I am very mindful of the degenerative diseases plaguing our aging population today, dementia, Parkinsons Disease, strokes and arthritis. Almost every family is touched by such disorders and children especially are exposed to the debility and dependence that they cause. How do we explain dementia to kids? How do we explain diseases like Parkinsons Disease to our children?
Regularly we hear of another well known personality or relative of a friend with a diagnosis of dementia. Because of the ever increasing numbers it’s hard to not think that perhaps environmental factors are at play, or at least a major contributing factor. Air pollutants we breathe, in the food we eat, in the water we drink, in the creams, sprays etc we put on our skin, the shampoos and potions we put in our hair.
The prevalence of dementia among individuals aged 71 and older was 13.9%, comprising about 3.4 million individuals in the USA in 2002. The corresponding values for Alzheimers Disease were 9.7% and 2.4 million individuals. Dementia prevalence increased with age, from 5.0% of those aged 71–79 years to 37.4% of those aged 90 and older.
The numbers of those aged 65 years or older in the USA is expected to double from approximately 35 million today to more than 70 million by 2030.
These statistics in the US would equate to other western countries giving the information required to bolster facilities that will be required to care for sufferers as well as their carers and to look to our health care systems in general.
Statistics such as these makes it very possible for today’s children to be exposed to people not only with dementia, but with Parkinsons, stroke or arthritis as well.
How best to help children understand what is happening to their beloved grandparent, friend of the family or elderly neighbour?
Information on degenerative diseases in the elderly for children 8-12years is available in e-book form written by Elizabeth Gray a former Australian RN who worked in this area for over 20 years. She has encapsulated in story form all the facts – the symptoms and the management.
www.dementia-explained.com
www.stroke-explained.com
www.parkinsons-explained.com
www.arthritis-explained.net
Stats: Prevalence of Dementia in the United States: The Aging, Demographics, and Memory Study :published 2007
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