People with Alzheimer’s need our awareness

During this trying time of emergency after emergency, I wanted to bring awareness to the unique needs of people living with Alzheimer’s disease/ dementia in emergency situations.

We have all seen too often the dire consequences of folks living alone, without support or limited resources who had died in the recent fire emergencies.

Alzheimer’s disease/dementia is a progressive, neurodegenerative disease, which results in memory loss and impaired cognitive and often physical function. According to the March 2020 Alzheimer’s Association Facts and Figures report, one in four individuals with cognitive impairment lives alone.

During the most recent fires that effected Solano, Napa and Butte counties — countless people living with dementia were asked to evacuate their residence whether they lived at home alone or with family, or an assisted living or skilled nursing communities. These people are particularly at-risk during an emergency.

The COVID 19 pandemic has also brought to the forefront the special set of challenges that effect this group of folks and their caregivers in emergencies.

The Yolo County Board of Supervisors, Yolo County Emergency Services along with the leadership of Yolo County Commission on Aging and Adult Services is working on plans to ensure the integration of people with unique needs into the very important work of planning and preparing for emergency situations.

Existing law requires counties to integrate the access and functional needs population into its emergency plan, upon the next update to that plan. This requirement must contemplate how the access and functional needs population is served by emergency communications, evacuation, and sheltering.

In the early spring of 2020, Assemblywoman Cecilia Aguiar-Curry introduced a bill, AB 2047 requiring that individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia are explicitly integrated into each county’s emergency response plan as part of the “access and functional needs population”. T

Please join me in advocating for this population by supporting the local emergency planning efforts and encouraging the reintroduction next legislative session of AB 2047, AguiarCurry to help protect our most vulnerable seniors.

Cindi Royval Unger, Yolo County Commission on Aging and Adult Services, Disaster Preparedness Subcommittee

Member