The Need to Address Collateral Damage Impacting Family Caregivers. Millions remain unaware of the impact of a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s or one of the many other forms of dementia has on families as patients overwhelm our healthcare system, our hospitals, and our memory care facilities.  Costs will rise as beds become scarce making it far too expensive for most families to find a safe place for their loved one. Home care will become a necessity. According to Alz.org, every 65 seconds another person in the United States is diagnosed with some form of dementia. That means almost forty thousand families per month are impacted. The time for all adults to become informed about what is coming and what they can do to protect their loved one and themselves is now. According to a Stanford University study, 40 percent of Alzheimer’s caregivers die from stress-related disorders before the patient dies. A study performed by the University of California’s Department of Psychiatry reported that family caregiving can take as many as 10 years from a caregiver’s life. Providing education and resources for caregivers, those who will become caregivers will:
Enhance the quality of life for patients and their families; Reduce the need for in-patient care and in doing so, help maintain costs associated with; Reduce the health risks and possibly extend the life of caregivers.
Keywords: Dementia, Alzheimer’s, Collateral damage, Family caregivers, Prepare to care, Caregiver stress, Dementia care, Caregiver support