Meet the support system for Idaho’s 26,000 Alzheimer’s patients. They are, by and large, your neighbors. Some 80 percent are women. The caregivers are themselves an aging cohort, with an average age of 59.
For family caregivers, this labor of love is physically and mentally exhausting labor. Fifty-five percent of caregivers devoted at least 40 hours a week to home care. This portrait comes from a study completed in August by the Idaho Alzheimer’s Planning Group. It’s a window to what the future could hold — for tens of thousands of Idaho patients and their loved ones. Because, even if Idaho does nothing to change the way it addresses Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, one thing will inevitably change. The caseload/Kevin Richert, Idaho Statesman. More here.

Question: Has your family been affected by Alzheimers?