The Hampton Public Library will host an Alzheimer’s disease presentation Wednesday, February 26th.
Greg Woods, the Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias Program Coordinator for the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services will be the featured speaker and tells RadioOnTheGo News many families in Iowa are affected by this disease every year.
“Right now, the estimates say around 70,000 Iowans have Alzheimer’s. But you think about the total number who are affected by it, that goes far beyond just the people who are diagnosed. I mean, you’re thinking about caregivers, family members, friends. So the number is pretty large. So one of the things that we like to do is, here at HHS, we’re trying to reach out all across Iowa to communities to get people the resources that they need or answer their questions related to this disease. So I’ll be talking about, first off, what is Alzheimer’s? What is Alzheimer’s versus dementia? And then how do we get it? What are the risk factors? I’ll talk about some of the research that’s going on, some of the latest breakthroughs and new medications that are out on the market. And then importantly, what are some local resources that people can tap into?”
Woods says Iowa is a very rural state and access to resources for those diagnosed with Alzheimer’s can be a challenge.
“So in our program’s existence, we’ve only been around for about four years now, the Alzheimer’s program within HHS. One of the first tasks we had was trying to connect what resources are already out there and figure out where do we need more. Sometimes you approach this from different ways. Sometimes you have people on the ground. Sometimes you have allies within the health care system. Sometimes you have to go to more regional resources like the area agencies on aging or statewide programs as well, like the Alzheimer’s Association that can sometimes come and help more locally. But you’re absolutely right, trying to access those resources can be a big thing.”
The Alzheimer’s disease presentation at the Hampton Public Library is Wednesday, February 26th at 5:30 p.m. and is open to the public.
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