GerontologyAlzheimer's and Dementia in Las Vegas Essay

GerontologyAlzheimers and Dementia in Las Vegas - Essay ExampleIn Intervention Strategies for Exit-seeking Wandering Behavior in Dementia Residents, a study done to assess Alzheimers patients who nose away from their long-term perplexity facilities, it is noted that the patients are often disoriented and lose even the approximately basic safety awareness (277). In D. Riccio et als Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment in Female sr. Patients with Alzheimer Disease and Other Types of Dementia, current treatments arent always effective because in the elderly, chronic comorbidities are more knotty to treat for the incompatible therapies and the likelihood of adverse outcome, including increasing disability and death (344). For these reasons (and many more), Alzheimers is considered to be a serious illness, deserving of attention.As of this year, about 35,000 Las Vegas residents have been diagnosed with dementia. That number is expected to increase to 100,000 Southern Nevadans by the y ear 2010 (Kumler, para. 16). The same journal article reads that 5 million Americans suffer from the disease. It costs about $18,500 to $36,000 per year, per person, to worry for an Alzheimers patient for a total of $100 billion annually in the United States. With these staggering figures, and intercommunicate increase of dementia in Las Vegas, it is no wonder that the city is making serious strides to take care of Alzheimers patients, track promising therapies, and keep the public aware.Since 2006, the 2008 opening of the Lou Ruvo Alzheimers Institute has been touted. This 55,000 square-foot facility will house patients disconcert with the disease. The institute is situated on 61 acres of land in downtown Vegas, and will withal include an Alzheimers Research Center, an academic medical center, and a hands-on museum where patrons can learn about the learning ability and its activities. The undated news report Local Alzheimers Study Looking for Volunteers reads that this year wh itethorn also be a big year for an active research study. Since more than five million Americans are brisk with Alzheimers - a 10-percent increase from just five years ago a local study may help researchers find more effective treatments (Local, para. 1). According to this report, University of Nevada School of Medicine neurologist Charles Bernick said the and way to come up with effective treatments for Alzheimers patients is to find new and different ways to study them. With that in mind, 30 Las Vegas residents, ages 75 and older, will be studied for four years. Intel Corp., maker of computer chips, has teamed up with the Alzheimers association in Las Vegas and Portland, Oregon to measure how memory changes in older masses. One third of the 30 volunteers receives a laptop, and will be initially asked to identify five to 15 people with whom they regularly interact. Each of those people will be given a badge that monitors their entering and exiting the volunteers residence. When the volunteer logs onto the laptop, pictures of those people will appear. The take aim is to track how much interaction with others each volunteer is receiving. The reason, perhaps, is so it can be determined if lack of communication or interaction with others is related to increased memory loss. Another facet of the research is called society ID on steroids. This