Must reads

• A September 25, 2014 Chicago Tribune article reported on the "double burden" of Alzheimer's and Down syndrome. According to the article, "The two conditions are genetically linked. Even so, the combination was rarely seen years ago because people with Down syndrome usually didn't live long enough to develop Alzheimer's and other illnesses of aging. But now medical advances have extended the life expectancy of people with Down syndrome, and families are encountering the reality spelled out in figures from the National Task Group on Intellectual Disabilities and Dementia Practices: Adults with Down syndrome are at high risk for developing Alzheimer's disease, and at an earlier age than the population as a whole. At least 25 percent of those older than 40 have Alzheimer's, and more than 50 percent of those over 60 do, compared with 6 percent of those over 60 in the overall population."
• A September 24, 2014 PBS Newshour article reported on the impact of Alzheimer's on women and highlighted the new documentary “The Genius of Marian.” According to the article, "Every 67 seconds someone in the United States develops Alzheimer’s. Two-thirds of those people are women. Pam White is one of them, so was her mother. To documentary filmmaker Banker White though, Pam is not just another Alzheimer’s patient, she is his mother. White began filming his mother as a way to help her finish the book she was writing about her own mother, an accomplished artist. When he watched the scenes later he was struck by another story he could tell."
• A September 24, 2014 Forbes opinion piece by Dr. Robert L. Kane underscored the need to reevaluate elder care in the US and called for increased innovation in the system. According to Dr. Kane, "America’s elder care system is not a caring system. It is driven by caution instead of imagination. Safety is an overvalued commodity. As a result of risk aversion, older people are deprived of many activities and subjected to unnecessary suffering…In both instances, these were not mean or venal people. They were intimidated by fears of being seen as neglectful. They were, at least in part, the product of a regulatory system that has not been very effective and has certainly destroyed any lingering spirit of innovation." Robert L. Kane, MD, holds an endowed Chair in Long-term Care and Aging at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and is a contributor to Next Avenue.