GBI, Police Launch Georgia Alzheimer's Training

ATLANTA, GA — The Georgia Bureau of Investigation and other law-enforcement agencies have launched a training effort to help police better respond to calls involving people with Alzheimer's disease.

According to the GBI, more than 140,000 people in Georgia have been disgnosed with Alzheimer's, which can cause confusion and disorientation, agitated or aggressive behavior and hallucinations, among other symptoms.

On Thursday, the GBI, Atlanta Police Department and Georgia Department of Human Services hosted training at Atlanta Metropolitan State College to teach public safety officers how they can better respond to calls involving people with the disease, or related dementia.

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Over 120 attendees participated. They were taught how to recognize signs and symptoms of the disease, who to effectively interview a person with Alzheimer's, how to conduct search and rescue efforts for them and how to engage the media in Alzheimer's-related searches and investigations.

The GBI says it's estimated that, by 2025, there will be a 46 percent increase in the number of elderly Georgians living with Alzheimer's. Many may be undiagnosed and, during encounters with police, they may not immediately understand or comply with commands, the GBI said.

The agency plans to host training classes statewide throughout the summer.

In 2014, the Georgia General Assembly established the Alzheimer’s Disease Registry within the state Department of Public Health. The purpose of the registry is to collect and disseminate usable data to assist programs and services for the aging population, identify epidemiological trends, bring awareness at the state level to issues that affect healthy aging, and inform stakeholders for planning and for future registry needs.

Click here for a list of groups and services devoted to helping Georgia Alzheimer's and dementia patients and their families.

The majority of people with Alzheimer's-related diseases are 65 years old or older, but there are some cases of onset as early as 40 years old, the public health department reports. In Georgia, at the end of 2013, the median age of diagnosis among Medicare recipients was 78, the DPH reports. Its prevalence increased as age increased, with the highest prevalence being among seniors 85 and older.

At that same time, Alzheimer's-related disease was more common among female recipients (7.7 percent) than male recipients (4.8 percent), but the mean age of diagnosis was lower for men, 73, than for women, 76.

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