*Disclaimer - Agnostics, Atheists and all others who don't know what you are, this is not a political or religious post to pound my theology into someone. This is simply how I see it and believe the solution to the problem is needed.
Ok, you're going WHAT does that title mean? And how does this apply to Dementia?
First let me state this. I am a HUGE proponent of research and applying anything we've learned to patients dealing with this disease and hopefully stopping others before they have to. I feel like we're making HUGE advances in research. Yes there are a lot of trials that don't pan out, but for every one of them that didn't work, at least we know not to try that one again and we can move on to the next, so progress is being made no matter how you look at it.
But, HOUSTON WE HAVE A PROBLEM!
For years the "family unit" has disintegrated into almost nothing. Now single parenting is the normal and no longer the exception. Mom's and Dad's are divorcing at alarming rates over things like, "I'm tired of this, I want my freedom" and other such crap. Remember "Til Death Do Us Part"? Or did you fall asleep in church during that part? Too many people go to church but never learn anything because they are distracted or sleep through the lessons & sermons, but that is for another blog on another site on another day.
Then those Mom's and Dad's are remarrying, many times to spouses who are single parents, so now we have the "Step" thing going on. This is all well and good. A good friend of ours has a "Blended Family Ministry" that she goes around the country, as well as writing books, social media and blogs about. Me and my wife met in our later years and we both are divorced with sons from a previous marriage. They are grown up and do not live with us now, so I totally get the "step" thing.
From the Alzheimers Website: "As the number of older Americans grows rapidly, so too will the number of new and existing cases of Alzheimer's. By 2050, the number of people age 65 and older with Alzheimer’s dementia may grow to a projected 13.8 million, barring the development of medical breakthroughs to prevent, slow or cure Alzheimer’s disease." This is up from the 5.6 million currently.
Herein lies the problem ... We've now made an encroaching problem twice as bad.
We now have families that will face having to deal with not only their own parents health problems, but also the step parents health problems as well. You've got the actual children of Man 1 and Woman 2, who are now thrust into Stepman 3 and Stepwoman 4, who have children between them.
So now when parents get sick, alot of times they have been raised as young children with the step parents, and there is a bond. So not only do they have their own parents to deal with, they have their step parents.
Now when those children get married, they now also get to add the other parents and step parents (if applicable) to the mix to take care of. Many of the families have full time jobs as there are few couples who can afford to be a 1 income household.
Now they can be taking care of as many as 4 sets of parents possibly, sometimes even more, depending on who remarried and how many times.
Add to this the good thing that people are living longer, but also the bad thing that people are living longer. As people are able to live longer, the caregivers enter a later stage in life closer to retirement and many times develop health problems that require some sort of assistance from the spouse/partner. Now they just added having to care for them on top of having too many others who need to have assistance.
You see, people think that when you get dementia you just get wrapped up in a blanket and sit in a rocker in the nursing home. NOT!!! They say there are 200,000 people like me who are living with some form of dementia, yet still able to live at home, some even still working.
Assisted Living/Nursing Care in a skilled nursing facility is VERY expensive, many times costing 1000's of dollars. Yes, there are medicaid beds, but those are on a limited basis and usually have long waiting lists. So their loved ones are either kept at their home with a visiting nurse or moved into the children's residence if they have moved into the later stages of dementia.
WE DON'T HAVE AN EASY ANSWER!
We can't just throw people away or try to push them into a corner and ignore them like they don't exist. We have to address the current problem and MESS that we've got ourselves into. What that answer is depends on who you talk to. That gets into a lot of political and like i said, this piece is not about that.
Millions of dollars are being spent on research. MANY more millions of dollars are being spent on healthcare. Hopefully a cure can be found, or at least a way to freeze everyone in their current state so that they won't get any worse until a permanent cure can be found. At least the children would only have to deal with the current state of affairs for the time being.
BUT until that is done, we need to start on another reversal or healing, what ever you want to call it. We need to start working to put the family unit back together. I'm not saying we need to cut out divorce either. There are times when the best possible solution to prevent loss of life is for divorce and a lot of court filings.
But for those who just want an easy way out, we need to find a way to identify those people and work with them to resolve feelings and issues so that the family can stay together. Even then it is still tough to have 2 sets of parents to deal with, but that beats 4 or more sets which would put anyone in a mental unit themselves.
If we can stop or greatly slow down the Family disease that is tearing them apart, hopefully we can help the Family unit be able to deal with the other diseases that inevitably affect others lives down the road.
Sometimes you can't just throw a treatment or medicine at something. Sometimes you have to actually get deeper into the root of the problem. Getting buried by too many responsibilities of too many sets of parents cannot continue to grow. We simply do not have the mental health care setup in the US to deal with something like that.
So join with me in working to make a difference now. We can't stop what has happened. Divorced couples rarely get back together, so the damage has been done. But those on the brink of divorce can still be reached. Counseling can be effective and has been effective in many situations. But someone needs to encourage people to seek it out instead of saying, "oh well" when talking about the split-up or near split-up.
Alzheimers Sux. Period. The problems go a lot deeper than just the disease as I have spoke of. If you think caring for a parent is hard, try taking care of your spouse at the same time who should be there to help support you in the care of the parents. There are some things we can't prevent right now, so let's work on the things that we can!
For more information about the Alzheimer's crisis our country is facing, read these quick facts:
https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/facts-figures
And as always:
Thank you for your support!!
Ok, you're going WHAT does that title mean? And how does this apply to Dementia?
First let me state this. I am a HUGE proponent of research and applying anything we've learned to patients dealing with this disease and hopefully stopping others before they have to. I feel like we're making HUGE advances in research. Yes there are a lot of trials that don't pan out, but for every one of them that didn't work, at least we know not to try that one again and we can move on to the next, so progress is being made no matter how you look at it.
But, HOUSTON WE HAVE A PROBLEM!
For years the "family unit" has disintegrated into almost nothing. Now single parenting is the normal and no longer the exception. Mom's and Dad's are divorcing at alarming rates over things like, "I'm tired of this, I want my freedom" and other such crap. Remember "Til Death Do Us Part"? Or did you fall asleep in church during that part? Too many people go to church but never learn anything because they are distracted or sleep through the lessons & sermons, but that is for another blog on another site on another day.
Then those Mom's and Dad's are remarrying, many times to spouses who are single parents, so now we have the "Step" thing going on. This is all well and good. A good friend of ours has a "Blended Family Ministry" that she goes around the country, as well as writing books, social media and blogs about. Me and my wife met in our later years and we both are divorced with sons from a previous marriage. They are grown up and do not live with us now, so I totally get the "step" thing.
From the Alzheimers Website: "As the number of older Americans grows rapidly, so too will the number of new and existing cases of Alzheimer's. By 2050, the number of people age 65 and older with Alzheimer’s dementia may grow to a projected 13.8 million, barring the development of medical breakthroughs to prevent, slow or cure Alzheimer’s disease." This is up from the 5.6 million currently.
Herein lies the problem ... We've now made an encroaching problem twice as bad.
We now have families that will face having to deal with not only their own parents health problems, but also the step parents health problems as well. You've got the actual children of Man 1 and Woman 2, who are now thrust into Stepman 3 and Stepwoman 4, who have children between them.
So now when parents get sick, alot of times they have been raised as young children with the step parents, and there is a bond. So not only do they have their own parents to deal with, they have their step parents.
Now when those children get married, they now also get to add the other parents and step parents (if applicable) to the mix to take care of. Many of the families have full time jobs as there are few couples who can afford to be a 1 income household.
Now they can be taking care of as many as 4 sets of parents possibly, sometimes even more, depending on who remarried and how many times.
Add to this the good thing that people are living longer, but also the bad thing that people are living longer. As people are able to live longer, the caregivers enter a later stage in life closer to retirement and many times develop health problems that require some sort of assistance from the spouse/partner. Now they just added having to care for them on top of having too many others who need to have assistance.
You see, people think that when you get dementia you just get wrapped up in a blanket and sit in a rocker in the nursing home. NOT!!! They say there are 200,000 people like me who are living with some form of dementia, yet still able to live at home, some even still working.
Assisted Living/Nursing Care in a skilled nursing facility is VERY expensive, many times costing 1000's of dollars. Yes, there are medicaid beds, but those are on a limited basis and usually have long waiting lists. So their loved ones are either kept at their home with a visiting nurse or moved into the children's residence if they have moved into the later stages of dementia.
WE DON'T HAVE AN EASY ANSWER!
We can't just throw people away or try to push them into a corner and ignore them like they don't exist. We have to address the current problem and MESS that we've got ourselves into. What that answer is depends on who you talk to. That gets into a lot of political and like i said, this piece is not about that.
Millions of dollars are being spent on research. MANY more millions of dollars are being spent on healthcare. Hopefully a cure can be found, or at least a way to freeze everyone in their current state so that they won't get any worse until a permanent cure can be found. At least the children would only have to deal with the current state of affairs for the time being.
BUT until that is done, we need to start on another reversal or healing, what ever you want to call it. We need to start working to put the family unit back together. I'm not saying we need to cut out divorce either. There are times when the best possible solution to prevent loss of life is for divorce and a lot of court filings.
But for those who just want an easy way out, we need to find a way to identify those people and work with them to resolve feelings and issues so that the family can stay together. Even then it is still tough to have 2 sets of parents to deal with, but that beats 4 or more sets which would put anyone in a mental unit themselves.
If we can stop or greatly slow down the Family disease that is tearing them apart, hopefully we can help the Family unit be able to deal with the other diseases that inevitably affect others lives down the road.
Sometimes you can't just throw a treatment or medicine at something. Sometimes you have to actually get deeper into the root of the problem. Getting buried by too many responsibilities of too many sets of parents cannot continue to grow. We simply do not have the mental health care setup in the US to deal with something like that.
So join with me in working to make a difference now. We can't stop what has happened. Divorced couples rarely get back together, so the damage has been done. But those on the brink of divorce can still be reached. Counseling can be effective and has been effective in many situations. But someone needs to encourage people to seek it out instead of saying, "oh well" when talking about the split-up or near split-up.
Alzheimers Sux. Period. The problems go a lot deeper than just the disease as I have spoke of. If you think caring for a parent is hard, try taking care of your spouse at the same time who should be there to help support you in the care of the parents. There are some things we can't prevent right now, so let's work on the things that we can!
For more information about the Alzheimer's crisis our country is facing, read these quick facts:
https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/facts-figures
And as always:
If
you would like to support me and help us find a cure, please visit my
fundraising page and make a donation of any amount. Every bit helps!
Please Click HERE to Support My Ride To Remember
Please Click HERE to Support My Ride To Remember
Thank you for your support!!
Thank you, Keith. I do pray for your healing, as well as all those effected by this horrible disease.
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