By Mike Tressa
The Post Standard reports the number of Central New Yorker's with Alzheimer's Disease has increased 25% since 2000. The numbers may continue to increase in the next few years as the baby boomers get older, according to the Alzheimer's Association of Central New York.
The group provided the numbers for Cayuga, Cortland, Madison, Onondaga and Oswego counties. They were following a study saying Alzheimer's is heavily affecting the country physically and economically.
Roughly 5.2 million people suffer from Alzheimer's and the direct and indirect cost of caring for these people is around $148 billion, according to the national study by the Alzheimer's Association. The study shows the disease affects one in eight people over 65 and one in two people over 85. The numbers are not good for Onondaga County, where almost one fifth of the population are between 55 and 74.
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2 comments:
I am a young boomer, 1960, and this latest report is rather grim news. We have so much work to do--research, facility upgrades, prevention, education, health care training and workers, family and community resources, health insurance and benefits, work support, just to name a few.
But I have to spin this a bit. I have to find something good to glean from these fateful words.
This report educates and enlightens me--and reminds me that I've got time. Time to go and live my life. Time to take vacations, have friends over, have heart-to-heart talks with those I hold most dear. Time to put my affairs in order and say what it is I really want at the end of my life. Time to take long walks.
Will I get Alzheimer's I don't know. But I don't have it today. And for that I'm grateful. Today, I will live, laugh, and love--and not worry about tomorrow. Worrying is not the same as preparing.
~Carol D. O'Dell
Author of Mothering Mother: A Daughter's Humorous and Heartbreaking Memoir
available on Amazon
www.mothering-mother.com
scary
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