I was recently reading an article in the USA Today about a report from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) entitled “Alzheimer’s Disease, Dementia Cases That Double by 2060.” The title alone certainly surprised me and grabbed my attention and the article did that and more.

The article said that in 2014, there were five million people in the United States with Alzheimer’s or dementia. The CDC estimates that by 2060 that number will grow to 13.9 million.  

As an estate planning and elder law attorney, I present weekly in the community about the importance of powers of attorney and making sure that all of your financial and medical decisions can be taken care of by another individual in the event that you are not able to take care of them for yourself.  

I often feel that the information is falling on deaf ears as more times than not people reply that they’re too young and that it won’t happen to them. The article made me realize that not only has this been something that I have seen time and time again in my practice, but the statistics say that it is now something that is going to occur with a higher frequency as time goes by.  

Please put your oxygen mask on first as the airline stewardess tells you to do, and get yourself a written financial and medical power of attorney.  If these statistics are true, it is increasingly likely that this will happen to one of us. Be prepared and protect your family and your loved ones so that decisions can still be made for you even if Alzheimer’s or dementia.

If you want to join us in the cause to fight this horrible disease consider walking with us on Saturday, October 20th.  You can click here to walk or donate to the cause: http://act.alz.org/site/TR?team_id=496681&fr_id=11501&pg=team

Jeffrey Bellomo