Community Awareness and Services
The typical path for Alzheimer's disease, the most common type of dementia, is now understood to begin in middle age and progress slowly over the next couple of decades before it begins to interfere with daily life. More than 70% of people with dementia live in their own homes or in the home of a family member, and spend the majority of their time living with dementia at home in the community.
The years while a person is in the early stages of a progressive dementia are critical for making important decisions about future care, putting safety measures in place, and making lifestyle changes to ensure the journey is as smooth as possible for the person with dementia and caregivers. If a diagnosis is made early enough, the person with dementia may use these years to accomplish life goals before they become unreachable.
The Community Awareness and Services section of the Plan has fourteen strategies to help families understand what is happening and to prepare for the future. These strategies fall within the three main categories listed in the next section.