Some background
More than 6 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s—a figure that is expected to reach 13 million by 2050, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.
“We know that the prevalence and proportion of those living with Alzheimer's and dementia will continue to grow,” Lisa McGuire, lead of the Alzheimer’s Disease Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a statement. “So we really need to come at this from a multisector approach, thinking about the life course of the disease and the continuum of care that we need. The place to start is public health.”
The outlook
If approved, the BCPHD will receive the $50,000 in funding, training and technical assistance to establish a part-time Healthy Brain Initiative road map strategist position to help advance health approaches related to dementia, according to county documents.
A Healthy Brain Initiative road map strategist would be responsible for the following:
- Developing expertise in Alzheimer’s and dementia from a life-course perspective
- Assessing local needs and strengths related to dementia
- Educating BCPHD staff
- Providing local leadership in prioritizing, implementing and coordinating actions from the Healthy Brain Initiative State and Local Road Map for Public Health
“The Healthy Brain Initiative does take that public health approach of looking at primary intervention, secondary intervention and tertiary prevention,” McGuire said. “We know that we want to strengthen policies and partnerships to measure, evaluate and utilize data to ensure that we are building and supporting a skilled and diverse workforce, and we want to make sure that the public and all of our communities are engaged and educated.”
