Dementia care costs continue to rise, initiative brings research funding

In April 2013 the Rand Corporation and the University of Michigan conducted a study on dementia – an ailment that most commonly manifests itself as Alzheimer’s disease.  Alzheimer’s causes the loss of brain function affecting behavior, judgment, language, memory, and thinking.  The study estimates that 15% of Americans older than 70 have dementia.  Nationally, the cost for caring for dementia patients has reached $109 billion annually.

On April 2, 2013, President Obama announced an initiative called BRAIN (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies), which is intended to spend $100 million to better research the interactions between brain cells and neurological circuits.  When he announced the BRAIN Initiative President Obama said: “We have a chance to improve the lives of not just millions, but billions of people on this planet through the research that’s done in this BRAIN Initiative alone.  But it’s going to require a serious effort, a sustained effort.  And it’s going to require us as a country to embody and embrace that spirit of discovery that is what made America, America.”
Scientists and doctors suggest that the need to create treatments for Alzheimer’s and other brain diseases is critically urgent.  “We need more research into interventions to delay or halt the onset of dementia.  Right now we don’t really have anything at all.  The problem is going to grow rapidly,” says Michael Hurd, an author of the study and the director of Rand Corporation’s Center of the Study of Aging.  Presently, researchers know little about what causes brain disorders.  By 2030, it is estimated that 65.7 million Americans will have Alzheimer’s disease.
There is so much that remains unknown about the human mind.  The BRAIN Initiative and continued research and effort towards understanding diseases of the human brain are worthwhile goals.  “The human brain is the most complicated biological structure in the known universe.  We’ve only just scratched the surface in understanding how it works – or, unfortunately, doesn’t quite work when disorders and disease occur… This is just the beginning of a 12-year journey and we’re excited to be starting the ride,” says National Institutes of Health Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D.
Sources:
“Dementia care costs reach $109b, and are expected to double,” by Ryan Flinn. Bloomberg News, April 5, 2013.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/BRAIN

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Recovery Month supports addiction treatment programs and services

F or twenty-three years Americans have celebrated the month of September as National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month.   The purpose of Recovery month is to educate Americans about mental health services and addiction treatment programs that can help people struggling with substance abuse.   Recovery month also raises awareness about specific challenges that people in recovery face.   Although drug and alcohol addictions are complex problems with the correct treatment and support people who struggle with these addictions can recover. In a Presidential Proclamation On August 31, 2012, President Barack Obama declared September 2012 as National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month.   In his proclamation Obama said: “Over the past 3 years, we have worked to strengthen substance abuse prevention and treatment programs, and to support Americans in recovery… Drug and alcohol abuse continue to take a tragic toll on millions of lives across our country. ...
Read more

The Life and Art of Allan Rohan Crite

Image
The Boston Public Library was one of three locations in the city of Boston to display the art work of longtime Bostonian and artist Allan Rohan Crite. Beginning in the fall of 2007 until February 3, 2008, the BPL, the Boston Athenaeum, and the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists exhibited collected works of art from Crite’s storied career in The Life and Art of Allan Rohan Crite: 1910-2007 . Funded in part by the Boston Public Library Foundation, the exhibit offered onlookers a view into Crite’s lengthy artistic career. When I visited the exhibit on January 19, 2008, over fifty collages, drawings, paintings, and sketches adorned the Wiggins Gallery in the McKim Building of The Boston Public Library. Crite was born on March 20, 1910, in Plainfield, New Jersey. In that same year, his family moved to Boston, Massachusetts. Crite would later make Boston his home as an adult. Over the course of his distinguished career he promoted visual art as a lecturer, p...
Read more

Political legislation brings attention to US Dental Care Crisis

A ccording to a report created by U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and U.S. Representative Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) there is a national crisis in American dental care.   On June 7, 2012 Cummings and Sanders – the chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging, introduced legislation to address the inefficiencies in the American dental care system.   Approximately 130 million Americans do not have dental insurance.   ¼ of American adults 65 and older have lost all of their teeth.   More than 75% of American adults over 30 have gum disease.   Additionally, about 17 million low-income children do not go to the dentist every year. On June 26, 2012, PBS aired a documentary about the U.S. dental care system on the investigative news program FRONTLINE .   The 50 minute documentary, Dollars and Dentists , analyzes current economic trends and patient access in the dental care industry.   The documentary is a joint investigative pie...
Read more