Is the sky really falling with respect to Alzheimers disease and baby boomers?
It’s not falling yet but it’s going to. The dementia rate should start to rise in five years as the first boomers reach their 60s. In 10 years, it’ll near 13.5 million. Hopkins plans to double its capacity for patient care in the next three years. We’ll “grow” training programs for caregivers while developing very sensitive computerized memory tests to let us catch patients earlier in their illness and help us monitor them once it progresses. Of course, we want a cure. It all sounds terribly grim. It is and it isn’t. Go study people living independently and you get a surprise. The majority of 90- to 100-year-olds are in their own homes! They’re doing okay. You just hear more about those with problems. Not to be an institutional pawn, but what’s so special about what we offer patients? We’ve worked years to develop a systematic approach to dementia that doesn’t let people slip through the cracks. We offer therapy, of course, including the recently approved Memantine, which works on a ne
