The Alabama Alzheimer’s Task Force met to develop recommendations to the Legislature on a five-year strategy to address Alzheimer’s and other dementia-related diseases.
The task force, created by a legislative resolution last year, will present the plan to Gov. Kay Ivey and lawmakers at the start of the 2025 legislative session in February, at which time the task force will disband.
“Just looking at what state services are available through the different agencies, we have a committee member who is from Veterans Affairs, we have Medicaid involved, we have the Department of Public Health, (Department of) Mental Health, all the different state agencies who deal with people who suffer from Alzheimer’s in some way,” said Rep. Ginny Shaver, R-Leesburg, who chairs the task force, after Wednesday’s meeting.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Alabama had the second-highest death rate from Alzheimer’s disease in 2021, behind only Mississippi, with 46.8 per 100,000 people. The 2023 Alabama State Health Assessment identified Alzheimer’s disease as the seventh leading cause of death in the state in 2022, with a rate of 52.2 people with Alzheimer’s per 100,000 residents. That’s an improvement from 2020, when the state had a rate of 62.9 cases per 100,000 residents.
The number of people age 65 and older with Alzheimer’s disease in Alabama is expected to increase from 96,000 in 2020 to 110,000 in 2025, an increase of 14.6%, according to a 2023 report from the Alzheimer’s Association. The increase is mainly due to poor access to healthcare in rural areas and an aging population, particularly in the Black Belt region.
The working group established five subcommittees with different focuses. The plan will also suggest ways to increase public awareness and support family caregivers, as outlined in the resolution.
The different subcommittees will focus on caregiver support and education; deal with stigma; healthcare provider education; investigation; and policies and promotion.
Laurie Eldridge-Auffont, director of chronic diseases at the state health department, said officials reviewed other states’ plans to guide development of the task force’s state plan.
Eldridge-Auffont provided an overview of the Alzheimer’s Association and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Healthy Brain Initiative, which offers strategies for state and local health departments to build infrastructure to address Alzheimer’s. Officials also reviewed parts of plans from Massachusetts, Louisiana and other states that could be implemented in Alabama.
“This is a good start to see what other states have done so that we’re not reinventing the wheel,” Eldridge-Auffont said.
Amie Brunson, professor of social work at the University of Alabama, will provide a needs assessment report to the task force.
“We’re looking to determine people’s knowledge about dementia and dementia risk, their experience of finding informational activity within their community about dementia and caregiving,” Brunson said.
Brunson also said officials hope to learn the public’s perspective on access to public and private organizations working in dementia care.
“I can tell you firsthand that it’s pretty exhausting for caregivers, and I’m probably more connected than most people when it comes to searching for services and finding out what’s available as far as health care and other services,” said Shaver, who She is her sister’s sister. vigilant. “For someone with dementia, there are people who don’t have the knowledge or connections that I have.”
Alzheimer’s disease disproportionately affects black Americans. According to a 2022 study by the Alzheimer’s Association, Black Americans are up to twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease, but also 35% less likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and other dementias than white participants. .
The Black Belt region has some of the highest rates of Alzheimer’s disease in the state. In Greene and Macon counties, 18% of the population age 65 and older lives with Alzheimer’s disease, according to the Alabama chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association. The average in Alabama is 11.8%.
According to the study, race itself is not a risk factor, but certain diseases and lifestyle factors are associated with dementia, and some racial or ethnic groups are at higher risk. Cardiovascular conditions such as hypertension and diabetes are more prevalent among African Americans, and have been consistently associated with dementia and cognitive decline in later life.
Alzheimer’s disease mortality is also increasing in the state, according to the 2022 report. Nearly 2,700 Alabamians died from Alzheimer’s disease in 2019, a 197.1% increase since 2000.
The elderly population in the country is increasing: 1 in 6 people is 65 or older (in 1920, that was less than 1 in 20). Alabama’s median age is slightly higher than the national average. The median age in Alabama in 2022 was 39.4 years old, according to the U.S. Census, compared to 38.9 years nationwide. The median age was highest among whites in Alabama, 42.9 years.
To create infrastructure to better connect services across the state, the state health department received a $1.7 million, five-year grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Task force members will be chosen to join the task force subcommittees over the next few weeks. In July and August, the subcommittees will meet monthly to draft objectives for their priority areas and present them to the working group for discussion and adoption in September and October. Subcommittees will draft objectives for each goal based on a needs assessment being developed by the University of Alabama, which will be distributed statewide for feedback.
From November to December, subcommittees will draft strategies for each goal and present their findings to the working group. By January, their recommendations should be finalized and ready to be presented to the legislature in February 2025.
“It’s a five-year plan, and years one and two are developing the state plan, and then years three, four and five are implementing the plan. Whatever we come up with in the meetings, they’ll be able to take it forward and implement it,” Shaver said.
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