Alzheimer’s disease strikes about one in nine Iowa seniors, but studies show the rate is even higher for people in rural areas.

A statewide virtual community forum is planned later this week focused on dementia care in rural Iowa. The online event will be moderated by Jim Feauto, administrator of Regency Park Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Carroll. He says rural Iowans face more challenges when it comes to diagnosis, long-term care options, and support for caregivers.

“It’s really kind of a double whammy,” Feauto says. “They have less access and the percentages are a little higher in rural Iowa.”

Nearly seven-million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease, including more than 62,000 in Iowa, while nearly 100,000 Iowans are caregivers for family members and friends.

The virtual forum is being hosted by the Alzheimer’s Association Iowa Chapter. The goal is to better understand the challenges in rural Iowa, to shed light on the need for more support, and to start finding solutions to decrease higher prevalence rates and increase access to medical and support services.

“Nationally and in Iowa, about one in nine over 65 is impacted by Alzheimer’s,” Feauto says. “In these rural areas, it’s less than one in eight, and they don’t have access to treatment, care, resources, so we want to see what they need and how we can help them.”

A 2023 study found the average Alzheimer’s prevalence rate in Iowans 65 and older is 11%, though the rate was 12.5% in Osceola and Mitchell counties, 12.6% in Monona County, and the state’s highest rate of 12.9% was in Ringgold County.

While Medicare recommends seniors get a cognitive test during their doctor’s checkups every year, studies show only about 25-percent of those who are eligible take the test.

“In rural areas, only seven-and-a-half percent of the eligible people over 65 get cognitive assessments in their annual wellness visits,” Feauto says, “and that’s something that we’re really trying to get the word out to do that.”

Three other people will co-host the forum: Kari Bateman, administrator for Emmet County Public Health; Andrea Turnbull, home care nursing division manager for Cerro Gordo Public Health; and Coletta Weeda, a dementia caregiver from Denison.

The forum via Zoom is free and will be held starting at 11 AM on Thursday. Register HERE.

 

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