Letter to the Editor
Dear Editor,
Caring for a loved one living with dementia often takes a significant financial toll on families.
In 2024, more than 369,000 Alzheimer’s caregivers in Tennessee provided 499 million hours of unpaid care, valued at nearly $7.8 billion.
As a former family caregiver for my late grandmother Emma Dell, I understand the personal and financial impact of this disease. After my grandfather passed away, it became evident to our family that he had been “covering” for my grandmother, and essentially hiding from us just how much dementia was impacting her daily life.
Each of my family members took turns staying with my grandmother for a while in her home, but it became evident that she needed more care than what they could give.
It was then that my family made the difficult decision to move my grandmother into an assisted-living facility. Even 25 years ago when this happened, the cost of this care was tremendous. Additionally, in the late ’90s and early 2000s, there wasn’t specialized Alzheimer’s care available, so my grandmother was cared for like any other aging senior in a nursing home.
