Alzheimer's: Every Minute Counts

Filmmaker Elizabeth Arledge's PBS-aired documentary offers an urgent snapshot of the impact that Alzheimer's disease has on the national economy and individual families. According to the medical professionals interviewed here, the near-future costs of Alzheimer's care threaten to bankrupt both Medicare and Medicaid while rivaling the Department of Defense's budget for the sheer level of spending. Largely this is because medical researchers have achieved no breakthrough in Alzheimer's treatments—unlike heart disease, cancer, or HIV/AIDS, nobody survives the disease once it begins to take its lethal toll. But related federal spending on research is much smaller when compared to other medical categories. Putting a human face on this situation with stories of the devastating effects that Alzheimer's has on families, the documentary follows one Missouri woman who needed to sell her business and become a full-time caregiver to her mother, whose failing health is detailed here. Another profile concerns a Florida man who places his Alzheimer's-stricken mother in a care facility. Although she is treated very well, the mother is not happy in her new surroundings, and her son is panicked that the costs of her care will deplete the family's savings. A powerful film about a heartrending medical crisis, this is highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)