The facts are staggering: 5.4 million Americans have Alzheimer’s Disease today; by 2050, that number could triple to up to 16 million; the disease is the sixth leading cause of death in America and will cost the nation $200 billion this year.
Annette Murphy embraces her mother Julia Devane while celebrating Devane's 100th birthday at the Elderhaus PACE facility in Wilmington.
Dr. Mark Williams consults with his third-year medical resident Joshua Dobstaff while visiting geriatric patients at The Davis Community in Porters Neck.
Three times a week, Dr. Mark Williams visits half a dozen geriatric patients at The Davis Community, a nursing home and rehabilitation center in Porters Neck.
The memory care unit at Stonebridge has two roundabouts to help guide wandering Alzheimer's patients back to walking areas. Wandering is a dangerous phase of this terminal disease.
Teri Ragan is director of Stonebridge at Woodbury in Hampstead. She's standing in a bedroom of the memory care unit while it was still under construction. Residents have televisions that maneuver over their beds.
Ann Deveny holds a photo of her husband Dan who was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's back in 2006. She attends an Alzheimer's caregiver support group at Woodbury.
The gardens at the Stonebridge memory care unit are fenced in so that Alzheimer's patients who wander can't leave the facility.