The Editor:
My husband has Alzheimer’s disease. His diagnosis is considered “early onset” because his decline began in his late 50s.
I am profoundly grateful for the invaluable resources available in our area to help dementia patients and their caregivers. The painfully protracted period from diagnosis to death from Alzheimer’s is often called “the long goodbye” – for good reason. Family and friends become strangers to their afflicted loved ones, and in a sense, vice versa.
Last spring PeaceHealth announced it would close its outpatient palliative care (OPPC) program claiming, in part, due to lost revenue during the Covid-19 pandemic. That announcement dashed my hopes that the local OPPC program would eventually include Alzheimer’s patients.
Because of a barrage of pleas and entreaties, PeaceHealth reconsidered and said it would reinstate OPPC in a new model. My understanding is that the reinstated program will be predominantly for cancer patients, with other diseases included at some future date.
In 2020, the CDC estimated 5.8 million Americans aged 65 and older had Alzheimer’s disease. In 2010, costs of treating Alzheimer’s were estimated at up to $215 billion annually. Unlike declining heart disease and cancer death rates, Alzheimer’s death rates are increasing.
Whatcom County urgently needs representation on the PeaceHealth System Governing Board. The system board includes five seats, of a total of 11, for people who live in communities where PeaceHealth has no facilities – three in California (Fairfax, Newport Beach, San Francisco), one in Denver and one in Chicago.
If our region had a seat on the System Board, I believe we’d have improved educational, awareness and support services for people with all life-limiting or terminal diseases, including Alzheimer’s.
Kathy Sitker
Birch Bay
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