Both of my parents are living with dementia. My Father was diagnosed many years ago with Alzheimer’s and my Mother was diagnosed last autumn. Things were going along fairly well until spring of 2020. Before they were forced to observe social isolation, my parents went dancing twice a week, took water exercise classes weekly, and attended church regularly. The forced isolation seems to have escalated the impact of the dementia. They both now live in a memory care unit.
According to the Alzheimer’s Association (www.alz.org), there are currently 6.5 million people with Alzheimer’s Disease. Approximately 6.1% of the U.S. population aged 65 and over were living with Alzheimer’s in 2020. If a medical breakthrough to prevent, slow, or cure Alzheimer’s disease is not found, the percentage of older adults over aged 65 living with Alzheimer’s is expected to increase to 12.7% by 2050. Total annual payments for health care, long-term care and hospice care for people with Alzheimer’s or other dementias are projected to increase from $321 billion in 2022 to just under $1 trillion in 2050.
Alzheimer’s Disease was first described by Dr. Alois Alzheimer in 1906. A patient known only as Auguste D. had been admitted to a psychiatric hospital in 1901 with memory loss, paranoia, and psychological changes. Upon Auguste D.’s death, Dr. Alzheimer noted in the autopsy that there was shrinkage in and around nerve cells in her brain. In addition, he found the presence of what we now recognize as amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles—major factors in the research that followed in the quest to understand Alzheimer’s.
Research continued through the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. In 1983, November was declared the National Alzheimer’s Disease Month by President Ronald Reagan. In 1984, the National Institute on Aging began to fund Alzheimer’s Disease Centers and established a nationwide network for Alzheimer’s research. In 1993, the Food & Drug Administration approved the first Alzheimer’s drug, which targeted memory loss and dementia symptoms.
In 1994, six years after the end of his presidency, Ronald Reagan announced that he was “one of the millions of Americans who will be afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease.” He said that his public disclosure was intended to raise public awareness about the disease.
Almost twenty years later, country singer and guitarist, Glen Campbell, announced that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. He traveled across the U.S. on a “Goodbye Tour,” which concluded in Napa, California, and was made into a documentary film “Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me.” This film helped raise public awareness with its intimate window into the world of a family dealing with the disease.
In 2020, a documentary movie—Robin’s Wish—was released about Robin Williams’ illness and death. Unknown to many of us, Robin Williams was living with Lewy Body Dementia for the last few years of his life. This documentary showed the impact on his life and the lives of his family and friends from this dementia.
Research is continuing all over the world—looking for more effective treatment options of the symptoms. But, maybe more important, research is attempting to discover how to prevent Alzheimer’s and other dementias or to stop the damage they cause. Every new breakthrough brings us closer to these goals.
Until we are able to halt the devastation of Alzheimer’s Disease and other dementias, it is important to remember the people impacted and their caregivers. Communities are taking steps to make our world more welcoming to a person with dementia. Several North Shore communities have initiated age-friendly and/or dementia-friendly movements with this mission.
Dementia Friendly Massachusetts is a state-wide grassroots movement. Their website, www.dfmassachusetts.org, is an excellent resource to learn what is being done throughout Massachusetts to make our communities more accessible and friendly to people living with dementia and their caregivers.
Age & Dementia Friendly Cape Ann, an initiative of SeniorCare and the four communities of Cape Ann, is working to better meet the needs of residents of all ages. For more information about the Age & Dementia Friendly Cape Ann initiative, go to www.adfca.org.