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[The
material on this page was current when it was first posted.
For up-to-date information on this topic, visit the Alzheimer
Care and Alzheimer's Disease sections. Note that in 2003 the Alzheimer
Wandering Registry was renamed Safely Home™ --
Alzheimer Wandering Registry.]
Alzheimer's Disease: Facing the Millennium Media Kit
Jan.
3, 2000
Mat
Article #1
10
Million Aging Baby Boomers Heading Straight Into Alzheimer
Years
One
night, my mother wandered. I had no idea. I was sound
asleep. When I woke up and found her, she was fully
dressed. Her shoes were soaking wet. It had rained
the day before, so I realized she had been out. That
was the turning point. That's when I knew I could no
longer care for my mother at home. It was beyond my
control.
Helen
Henderson's experience with her mother, Lillian, is familiar
to hundreds of thousands of Alzheimer caregivers across
Canada. It could become even more widespread, over the
next 30 years, as Canada's 10 million baby boomers turn
65 and head straight into the age of highest risk for
Alzheimer's disease.
Today,
300,000 Canadians, or one in 13 people over 65, have
Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. More than double
that number, or three-quarters of a million Canadians,
will be affected by 2031.
"Canada
could be facing an Alzheimer's disease crisis in this millennium," says
Steve Rudin, Executive Director of the Alzheimer Society
of Canada, "and we have to act now to prevent it."
"Home
care is a major issue," says Barbara Mulrooney,
a Halifax caregiver who has cared for her husband, Edward,
61, at home, for almost nine years while working.
Caregivers
like Mulrooney are eager for any help they can get --
day programs, respite, overnight and weekend care. They
are also seeking home care hours that mesh with their
work schedules and increase with the disease's severity
-- and workers trained to care for people with dementia.
The
Alzheimer Society's Rudin says, "A national home
care system with national standards for home care set
by the federal government could effectively address many
of these caregiver concerns and help to reduce caregiver
stress."
Research,
too, needs a boost. "With vast numbers of people
likely to get this disease, it's even more urgent for
us to find a cause and cure for Alzheimer's disease and
develop better methods for diagnosis, caregiving, and
providing the needed services specific to people with
this disease."
A
leading funder of Alzheimer research in Canada, the Society
commits over $1 million yearly. Still, "more research
dollars are needed," says Rudin, "to fight
this disease that's costing Canadians over $3.9 billion
a year."
The
Alzheimer Society welcomes research donations from caring
Canadians and encourages the federal government to make
Alzheimer research a higher priority.
The
Society also provides support groups, counselling, information,
services and programs such as the national Alzheimer
Wandering Registry that helps people return home after
wandering. These Alzheimer Society programs and services
are also funded by donations from Canadians.
For
more information about Alzheimer's disease, its impact
and how you can help, contact your local Alzheimer Society
or visit the Society's Web site at www.alzheimer.ca.
Back
to the Media Kit introduction page.
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