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From the archives 2021

WATCH: A free panel on Alzheimer’s disease preparedness in Pennsylvania

by Spotlight PA Staff |

Alice “Candy” Loughney, 71, has Alzheimer’s disease and moved into a long-term care facility in Monroeville after her symptoms became too much for her husband to manage.
Quinn Glabicki for Spotlight PA / PublicSource

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There are 280,000 people in Pennsylvania over the age of 64 living with Alzheimer’s disease, the most common cause of dementia, and that number is expected to swell to 320,000 over the next four years.

Yet, few state-licensed eldercare facilities have dementia-specific accommodations, nursing homes are short-staffed, care costs are exceedingly high, and support is often incredibly thin, a recent Spotlight PA/ PublicSource investigation revealed.

The result, advocates warn, is a perfect storm of limited resources against soaring needs, with many giving Pennsylvania a failing grade on its efforts to prepare.

On Friday, Oct. 8 at noon, Spotlight PA held a free panel on Alzheimer’s disease preparedness in Pennsylvania and possible solutions.

Spotlight PA has also compiled a list of resources for people caring for others with dementia.

Family and caregiver resources

Patient services and supports

Other resources

WHILE YOU’RE HERE… If you learned something from this story, pay it forward and become a member of Spotlight PA so someone else can in the future at spotlightpa.org/donate. Spotlight PA is funded by foundations and readers like you who are committed to accountability journalism that gets results.

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