(Undated)– Families of rural Iowans with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia face a crucial lack of mental health services.
Advocates met this week with some rural residents to assess their most important needs. Iowa has only 26 geriatricians practicing in the state. The Alzheimer’s Association says the state needs at least four times that many to meet the growing demand by 2050 – and 32-percent more direct care workers for dementia patients by 2030. Chapter spokesperson Lauren Livingston says the current provider shortage falls most heavily on rural Iowa, which has been declared a dementia care “desert”…
The Alzheimer’s Association says 11-percent of Iowans age 65 and older are living with the disease.
(Courtesy Iowa News Service)
