Display hopes to take a bite out of Alzheimer’s mystery

Planning a trip to the Big Apple this month? Consider a stop at Rockefeller Center, where throughout October a 115-square-foot display is educating residents and visitors to America’s largest city about Alzheimer’s disease.

The exhibit includes the Alzheimer’s Association’s “Celebrity Champions” video as well as current statistics and future projections about the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States. No doubt you've heard many of them before, but a refresher can be nice:

• Every 68 seconds, someone in the United States develops Alzheimer's disease. By mid-century, it will be every 33 seconds.
• More than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease right now.

The display also includes information specific to New York City, where the local chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association offers programs for the 250,000 residents with the disease and their caregivers.

“Alzheimer’s is a disease that doesn’t discriminate,” notes Lou-Ellen Barkan, president and CEO of the Alzheimer’s Association’s New York City Chapter. “Whether you have the disease, know or care for someone with it, or are part of the medical community, the disease affects us all in some way.”

EHE International, marketer of employee and individual preventive health plans, donated the display window at 10 Rockefeller Plaza.

Of course, if you can’t make it to the Big Apple this month, Alzheimer’s disease information is always a click away on the websites of the Alzheimer’s Association and other organizations.

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Lois Bowers

Lois A. Bowers was senior editor of I Advance Senior Care / Long-Term Living from 2013-2015.