AARP makes $60 million donation to dementia research effort

There is a huge effort underway in dementia research and the AARP, the nation's largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to empowering Americans 50 and older, just gave it a big boost. 

The AARP recently donated $60 million to the Dementia Discovery Fund, which is intended to research treatments for dementia. The Discovery Fund is defined as a "specialist venture capital fund that invests in novel science to create meaningful new medicines for dementia whilst delivering an attractive return for the fund investors." The donation makes AARP the largest investor in the fund, which now has $350 million in investments to fight dementia. 

The Dementia Discovery Fund states on its website that it has "a mandate to validate novel hypotheses and expand the breadth of targets and mechanisms in development for dementia over the 15-year life of the fund." 

There are currently 5.5 million Americans that have Alzheimer's dementia, according to the Alzheimer's Association, and by 2050, the number of people living with Alzheimer's could increase to 16 million. That is why investments like these are so valuable. 

Someone with dementia begins to exist more and more in their past memories and the feelings that are attached to them. They exist in a completely different reality because their brain is not functioning normally. They no longer see the world the same way that someone with a fully functioning brain would. They no longer feel the same way that we do. Sensory experiences are experienced much differently. 

This why proper training is so necessary for those who care for loved ones with dementia. 

The Dementia Whisperer, Inc. is a cutting-edge training/consulting company that will help you, or your entire organization, master the critical tools to improve care performance in a rapidly changing and challenging care environment. 

If you are interested in learning more about how much training can help, click here.