As people age, more and more physical problems can develop, often problems that end up hampering mobility much more than nearly anything else. However, problems of the mind can also develop, and there are currently as many as 100 different types of dementia that are currently diagnosed all throughout the country – and throughout the world as a whole. Each of these types of dementia is likely to vary from the others in some way – if not just slightly – and it’s very important to be receiving the proper treatments and care when a type of dementia is present.

In most cases, this type of dementia will be Alzheimers disease, as Alzheimers disease is by and large the most commonly diagnosed type of dementia here in the United States. As a matter of fact, it’s even been estimated that diagnoses of Alzheimers disease actually make up more than three quarters of all dementia diagnoses here in the United States. Unfortunately, there is currently no way to cure or prevent Alzheimers disease – and there isn’t really even a way to slow the progression, meaning that Alzheimers is the only one of the top ten causes of death here in the United States that cannot be stopped, slowed, or prevented in any definable and researched way. At the current date, Alzheimers disease has been established as the sixth leading cause of death all throughout the country – and it takes its toll in many other parts of the world as well.

So what is the proper course of action after an Alzheimers diagnosis – or really after any dementia diagnosis at all? After all, the vast majority of all Alzheimers patients will eventually end up needing full time care as the disease progresses and they become less and less capable of any kind of independent living. For many patients dealing with Alzheimers or another type of dementia, family members and loved ones become the primary caretakers. However, this is often far from ideal, as family members and other such loved ones, no matter how much they care and how much they want to be able to do, are often just simply not able to care for the dementia patient in the way that they need to be, simply because of a lack of training and resources in order to be able to do so.

In many cases, an Alzheimers or other such dementia patient will instead go to live in an assisted living facility. As up to one out of ever eight elderly people has been diagnosed with Alzheimers, let alone any of the other prevalent types of dementia in the country and the world, these assisted living facilities have truly become more necessary than ever before. And while many people are very hesitant indeed to go to an assisted living facility, such facilities can be a better place to be than many people actually realize.

More instance, many nursing homes are trained to provide memory care, meaning that they will be able to specifically meet the needs of the typical Alzheimers or dementia patient. In addition to this, a typical dementia patient will be considerably safer in the average nursing home than just about anywhere else, as most assisted living facilities and memory care facilities provide 24 hour surveillance, meaning that the patients in the facility are able to be helped as soon as a problem arises, should it ever.

And there are more nursing homes to choose from than ever before. In fact, recent data has shown that there are considerably more than 15,000 of them spread across the United States. In many of these facilities, residents are helped with the day to day aspects of life, kept safe, and even provided with a sense of community and social interaction that might have previously been missing from their lives, though they might not have consciously considered it. For many people, moving into an assisted living facility after an Alzheimers diagnosis might not be ideal but is likely to be the very best option out there for them, especially after such a difficult diagnosis.