Florida state Rep. Ross Spano met with local health leaders recently to discuss how they could help support an aging population avoid isolation, loneliness and dementia.
Present at the May 14 meeting were Debbie Caneen, director of admissions at Sun Towers Retirement Community; Connie Lesko, community relations director with Inspired Living at Sun City Center; and Don Guiley, owner of A+ Hearing in Sun City Center.
One topic discussed was the role of hearing aids in helping prevent dementia, as suggested in an earlier White House Conference on Aging.
“What they found was the people who had even a slight hearing loss had dementia at twice the rate of those who had no loss,” Don Guiley reported. As hearing loss worsened, so did the rate of dementia.
According to Guiley, other studies have also suggested the same. With the cost of hearing aids being out of reach for many, the likelihood of our aging population developing some form of dementia is high.
If health insurance covered the cost of hearing aids, the growing number of individuals with dementia-related diseases would decrease.
This meeting was the first of many in the discussion of aging well. If you would like to weigh in on the subject, be sure to contact Spano’s office at 813-655-3742.
If you would like to fight Alzheimer’s Disease, join the annual Walk to End Alzheimer’s in Sun City Center on Saturday, Oct. 17, where the mission is to eliminate Alzheimer’s disease through the advancement of research; to provide and enhance support for all affected; and to reduce the risk of dementia through the promotion of brain health.