Overmedication in Nursing Homes Is Robbing Children of their Parents

While dementia is still a largely incurable disease, there are still ways to ease dementia-related symptoms and behaviors that do not involve medication. Instead, these tactics involve a lot of human contact and time. In order to help dementia patients, caregivers need to provide regular activities, help alleviate their loneliness, help them create and maintain routines, encourage patients to create new relationships with other staff members, offer opportunities and space for physical exercise, and programs that help elevate emotional and mental health, like music and pet therapy.

While these issues are sad, if you do not have an immediate personal connection to someone with dementia, it would be difficult to understand and appreciate the gravity of the situation. However, the odds of you not having a personal connection to dementia are quickly dwindling. In America, there are 50 million people over 65-years-old. That number is expected to go up 100% to 100 million people by 2060. Currently, five million people have Alzheimer’s disease or a similar dementia-related illness in America. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, that number is expected to triple to 16 million by 2050.