Dad’s diagnosis of Alzheimer’s stayed
hidden from everyone until I took over the medical administration of my parents
in 2015. Once I found out, there was a deafening silence from most of the
people I know even though virtually all of them would add, “My _____ had Alzheimer’s…”
But there was little help, little beyond people sadly shaking heads. Or horror
stories. Lots of those. Even the ones who knew about the disease seemed to have
received a gag order from some Central Alzheimer’s Command and did little more
than mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I
started this part of my blog…
I just got back
from three weeks in South Korea, where my son and his family have lived for the
past three-and-a-half years.
While I cannot
categorically say that I never saw a person with Alzheimer’s, I CAN say that I
never saw a person who BEHAVED as if they had Alzheimer’s. That got me to
thinking – I know what we have done to my dad here in the US. What do other countries
do for or with their people. I’m going to start with South Korea and see what I
can come up with…
The first thing I
found was this: “Alzheimer Disease International (ADI), was founded in 1984 to
help to fight Alzheimer's disease, first diagnosed back in 1906. ADI is the
umbrella organisation of more than 80 Alzheimer’s associations around the
world.”
OK. So I know that
out of 195 countries (including the Holy See (the Vatican) and the State of
Palestine) there are eighty associations around the world. While that sounds “wonderful”,
that means that less than half of the countries on Earth have some group or
organization whose purpose is to intentionally help fight against Alzheimer’s
Disease. Question: Where does South Korea fall?
“Although a rapid
increase in the number of patients with dementia is a worldwide problem with
significant health and economic consequences, the rates of increase is not
uniform. The numbers in developed countries are expected to increase by 100%
between 2001 and 2040 and by >300% in Asian and South American countries.
The rate of growth of the aged population in the Republic of Korea (hereafter,
Korea) is known to be one of the fastest in the world (2). Korea is expected to
move from an aging society to a ‘super-aged’ society in only 26 yr (2000-2026),
and 37.6% (17.9 million) of the population is expected to be of the age>65
yr by 2050. In addition, the rapid industrialization in the past four decades
has brought extensive changes in the structure and value of Korean families.
For example, the percentage of one-person households is increasing,
particularly in the elderly population where it will reach approximately 33%.
At the same time, more women have started to work; therefore, the number of
informal caregivers is decreasing. Because of this rapidly aging population and
progressive westernization of lifestyle, dementia has emerged as a major health
problem in Korea.”
Clearly, even
though I didn’t SEE anyone with Alzheimer’s-like behavior, that didn’t mean
squat! It’s actually a problem of greater proportions in Korea. Of course,
Korea went from a bombed out, agrarian, perhaps close to a stone-aged society at
the end of the Korean War in 1953; to one of the most technologically advanced
countries on Earth 65 years later (which of course, depends on who you ask –
Americans count themselves as #1 (https://www.theclever.com/most-technologically-advanced-countries/);
Quora counts them as #2 (https://www.quora.com/Which-is-the-most-technology-advanced-country-of-the-world);
and this Youtube video (which doesn’t disclose its origin) put the US at #2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHLYpsbB7Sc&vl=en)
– but not one of the lists I perused excluded South Korea as one of the top 10
most technologically advanced nations on Earth.
So what are they doing
to deal with Alzheimer’s?
At this point, it
appears only raising awareness, training people to deal with dementia, and
diagnosing it. They have also instigated Family Caregiver Support Policies. You
can read the entire proposed National Dementia Plan here: file:///C:/Users/gstew/Downloads/(ENG%20ver.)%20The%203rd%20National%20Dementia%20Plan%20(%EC%A0%9C3%EC%B0%A8%20%EC%B9%98%EB%A7%A4%EA%B4%80%EB%A6%AC%EC%A2%85%ED%95%A9%EA%B3%84%ED%9A%8D).pdf
I’ll summarize a
couple of things: In 2014, the following legislation was introduced: “The
Respite Care Service was installed to provide family caregivers of PWD with a
brief repose. The 5th grade was added to the Long-term Care Approval System to
allow people with mild dementia to be eligible for service benefits such as
cognitive stimulation and visiting nursing services.”
It’s not much, but
in future essays, I’ll dig into Korea’s plan – as well as the national American
plan – to deal with dementia in our population.
