[ad_1]
New state law aims to provide better health care for 100,000 Alzheimer's patients in Massachusetts.
The law, passed by the legislature in July and signed by Governor Charlie Baker last month, contains mandates on health care providers designed to improve the detection of incurable diseases and other forms of dementia and offer better treatment for patients.
Shirley Coffey from Boston is one of these patients. She is about seventy, but sometimes she does not remember her age.
"I wake up in the morning and I have to remember … I have to replay what I did the day before so I know what day I wake up," she told WGBH News.
Coffey said she first realized that something was wrong when she did not recognize her granddaughter one day.
"This young woman comes in with that lovely 2-year-old girl and says," Nana, you do not know who we are? "And it took me a few minutes … their voices usually make me think who they are," she says stopping at the points.
Michael Kincade did not grow up with his mother, but his symptoms were familiar. He saw the same years earlier in his grandmother.
After seeing the symptoms, Kincade found his specialist mother, who diagnosed him with Alzheimer's disease.
"It was not a surprise. We knew something was wrong, and then I realized that I was in mourning, "he said.
The new law requires doctors, medical assistants, registered nurses and nursing assistants to take a unique continuing education course on the diagnosis and treatment of patients with cognitive impairment.
"We have often heard the problem in the primary care setting, where you will see someone getting diagnosed with a completely different illness – maybe it's depression. Meanwhile, they are in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease and they have no help in this process, "said Dan Zotos, director of public policy and advocacy for the Alzheimer's Association of Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
The law also requires hospitals to develop and implement a plan for recognition and care of dementia patients by October 1, 2021, four years after the act comes into force.
The law could have a bigger impact on African Americans like Coffey.
"Black Americans are about twice as likely to have dementia as white people. And the Latin American communities are about a half times more likely, "said Jonathan Jackson, director of the Center for Research on Recruitment and Community Access Education (CARE) at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Jackson said it's hard to know why the disease is much more prevalent among these racial ethnic groups, but the disparities can be linked to other health problems.
"Black communities or Latino communities have higher rates of hypertension or diabetes, but there are a number of other factors largely attributable to societal and structural barriers that also contribute to higher rates of dementia," he said. Jackson said.
For Coffey and her family, anything that offers help as she struggles to keep her memories is welcome.
"I can always tell you where I live … I think," said Coffey. "Other than that, my grandchildren and my kids. That's all. "
Overall, the number of patients with Alzheimer's at the state level is expected to increase by 25% over the next decade.
[ad_2]
Source link
