Nearly 200 registered participants gathered Sunday afternoon in Cascades Park for Alzheimer’s awareness month. To raise awareness of the disease, local businesses and national sponsors hosted tables and donated to the cause.
The height of the event was the walk. Guests painted Cascades Park in purple shirts to signify their loss of someone to Alzheimer’s.
“Today I am honoring my grandfather who passed away in 2015 to Alzheimer’s,” said Tallahassee native and Florida A&M first year doctor of physical therapy candidate Jennifer Shotwell-Long. “I am here to have a good time and to learn more about what we can do to prevent or prolong the disease.”
A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 19.6% of people in Florida died from Alzheimer’s in 2021. Studies have also confirmed that these numbers may be substantially higher due to Alzheimer’s disease being challenging to diagnose.
Therefore, the disease goes underreported in death certificates.
While memory loss is an early sign of the disease, this major symptom is also associated with countless other medical illnesses: strokes, tumors and Parkinson’s disease to name a few. Thus, to prevent a misdiagnosis, medical professionals must run repeated tests before an official diagnosis is given.
The National Institute on Aging suggests that medical professionals “perform brain scans, such as computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), or positron emission tomography (PET), to support an Alzheimer’s diagnosis.”
Hence, with the disease worsening as the patient ages, the need for long-term care and testing increases as time progresses. Therefore, doctor visits and testing can become a major economic burden for a patient or caretaker.
In 2022, the American Journal of Managed Care conducted research that confirmed “the estimated healthcare costs associated with AD treatment were $321 billion, with costs projected to exceed $1 trillion by 2050. These cost-of-care projections are based on direct healthcare costs and are likely underestimated because indirect costs associated with AD treatment are usually not included.”
Kristal Cooley, a local advocate and program manager for the Alzheimer’s Association, said, “It is important to spread awareness in rural communities.”
“Through tabling and making connections, we have spread awareness to many free resources to help educate others about Alzheimer’s disease. We [the Alzheimer’s Association] have a website with helpful information and warning sides, [as well as] a 24-hour hotline available,” Cooler said.
With healthcare access being costly and research ever-changing, it can be beneficial to attend local events to stay up to date on current and accurate information about Alzheimer’s disease.