PENNSYLVANIA, USA — Right now, 280,000 Pennsylvanians over the age of 65 are living with Alzheimer’s disease.
And by 2025, that number is expected to climb by more than 14 percent, according to a new report by the Alzheimer’s Association.
“As our population ages, as we live longer, and until we have something that’s disease-modifying we know these numbers continue to grow,” said Clay Jacobs, executive director of the Greater Pennsylvania chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association.
That same report reveals both doctors and the public face challenges in distinguishing an early onset of Alzheimer’s from what’s considered side effects of normal aging.
“By its very nature, Alzheimer’s Disease is insidious—it’s progressive, it’s gradual and it’s degenerative so from a family perspective, what is normal aging? When do I talk to my physician? When do I talk to my family members?” explained Jacobs.
As the number of Alzheimer’s patients increases, the number of doctors to help them is shrinking.
“In Pennsylvania, there are only 273 geriatricians in the state. We’d need a 120 percent increase to even start addressing those,” said Jacobs.
One of those geriatricians is Dr. Kevin Wentland of UPMC Senior Care.
“That’s a product of the baby boomers aging,” said Dr. Wentland. “We need more geriatricians because of the advancing age and the advancement made in life expectancy so people are living longer.”
Jacobs says it’s important to bolster professional healthcare training to help remove the burden from unpaid caregivers like family members and friends.
“Caring for a loved one in whatever situation it may be, putting their health first, compounded on all the things with the current impact of Covid and the pandemic—we just know the sustainability of that is incredibly difficult,” said Jacobs.
He says the mission becomes finding a comprehensive solution—a treatment which could delay the onset of Alzheimer’s, while also stemming the tide of the unsustainable costs of the disease.
“If we take nothing else away, knowing behind each number is a family, is a workplace, is a faith community and that’s why we need to do more,” said Jacobs.