California Lawmakers, Medical Experts Devise Plan To Deal With Alzheimer's
SACRAMENTO (KCBS) - State legislators and medical experts unveiled a new state plan Wednesday for coping with Alzheimer's disease. An explosion of people with the disease is expected in the next 20 years.
Alzheimer experts predict that by the year 2030 the number of people suffering from some sort of dementia will double to 1.1 million. Now there's a new official state plan that outlines what's needed to insure an adequate response.
KCBS' Barbara Taylor Reports:
Dr. Joshua Chodosh, an Alzheimer's expert at UCLA, co-chaired the task force that crafted the plan.
"The proportion of our society who are older is growing and growing rapidly," he said. "We've just had the first Baby Boomers hit 65."
The plan calls for the state to provide more home and community-based care for seniors and to commit to research to detect, diagnose and treat the disease.
Experts are concerned that California is not prepared to deal with an explosion of Alzheimer's cases that impact not only the individual but their entire family and community.
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