How baby boomers are affected by Alzheimer's disease (part 4)

Here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professinals,

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Here is a way for nurses administrators, social workers and other health care professionals to get an easyceu or two

Here are more interesting dementia brain boosting activities

Alzheimer's Association

Alzheimer’s doesn’t just affect those with the
disease. The toll Alzheimer’s takes on caregivers is
a burden financially, physically and emotionally. Just
imagine the tragedy of watching your loved one, the
light of your life, slowly disappearing day by day.
Yes, the financial cost — the cost of providing care
for a loved one — is significant and often beyond
what is affordable. And the hidden costs, the
sacrifices that have to be made by the caregiver,
are just as immense.
But this is nothing next to the human cost, the
toll Alzheimer’s takes each and every day: lost jobs,
lost savings, poor health, even lost lives due to
the economic, emotional and personal strain
caregivers endure.
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It’s not just the people
with Alzheimer’s
who suffer. It’s also
their caregivers.
“She’d throw temper tantrums at the
dinner table, scream at me, take my
toys or bang on glass mirrors trying to
figure out why her reflection wouldn’t
answer her. My grandma’s behavior
was sometimes so bad, it was as if she
were the child, even though she was
70 years older than me. As a young
girl, sometimes I wasn’t sure if her
behavior was her actual personality
or if it was Alzheimer’s that made
her be mean to me and steal my
Beanie Babies.”
— Alissa Anderegg, California
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• In 2009, nearly 11 million Americans
provided 12.5 billion hours of unpaid care
to family members and friends with
Alzheimer’s disease.
• The value of this unpaid care totaled almost
$144 billion in 2009 — more than what
Medicare and Medicaid spent combined on
those with Alzheimer’s.
• One--third of Alzheimer caregivers have been
providing care for five years or more.
• Two-thirds of Alzheimer caregivers rate the
emotional stress as high or very high.
• Alzheimer caregiving negatively affects
health, employment, income and financial
security.

Today, America spends $172 billion caring for
people with Alzheimer’s and other dementias.
With the aging of the baby boomers, Alzheimer’s
could bring this country to its financial knees.
Costs will reach over $1 trillion in 2050 — and
that’s not counting inflation.
Almost half of all Alzheimer costs are paid by
Medicare, where more than one in every six
Medicare dollars is spent on someone with
Alzheimer’s disease. Curing Alzheimer’s would
help save Medicare.

“Since her diagnosis, my mother has
steadily progressed and is no longer
able to carry out simple tasks, such
as washing dishes or putting on her
own shoes. Recently, she has started
using a cane to walk, and I find it
hard to imagine the day when she
will no longer be able to walk at all,
feed herself or even recognize who
I am. Yet I know that such a day
will come.”
— Xuan Quach, California
We are going to pay for
Alzheimer’s one way
or the other — now
or later.

We are going to pay for Alzheimer’s one way or
the other. The consequences of doing nothing will
be continuing to pay for caring — and we should
ensure more effective care for those with this
devastating disease. But if we commit now to
curing — to fund research that leads to a
breakthrough — we can save billions of dollars.

A commitment today to innovation, to finding a cure,
will yield the savings of tomorrow.