The Alzheimers Society of Canada reports that over the net 30 years there will be a tremendous increase in the numbers of people suffering from this disease. They are calling for governments to spend more money on research, treatment and training of health care workers.
I certainly believe their statistics, as we all know the populations of people over 6o are growing tremendously in North America. But I believe money must be put to better use in some other areas.
Training health care workers on understanding Alzheimers and how to care for people living with this illness already happens. The bigger issue is there are not enough health care workers. There are also not enough properly built and equipped facilities. Government cuts in health care are not going to make this easy to fix. As a matter of fact we will be seeing people dying at home, on the streets, wandering away from existing facilities and just plain being ignored and forgotten because our government does not care about the elderly.
A rather harsh statement?
No! Not really. If you look at all the facts, what they say and what they do are totally separate and they are too slow to take REAL action.
As nurses, and other health care professionals, we need to take it upon ourselves to speak up, and loudly, to government and the media on these issues. We should also take the time to help people practice PREVENTION.
No, we can not change genes or other "built in" risk factors but we can inform health care consumers on the many preventative measures that may help keep them safe from developing this very debilitating illness.
