Alzheimer's care costs projected to increase


Sept. 22--Ever since his mother, Frances, moved in with them four years ago, Ted and Linda Holt, of Thomson, have seen the true impact of Alzheimer's disease.

"It's the uncertainty," Linda Holt said. "You never know from minute to minute how things will change. It's a roller coaster."

The disease also has a true cost for them.

"I've drained my savings," Ted Holt said.

The estimated global cost is $604 billion this year, according to a report Tuesday by Alzheimer's Disease International.

"If that amount of money were a company, it would be the largest corporation in the world," said Bruce Fletcher, the board chairman of the Alzheimer's Association, Augusta Region.

Even more staggering is that the cost is expected to rise by 85 percent in the next 20 years, he said.

Though other countries have a plan in place to prepare for that, the U.S. does not, Fletcher said.

"Here we are, sitting in the United States with nothing," he said.

Advocates are calling on Congress to pass the National Alzheimer's Project Act, which would allow researchers and advocates to put together a plan to deal with it.

"Almost every family you talk to has been impacted in some way. They had a family member, a loved one, a friend who has had Alzheimer's," said Augusta Mayor Deke Copenhaver, whose grandmother had it.

Carrie Ponder, 78, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2007 but it is "not real bad" so far, she said, standing next to her husband, Gene.

"I bug him to death about what time it is, what day it is," she said. "He's my caregiver, so he really takes good care of me."

Linda Edney Wiley's mother, Sadie Edney, suffered from the disease and has not been seen since she wandered away from a personal care home 18 years ago.

"We still have to fight so that this doesn't happen to another individual," Linda Wiley said.

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