The Bubble Is Growing: Let's Make It Burst and Drench Society With Possibilities

The bubble is growing.

As celebrities and others mention and talk about Dementia; as our population continues to age and "stick around" longer; as families are generally smaller and there are less to "care for" our aging at home; as families of Gen X'ers add children much as their forefathers did with sightings of 4, 5 and 6 children rather than the 2, 3 and occasional 4 of Baby Boomer families; the bubble of taking care of ourselves with care at all ages and stages becomes larger

The children of today if provided with better health care will be the elderly of tomorrow. And, no, that doesn't mean we don't want good health care, on the contrary, it means we need to prepare and take action to provide for these needs to live a long and live a healthy life. That means identifying, recognizing and supporting efforts to provide these "basic" elements of life like food and water are for living things.

Just read an article via the Lewy Body Dementia website that has me a bit on edge. Why?

It's an article about the limitations of physicians in talking with and dealing with patients who have Dementia. the author is Danielle Ofri, MD. She is a practicing internist, Associate Professor of Medicine, essayist, etc.

Comments were left by many and they are perhaps more enlightening than what Dr Ofri wrote. They come from people who've been diagnosed with "fatal" diseases and family members. They tell the reality of being the person with the challenge and those who everyday rise to the challenge to provide care without receiving real guidance, direction and assistance. 

Many, including my daughter and I, have been sent in various directions because no one took the time to understand, to care and to sit down and actually talk about the disease and who have shifted the responsibility to this organization or that, to this care provider or that one -- people who mostly are well meaning but certainly not specialists and who generally are volunteers

We went down that path. Through twists and turns often returning us to the beginning, where we were before and without any progression and feeling more recession into the trials and tribulations of struggling as caregivers and family members to love, care for and support in an environment that fails miserably to provide real support unless you have significant funds "to make the purchase".

We tried to use the internet, consult organizations and look for any small grain of information that might, just might, give us better direction than what we were taking.

Unfortunately, even today, there doesn't seem to be any one resource that's capable or funded enough to provide the type of information we all seek -- easy to read, providing more direct information.

We're good at gathering information, compiling it and sometimes sharing it within the medical community but often the needed recipients, those dealing directly with the challenges are often seen as "incapable" of understanding or applying what is "currently known" without significant oversight and management -- aka Doctors, Medical facilities and Long Term Care facilities.

It's time to burst the bubble of information and move it from select sites, within "industry" publications and have conversations, town hall meetings and raise public awareness through significant media continual coverage.

Updates on Dementia and other significant medical challenges including TIA's and "brain damage" medically or physically caused are important to put into the public domain. 

Cancer, Heart Disease and other physical challenges have gone from feared and unknown causes to publically acknowledged major focuses of attention and resolution to find cures.

DEMENTIA IN ALL ITS FORMS is a major threat to our society. It is not an "old person's disease". It can strike at all ages and it can reduce the strength of our society because like all diseases, the effects are felt and experienced by family, friends and society as a whole.