There are now more than 5 million people in the U.S. living with Alzheimer's and unless a cure is found that number will increase to 14 million by 2050. Every 72 seconds, someone develops Alzheimer's. Almost 10 million people are caring for someone with Alzheimer's and approximately one out three of these caregivers is over the age of 60. (Statistics from The Alzheimer's Association)
I have not been in the position of dealing intensively with someone with Alzheimer's but I have been alongside some of those caregivers from time to time. My friend, Netherlands Paul participated in a wonderful discussion on Alzheimer's disease and how we, as the body of Christ, can engage and minister to those with the disease and those caring for the sick. This is a discussion worth 10 minutes of your time. Read it at Postings from Prairie Hill.
2 comments:
John,
Thank you for drawing attention to this, and for providing the statistics. One of the issues families face when dealing with this disease is that they have never talked about it or considered how it might impact their lives. Getting the conversation going is a way to help people to be prepared, so that if - God forbid - they ever have to deal with it in their own families, they are not totally unaware.
This is a very powerful ministry opportunity. Thanks for calling it out.
This is something that we have all become more aware of and the church should be invovled.
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