More Women in their 60s Get Alzheimer’s than Breast Cancer
At Love 2 Live Care, we’re thrilled that award-winning journalist and author Maria Shriver has created a nationwide program to bring awareness and funding to tackling the challenges of Alzheimer’s disease. Shriver’s new campaign, Wipe Out Alzheimer’s Now, promises to raise awareness and the money for research needed to make strides as ambitious as those cancer and AIDS activists have in the past five years. While Shriver celebrates the attention the Alzheimer’s focused movie “Still Alice” gained with the Oscar win, she explains, “it isn’t enough.”
Alzheimer’s: A Woman’s Disease
More than 5 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s, a number projected to rise to 16 million by 2050. Shriver and others consider this an epidemic. More than two-thirds of sufferers are women and 60% of those who care for someone with Alzheimer’s are women as well. Because of these figures, Shriver’s campaign is appealing to women first. Specifically,
“Our mission is to enlist women of all ages to get educated, engaged and empowered to instigate change. Women around the country will go out and raise the alarm, raise awareness, raise the stakes and raise millions of dollars to fund serious research into women’s brains.”
The campaign will prompt researchers to answer questions like:
- Why is Alzheimer’s higher in female populations than male?
- What’s estrogen’s role in inciting, perpetuating or curbing the disease?
- Is Alzheimer’s genetic, linked to depression, diet or stress?
Taking It to the Neighborhoods
The “Wipe Out Alzheimer’s” website encourages visitors to first “get informed,” by understanding the rising rates of Alzheimer’s in the coming decades. It then makes it easy to share awareness by providing “memes” or social media graphics people can post to their Twitter and Facebook walls. Shriver’s final call to action is encouraging women to organize in neighborhoods by creating Brain Clubs, which promote advocacy, agitation and even instigation. The organization suggests local leaders create:
- dessert and discussion meetings,
- morning yoga and discussion meetings
- teams for Walk to End Alzheimer’s events
- a Wipe Out Alzheimer’s book club to share resources
Wipe Out Alzheimer’s plans to organize seniors, caregivers, family members into a global community of women activists.
Love 2 Live Care Will Keep You Informed About San Diego’s “Wipe Out Alzheimer’s “Brain Clubs
Shriver just announced the “Wipe Out Alzheimer’s” campaign in March 2015. As local chapters form and develop, will keep you apprised of them through our blog and newsletter. In the meantime, please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have about Alzheimer’s care for a loved one. Providing conscientious, compassionate San Diego home care for over 11 years now, many of our caregivers have undergone extensive training in Alzheimer’s and Dementia care. Know, too, that we’re happy to come to your or your loved one’s home to assess your needs and discuss what we offer. Your in home assessment is always free!
