REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. - It is a devastating disease and the most common form of dementia. According to the Alzheimer's Association, Alzheimer's is the fifth-leading cause of death among people who are 65 and older. One annual event wants to change those statistics.
The Walk to End Alzheimer's returns to Rehoboth Beach Saturday morning. While the goal is to raise enough awareness and money for research to eventually find a cure, walkers say helping people who are already living with Alzheimer's get the right resources and treatment is critical for families here in the first state.
It's a nationwide problem and in southern Delaware families have to take an extra step to care for their loved ones.
"Sussex County in particular is a neurology dessert," says Karson Barenholz.
Barenholtz has been involved with the Alzheimer's Association's annual walk for three years now. She cares for grandmother who has the disease.
"We do not have nearly enough neurologists around here to actually help diagnose this disease and fight this disease and help patients or people and caregivers around here who have the disease themselves or who have loved ones with the disease," Barenholtz says.
Each year the Walk to End Alzheimer's raises money for research to find a cure and it helps support people living with the disease or those taking care of loved ones like Barenholtz and Bonny Hastings, who cares for her husband.
"I was a hairdresser for 43 years and so I had to retire because it was getting rough and there's very limited caregivers to come into your home and take care of your loved one," Hastings says.
Hastings is walking in this event for the first time. She says more awareness is needed about the treatment options.
"With this disease you have to get medications right because there's really nobody around here, so you have to travel to Johns Hopkins to get the medications right for your husband," Hastings says.
On Wednesday the Indian River Inlet Bridge was illuminated in purple for World Alzheimer's Day. Saturday the cause is expanding along the coast as walkers hit the boardwalk. First, a promise garden ceremony will be held for walkers to raise different color flowers to represent their reason for raising awareness.
"It's really important to help families around here understand the warning signs of Alzheimer's versus the typical signs of aging because they are two pretty different things," Barenholtz says.
Caregivers like Barenholtz and Hastings will carry yellow flowers.
Purple is for those who have lost someone to dementia. Blue is carried by those living with it. Anyone else who wants to see a world without Alzheimer's carries orange. One day the hope is to fill in the garden with a white flower to represent those cured.
Registration opens at 8 a.m. and the promise garden ceremony begins at 9 a.m. This year's event is at the Rehoboth Beach bandstand, not Grove Park as in previous years. WRDE's Mallory Metzner will be the emcee.
Click here to register.
