Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Marie Shrivers Report On Alzheimers & Caregivers

Marie Shrivers has writteh a new report on Alzheimers. She has come out with a study on Alzheimers with interesting facts on caregivers. There are 10.9 million unpaid caregivers of people with Alzheimers. The biggest percentage of them are women, many being "sandwiched" between their own children and careers. It takes a toll on them emotionally & physically. They suffer from more depression, more illnesses, and more hospitalizations than non caregivers. 40% suffer from the most severe forms of depression.

Caregivers spend 4 BILLION dollars on their own health care costs due to the stress of being a caregiver. If the caregiver is elderly their death rate is 63% higher than non-cargivers. This is not good news with the expectancy of the number of people that will be afflicted with Alzheimers disease to triple to 16 million by 2050. Two-thirds of those will be women. Young men you better prepare now to become caregivers yourself. Please give to Alzheimers research in any way you can, and if you know a caregiver tell them you appreciate what they do. You can hear a little about the research on the ABC link below. Shriver has a book available on the study also.
My mom suffers from Alzheimers here are some photos of her.






PLEASE NOTE THESE PICTURES ARE A LITTLE GRAPHIC

These show why some people do not want to put their family in elder care facilities


Thanks for reading

2 comments:

beckycita said...

My heart goes out to anyone with Alzheimers,& anyone who has a friend or relative with it. It is a difficult and frustrating situation to deal with, my mother and other relatives & friends are dealing with Alzheimrs and it is so important that they are given a chance for a life with some dignity and some delights as well. And yes, the caregivers need much recognition and attention too!

Nanalulu said...

Thank you for the comment. It is a terrible disease, I hope they can find a cure soon.