Dementia is the seventh leading cause of death worldwide and a major cause of disability among older people, according to the World Health Organization.
A Republican state lawmaker wants to help Missourians dealing with the cognitive disease by creating a dementia services coordinator. Sen. Travis Fitzwater, R-Holts Summit, said the position would be within the Department of Health and Senior Services.
“As this kind of expands across our population of folks in the state of Missouri, (it) just made a lot of sense to have somebody that’s within our state government that has their mind wrapped around these issues and is taking care of the folks that are dealing with these significant disabilities,” he told Missourinet.
According to the CDC, 6.7 million older Americans have Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia. That number is expected to nearly double by 2060, reaching around 14-million people.
“Sometimes you just need to say there needs to be somebody who is in charge of that one piece that’s becoming a real issue in our communities,” Fitzwater explained. “Just to have that one voice for that subset of people and issues just made a lot of sense, policy-wise.”
Under the proposal, the Dementia Services Coordinator will promote public awareness and education about dementia.
“These departments are tasked with so many different things,” he said. “When you don’t have somebody that’s focused on a single issue, like a dementia coordinator would be focused on the dementia issue, you have people that’s maybe a little portion of their job and there’s nobody really focused on that issue. So, you’re really not giving it the focus that it needs.”
The coordinator’s responsibilities would include providing information for Missourians living with dementia and their caregivers and promoting public awareness and education about the illness.
The bill could be heard before a Senate committee in the coming weeks.
Click here to listen to the interview.
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