The Burdon of Alzheimer's Disease

Tools

Story Published: Nov 13, 2009 at 6:38 PM PDT

By Melissa Wagner

Watch the story
Yakima - More than 105,000 people are living with Alzheimer's disease in Washington. It's a disease that imposes a severe burden upon patients and their caregivers. Financially and emotionally.

In particular, family members who care for AD patients are forced to make tough decisions with those they love. But there is help.

Ruth is a resident at Highgate Senior Living. She's in stage five of Alzheimer's disease. Moving Ruth to Highgate two years ago was not an easy decision for her daughter, Patty, " I took her to a doctor in Olympia and yeah. And I cried and cried and cried. But even then she was at the point she didn't realize."

The number of people with Alzheimer's is growing with the aging of the baby boom population. There are more than 5 million nationwide.

Kathi Stecker is a volunteer with this region's chapter of the Alzheimer's Association. She cared for her mother who had AD, " You get to a point where you are accepting it, coping and dealing with it all then they changes. So you have to start all over again."

Treating and caring for patients will climb to $148 billion over the next 20 years.
Patty took care of her mother at home as long as possible. But it can be risky.


Mandy Trujillo, Community Relations Coordinator with Highgate Senior Living said, " They may start to wander. because they want to go home and where they're at may not be home. So they can get lost quite easily."

You can also turn to an assisted living facility, like Highgate. But that can run between $3,000 and $8,000 a month. And Medicaid and Medicare don't offer much help.

" Medicare will only pay for like physical therapy, some equipment. They don't pay for room and board, only in nursing homes," said Trujillo.

Although there is no cure yet, practitioners have a better idea of how to treat the disease.

" There are lots of new things they're working on with research. So something will come. It's just a matter of time," said Stecker.

And that's one thing Patty is hoping for more of. Time, with a mother who sometimes doesn't remember her name.

If you're concerned about memory problems with yourself, or someone you care about, you can get a free memory screening next week at the memorial community education center.

When: November 19th and 20th
9am to 3pm
Where: Memorial Community Education Center
2506 W. Nob Hill Blvd.
Call for an appointment: 509-972-4141

Upload directly from your mobile device.

Learn how

YouNews

This content requires the latest Adobe Flash Player and a browser with JavaScript enabled. Click here for a free download of the latest Adobe Flash Player.

On Demand

Resources and info you need to prepare for the switch to DTV.

Stay Connected