This article is shared with LebTown by content partner Spotlight PA.
By Spotlight PA Staff
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, join Spotlight PA for a free panel on Alzheimer’s disease preparedness in Pennsylvania and possible solutions.
Our panelists include:
- Colin Deppen, reporter and newsletter editor for Spotlight PA
- Juliette Rihl, freelance reporter for PublicSource
- Clayton Jacobs, executive director of the Alzheimer’s Association Greater Pennsylvania
- Other panelists to be announced.
RSVP for free here. Submit your questions in advance to events@spotlightpa.org
» Spotlight PA’s events operate on a “pay-what-you-can” honor system. If you value this public-service event, pay it forward and contribute any amount to Spotlight PA now so we can keep our programming free for everyone: spotlightpa.org/donate.
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.