Elaine Vlieger is making some concessions to Alzheimer's. She's cut back on her driving, frozen dinners replace once elaborate cooking, and a son monitors her finances. But the Colorado woman lives alone and isn't ready to give up her house or her independence.
Some 800,000 people with Alzheimer's, roughly 1 in 7 Americans with the disease, live alone in their communities, according to surprising new data from the Alzheimer's Association. It's a different picture of the mind-destroying disease than the constant caregiving that eventually these people will need.
Many such as Vlieger cope on their own during dementia's earlier stages with support from family and friends who keep in close contact.
via npr.org