One in three older Americans will get some form of dementia – diseases like Alzheimer’s and Lewy body – and the numbers are only expected to grow. And the toll doesn’t stop with the patient. Tens of millions of family members and friends become caregivers, often at enormous personal cost to their own health, careers, and financial security. The economic impact to the country is also enormous, at hundreds of billions of dollars each year.
For decades, people diagnosed with dementia had little hope, but that’s beginning to change with breakthroughs in diagnosis, treatment, and even potentially prevention. We’ll unpack the latest advances and talk about the impact on people who are living with the disease and the people who care for them.
Guests:
— Jason Karlawish, professor of medicine, medical ethics and health policy, and neurology at the University of Pennsylvania and Co-Director of the Penn Memory Center
— Alison Lynn, director of social work at the Penn Memory Center