FOX21

By Brett Scott

On Tuesday, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar hosted a panel of six guests to discuss the topic of Alzheimer’s in America.

Among the individual topics discussed included education of the debilitating disease, long-term insurance, support for caregivers, funding to pay living wages for healthcare workers, and reducing the stigma surrounding the disease.

Many of the panelists that brought up their concerns are currently living with or caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s.

Senator Amy Klobuchar recently lost her father to the disease in May of 2021.

He was one of the more than 100,000 Minnesotans currently living with Alzheimer’s.

On the national stage, that number skyrockets into the millions and is projected to spike by 2050.

“That national number of six million is projected to more than double by 2050 to 14 million. Think about that. It’s great that people are living longer but think about it because we already have more than 11 million Americans providing more than 15 billion hours of unpaid care for family and friends with Alzheimer’s,” said Sen. Klobuchar.

Aside from the topic of how to better care for folks living with Alzheimer’s and dementia and their caregivers, Sen. Klobuchar also encouraged all Minnesotans to receive their COVID-19 vaccines and booster shots.