It's In the news- raising the flag for caregivers.

Hi, Gentle reader it's me again.

As I was going through my September 13 edition of  ARRP'S bulletin, I found some interesting facts.

Do you know that 39% of unpaid caregivers manage loved ones and give medication for vets.  39%!  Wow! That's a high number.

The story goes on to Elizabeth Dole has a new cause: caregivers of veterans. " people just aren't aware of the deeds," says the former US senator from North Carolina and former head of the American Red Cross. So she's creating Caring for Military Families: The ELizabeth Dole Foundation, which aims to raise public awareness of caregivers needs, such as help with childcare. the foundation sponsors research, too, including The RAND corporation study that has set the number of caregivers to vets as high as 1 million.

For her work in this arena and as a longtime public servant, Dole will receive this month, the William O Douglas award from Public Counsel, the nation's largest pro- bono law firm.

When her husband, former Sen. Bob Dole, spent 11 months at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in 2010, Dole saw the challenges faced by veteran caregivers.

Dole is quoted as saying, "there needs to be a national response to a
societal problem."

Gentle reader, The Alzheimer's Association reports that in 2012, 15.4 million caregivers provided an estimated 11.5 billion hours of unpaid care valued at more than 216 billion.  More caregivers are desperately needed to care for Alzheimer's patients.

Alzheimer's disease is six leading cause of death in the United States and one in three seniors die with Alzheimer's or an another dementia. Alzheimer's is the only disease that is underfunded in research and from which at the current time, there is no cure on the horizon as one of the top 10 diseases.

Alzheimer's disease is the most common type of dementia. "Dementia" is an umbrella term which describes a variety of diseases and conditions that develop when nerve cells in the brain called neutrons die and  are no longer functioning normally. The death of our malfunction of neutrons cause changes in one's memory, behavior and ability to think clearly. In Alzheimer's disease, these brain changes eventually impair an individual ability to carry out such basic bodily functions as walking and swallowing. Alzheimer's disease is ultimately fatal.

Most caregivers do so 7-24, and can use your help. How, you ask. a covered dish for dinner is a big help. Be sure to let the care giver know. Spending a few hours with the caregiver and visit. A lot of caregivers need a break  so tanking their place for a few hours will give a caregiver some much needed break to do what they need to do just for themselves. This is good for early and middle stage patients. You can play games with the and other creative things. Because you care....others are cared for!