Image by tomertuOPINION – In Okinawa, Japan, residents commonly live past the age of 100. The same is true on the island of Sardinia in Italy, the Greek isle of Ikaria, the Nicoya Peninsula of Costa Rica and Loma Linda, California. What is the secret to their longevity?
An abstract view of a doctor serching the human brain for Alzheimer's and dementia. (Image: PopTika, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Gov. Gavin Newsom has the chance to improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of Californians impacted by Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia by signing SB 48, a bill on his desk that would provide much needed aid and training to Medi-Cal healthcare providers to improve early detection of cognitive impairment. As the daughter of someone living with Alzheimer’s disease, I know first-hand the impact this legislation will have
The young hands of a caregiver surround the hands of an elderly patient. (Photo: Ocskay Mark, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Everywhere you turn these days we’re being told that government doesn’t work, that our democracy is too polarized to deliver for everyday people. The budget Gov. Newsom recently signed tells a different story. It will help turbocharge our recovery from COVID-19 and make a historic commitment on another urgent public health crisis: Alzheimer’s.
Mesenchymal stem cells are injected into the knee of a patient. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons photo, via VT Digger)They could be called the “UC Caucus,” although that may presume too much. Nonetheless, they come from an institution that has pulled down $1.2 billion from the California state stem cell agency, more than any other enterprise during the last 16 years.
An elderly patient is comforted by a young caregiver. (Photo: Ocskay Mark, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Every year, the Alzheimer’s Association releases a report providing national and state-level statistics on Alzheimer’s prevalence, mortality, cost of care and impact on caregivers. As a son caring for my father who is living with Alzheimer’s, these statistics simply cannot do justice to the huge emotional, physical and financial toll that this disease takes on families and society at large.
An Alzheimer patient and his son strolling on the beach. (Photo: tonkid, via Shutterstock)OPINION: If the governor’s proposed budget goes through to completely eliminate funding for adult day health care facilities that support Californians living with dementia and Alzheimer’s, things will go from tough to impossible for tens of thousands of families like mine.
A 77-year-old man running uphill in a road race at Daggett Pass, Nevada. (Photo: Karin Hildebrand Lau) OPINION: By including $3 million in annual funding for Alzheimer’s research in the budget, Gov. Gavin Newsom showed he is willing to take action on issues important to California’s fast-growing aging population. Still, the move is only the beginning of what must be a much larger effort to keep pace with our older population’s future needs.