The Department of Health and Senior Services estimates over 130,000 people are living with Alzheimer's disease and dementia in Missouri. The nonprofit Alzheimer's Impact Movement believes there are almost a quarter million unpaid caregivers in the state.
Mark Applegate said he thinks there are over 10,000 people with dementia in the Ozarks alone. He knows from personal experience that their caregivers need help. Applegate is a dementia care specialist and runs 14 dementia caregiver support groups across the region for SeniorAge Area Agency on Aging. Applegate said he has trouble filling some of those. When he considers why, he said he thinks caregivers tend to be overwhelmed and to isolate themselves, losing sight for a chance for community support, often missing opportunities for tangible help that are not always obvious. That's why he loves his job.
"There's a lot of resources in the Ozarks. But access to them is hard, and you have to patchwork it together," he said. "So knowing where all the help is and procuring the help is a big need. And that's one of the big things we do. We'll talk to someone, help walk them through setting up, applying for Medicaid. We'll walk them through, there's relief programs for caregivers so we kind of help people navigate a lot of that stuff. SeniorAge is one of the area agencies on aging. We're a nonprofit. Every county's got access to an area agency on aging. We cover 17 counties and kind of south central Missouri. We do home delivered meals for people that can't come into the senior centers, a lot of information and assistance, things like they have a question about senior related topics like navigating Medicare and navigating Medicaid. The patient companion program is one thing we do with that program for caregivers. A family member that is taking care of someone that can't take the person to the doctor's office, we can arrange transportation for the person to go to the doctor's office, and we can send someone else, a volunteer, to meet them there and take notes of the doctor's office."
Applegate said they can also help with transportation and have a program to call and check in on seniors. He also said there are two resources he thinks people overlook the most — hospice and elder law. Both can often help with a lot more than people think. He knows it can be overwhelming for those just starting their caregiving journey.
Jay Hardenbrook knows that, too, and he knows it's harder for people in rural parts of the state. Hardenbrook is associate state director for AARP, which is primarily an advocacy organization.
"We have such incredible caregiver resources, various community outreach events, you know, Ask a Caregiver, Caregiving on Tap, not to mention those support groups, which I think have been very important to let people sort of air what's going on," he said. "We've been pretty focused on caregiving for a while as we passed the Care Act requiring that hospitals actually provide training to caregivers when their loved ones leave the hospital. Obviously, Medicaid expansion. When we worked on that, our main focus was making sure that caregivers who have to leave work can continue to have health insurance. Now, the circuit breaker tax credit that just passed the general assembly will add tens of thousands of people onto the circuit breaker tax credit program and really allow people to stay in their homes, so that assistance with rent or with property taxes can go go a real long way. The thing I worry about more in the state of Missouri is those disparities from, you know, area to area here in southeast Missouri, like finding health care in the Delta is really, really hard right now. I mean, Springfield is fortunate to have two major hospital systems, but boy, you get into rural, you know, northeast, northwest, it's really hard up there, too. But there's also, you know, major disparities in the urban areas as well. I mean, we have people who live, you know, in the shadow of a hospital that wouldn't be able to get services there. The disparities that we have in the state are addressable. You know, those are things that we have, we've gotten better at, and we'll continue to get better at, you know, you shouldn't have to drive more than an hour to get health care services anywhere in the state of Missouri. You certainly shouldn't have to economically move into a nursing home, to be so broke that you have to move into a nursing home while you're still healthy and able to be independent. Like, we should make it possible for you to still get those services at home. I think we are constantly having to evolve and learn new systems to to do that."
Dax Bedell provided production support for this story.