alzheimer's can live a long time, even 20 years.

"I think it's very needed," said Wendy Nishikawa when she heard about In Good Company.

As a work/life coordinator of human resources at UC Santa Barbara, Nishikawa has used the services provided by the Alzheimer's Association. She believes these programs increase productivity and reduce revenue losses.

Through 2008, the Alzheimer Association's overall budget is $1.8 million at the chapter level, which covers Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. The association provides many free services, from material aids to nutritional supplements, and sometimes sends temporary help to caregivers.

It starts with awareness, said Ramirez, who volunteers for the Alzheimer's Association.

Through the organization, he's been able to attend support groups, read from a library of literature about what he can expect and how to prepare to cope with the future of his mother's battle.

"It's an emotional roller coaster," Ramirez said. "You have a lifelong picture, or vision of your parents. They've always been adults — you've never known them as children. If you look back on a lifetime of experience, and then look at where Mom is today, there's such a feeling of helplessness."