Alzheimer's deaths skyrocket as patients' lives 'upended' by pandemic Georgea Kovanis, Detroit Free Press DETROIT – George Pitchford knew his wife, Bettie, a retired educator whose lively mind was lost in the fog that is Alzheimer's, was going to get worse. But he hadn't expected her to die, at least not so soon. The nursing center where she lived closed to visitors, and everything changed. George and a legion of family friends were no longer allowed to take Bettie on the walks she so greatly enjoyed. Within months, she was in a wheelchair. They saw her only through window...