TORONTO, Jan. 16, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — January is Alzheimer’s Awareness Month, recognised across Canada and internationally as an opportunity to reflect on the challenges faced by the growing number of people living with dementia, and their care partners. To underscore the urgency of this year’s Awareness Month, the Alzheimer Society of Ontario is highlighting data from the 2022 Landmark study showing that in 2024 an additional 66,900 Ontarians will develop Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia—and by the end of the year, 316,600 Ontarians will be living with dementia.
“Dementia is the leading cause of unnecessary hospital days in Ontario, a major factor behind why dementia is a $30 billion disease annually in Ontario—and this will only get worse as hundreds of thousands of Ontarians develop dementia in the coming years,” said Cathy Barrick, CEO of the Alzheimer Society of Ontario. “Home and community supports are faced with chronic underfunding, and cannot cope with current demand for our services. Care partners are carrying a horrifically unfair burden, forced to be unpaid nurses and PSWs with little or no thought given to their own care needs. This isn’t sustainable.”
The number of unpaid care partners supporting someone living with dementia in Ontario will grow by 10,000 this year to 185,637. Combined, they will provide over five million unpaid hours of care each and every week—equivalent to over 128,000 full-time jobs.
“Dementia does not mean your life is over,” continued Ms. Barrick. “People living with dementia continue to be vibrant members of their communities, loved family members, and dear friends. As the disease progresses they need help to maintain near-independence in their home—and they’re not getting this help. In that situation people have nowhere to turn but hospitals, and that’s exactly what thousands are doing—further stressing already overstretched emergency departments.”
Dementia accounts for half of all alternate level of care (ALC) days in Ontario’s hospitals—around 3,000 beds on any given day occupied by someone living with dementia who does not want or need to be there, but has nowhere else to go.
As an important 2024 New Year’s resolution during Alzheimer’s Awareness Month, the Alzheimer Society is encouraging you to learn more about the signs, symptoms, and risk factors associated with dementia. Visit www.ourconnectionsmatter.com to learn more.
About the Alzheimer Society of Ontario
The Alzheimer Society is a federation of 26 frontline community support service providers, operating in every community across Ontario. We supported over 95,000 clients last year, including both care partners and people living with dementia. We provide education and training to physicians and other health care professionals, as well as to the general public, and work to reduce the stigma that is far too often associated with dementia. As a health service provider, we offer system navigation, care partner respite, adult day programs, therapeutic recreation, and so much more at little or, for nearly all of our programs, no cost to families. With hundreds of staff and thousands of volunteers we seek to alleviate the personal and social consequences of Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia, and to promote research into a cure. Learn more and find an Alzheimer Society near you: https://alzheimer.ca/on/en/about-us/find-your-local-alzheimer-society
Media Contact
Beth Merrick, ZAZOU Communications
[email protected] / (416) 473-9881
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e67c37db-8325-4d2a-91f6-a3e99a19cf16
