Dementia

In 2025, the Alzheimer’s Association says some 226,000 Missourians provided unpaid care to loved ones with dementia. But many caregivers live in rural areas where resources are scarce and could be in danger of further cuts in the state budget.

Terri Lipe lives in Bolivar and has been caregiving for her mother for 11 years. To make ends meet, she began a take-and-bake casserole business out of her home.

Hannah Richardson lives in St. Louis and is 25, or in her words, “currently 14 years away from my age of onset “ for Alzheimer’s disease. Her family has a rare genetic form of the condition that impacts people in their late 30s and early 40s.

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, more than 120,000 Missourians are living with the disease. But a newly approved blood test could lead to earlier and cheaper diagnosis of the disease.

MPASS is being tested at MU Health Care facilities and in the next few months, the researchers hope to implement the device in other retirement and senior centers in mid-Missouri.

Everyone's experience with persons with dementia is different, but the best thing you can do - no matter the situation - is be patient, that's according to advocate/volunteer LOIS LONG. She says because it's usually short-term memory that's affected, to listen to the person "even though you've heard the story a hundred times." Lois reads another of her original poems at [6:40]. September 9, 2021

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It goes without saying that to be a caregiver for someone with dementia is a privilege, but that doesn't make the job any easier. Sometimes a caregiver…