TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - The National Alzheimer's Association says that, one in 3 seniors die of Alzheimer's or other types of Dementia, taking more lives than breast or prostate cancer.
The disease is the 6th leading cause of death in the nation.
More than 5 million Americans live with Alzheimer's or Dementia.
According to the organization, Alzheimer's cost Americans more than $236 million in 2016.
"It's really important to start changing the conversation and the discourse about living with dementia because up until now generally what you hear about are the cognitive and functional changes," said the executive director of the Dementia Action Alliance Karen Love. "And we are not hearing much talk people living with dementia themselves speaking out."
That number is expected to increase with caregivers working 18.1 billion hours unpaid.
Today the Dementia Action Alliance announced a new set of resources for those affected by the disease.
The caring conversations tool kit is aimed at helping those who are supporting someone with Alzheimer's or Dementia.
Organizers hope to educate those helping a person with the disease to better understand how to treat them:
"If you have ever been with anybody for example that potentially was just trying to order something as simple as an omelet it can be complicated because doing a series of things like bacon, onions, cheese all that," said City Commissioner Gil Ziffer. "Assimilating all that together is sometimes difficult and so a server if they are aware can ask each question individually. I know it sounds simplistic but it is things like that can make things better for folks with dementia."
Today's launch was broken up into two parts.
Part one – Living with Dementia: An Unexpected Journey and part two – The Indispensable Handbook for Family and Friends.
