Foundation Helps Residents
Better Understand And
Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease
Hackensack, N.J. – Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco has announced that representatives from the Act Now Foundation – a grassroots nonprofit that works to educate people about Alzheimer’s disease – will be at the County’s Division of Senior Services on the second floor at One Bergen County Plaza every Tuesday from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. to provide local residents with information on how to detect, prevent and treat Alzheimer’s Disease.
“More than 5 million Americans across the country suffer from Alzheimer’s disease,” said County Executive Tedesco.“By bringing the Act Now Foundation to One Bergen County Plaza on a weekly basis, we will be able to help more residents better understand this debilitating disease and provide them with the necessary information and services for early detection and prevention.”
“My grandmother had Alzheimer’s, and I know first-hand how difficult and harrowing this disease can be,” said Freeholder Tracy Zur. “Families dealing with Alzheimer’s have so many questions, and that’s why I’m thrilled that the Act Now Foundation has agreed to serve as an on-going resource to the people of Bergen County.”
According to the National Institute on Aging, Alzheimer’s disease is currently ranked as the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. But recent estimates indicate that the disorder may rank third, just behind heart disease and cancer, as a cause of death for older people.
Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia among older adults. Dementia is the loss of cognitive functioning — thinking, remembering and reasoning — and behavioral abilities to such an extent that it interferes with a person’s daily life and activities. Dementia ranges in severity from the mildest stage, when it is just beginning to affect a person’s functioning, to the most severe stage, when the person must depend completely on others for basic activities of daily living.
The Act Now Foundation connects people to vital community resources and information on aging and dementia while also developing innovative new approaches to aging issues. The foundation’s mission is to reduce the impact of Alzheimer’s on communities and to encourage and engage those communities to build supportive, capable, and Alzheimer’s educated environments.
In November 2015, the foundation opened its first Alzheimer’s Resource Center of Northern NJ to help communities and their residents become smarter, better trained, and more capable of dealing with the day-to-day challenges of living with or caring for someone with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia.
Any Bergen County residents interested in scheduling an appointment with a representative from the Act Now Foundation can call 201.336.7400. To learn more about the Act Now Foundation, please visit http://www.actnowfoundation.org/
