Veterans With Alzheimer's

By Bill Craig
As one might suspect, it is damned hard to diagnose a veteran with Alzheimer's-related Dementia. First you have to find us, then you have to hold on to us long enough to do some definitive tests. If we're on the street with substance abuse problems - good luck with that.

And luck is what I had in doing some research for this journal entry.

Even though I had my doubts I'd find what I needed (hard, mostly accurate figures), I googled "Veterans With Alzheimer's And Related Dementias (AD/ADRD)" and the search engine spewed out enough for me to create a surprisingly optimistic entry for my journal - most of it dating back to only March of 2021,

Don't worry - I won't regurgitate what I found, but I will link you to at least two well-written articles and abstracts which will give us some answers.

If you or a loved one has Alzheimer's or any of the related dementias, I encourage you to read these articles. They will: 1) inform you of your vet's homelessness and 2) let you know what's being done to curb the incidence of AD/ADRD.

Heretofore (god, I love that word!) we've been treating the vet who, in addition to being sick, just happened to also have dementia, but now, due to some very active volunteers, we are able to pinpoint and separate in order to make the figures a little more meaningful.

For instance, since 2011, according to HUD, the number of homeless vets is down 43% to well below 40,000, Again, volunteerism gets the credit for getting us those numbers.

Source is here

Now let's "drill down" and find the number of homeless vets with AD/ADRD:

Here we get into estimates , boys and girls, but even here the figures are encouraging. Because what you are about to read is so important, I will present it word for word and its source is the VA itself .

"The estimated number (prevalence) of VA PATIENTS with Alzheimer's Dementia in FY2021 is 168,649.....[which represents] a 0.8% decrease (-1,375 patients) from the estimated number in FY2020 (170,024 patients)." 

There. That takes care of the sources I will quote in this post. Happy reading and I hope you do - because it never hurts to arm yourself with statistics when you write your Congressperson. They just love that kind of stuff. Gives 'em something to say in front of the cameras!

Before I shut this one down, let me leave you with some more good news: 

The July 21st issue of Science Daily tells us that "Scientists have successfully reversed age-related memory loss in mice and say their discovery could lead to the development of treatments to prevent memory loss in people as they age". 

Nice, but more funds for research are needed, and "The Walk To End Alzheimer's" will make sure that our scientists get those funds and keep them working.

Go here for more information on the "Walk" and our part in it.

Thanks

Bill













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