South Korea’s Battle Against Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease

The children from South Korea are learning a valuable lesson: being old is very difficult. They had to wear weights on their body, and they were given foggy glasses. Then they were asked to do certain simple tasks such as going to the bathroom, or opening a door.

The children laughed and had fun, but they also learned that being old is not an easy task. Jeong Jae-hee, who was 12, said that she realized that the old people have a very difficult life because they struggle to do tasks which are very easy for us. She also said that some of them lost their memories and end up being children again. She was talking of course about the Alzheimer’s disease, and the main task of these activities is to inform the children about the terrible effects Alzheimer’s disease can have on the human body and mind. South Korea is one of the countries which has the biggest rates of people who suffer from Alzheimer’s disease. 9 percent of the people who are older than 65, are suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. Because of this, the country has initiated a program called “War on Dementia”, through which they want to make people more aware about this terrible disease.

Not too much is known about it, and the disease is often associated with fear and shame. Thousands of people are being trained in the country, many of them being children, to learn about the symptoms of the disease, and to be able to care for the people who suffer from it. The children participated at the “Aging-Friendly Comprehensive Experience Hall”, and besides trying to see how an old person feels like, they got to find out more about dementia, and about the ways in which the disease might be managed. The instructors told these children that the people who suffer from Alzheimer’s can not remember too many things, and that they often misplace many items, and in numerous cases they get lost outside and they die. They can not remember where their home is, and they might die outside in the cold. Kim Hye-jin, who is the director of senior policy for the Health and Welfare Ministry, stated that for a very long time there was a certain stigma associated to this disease, and that the people did not have too much information about it. He said that the disease is a real problem, and that he wants the people who suffer from it to receive better care.

In the past years hundreds of centers which deal with dementia patients have been created. Numerous programs which have the same purpose have been created as well. The government has created a program through which the families who have members that suffer from the disease can record these persons, and they will receive a certain number. In case they get lost, these persons will be able to be found thanks to the number. In the previous year more than $1 billion was paid in order to finance the dementia research. It has been estimated that the percent of the people who suffer from dementia will rise in the future to 20 percent in 2026. This means that the country will be affected both from a socially and an economically point of view. Kwak Young-soon, who is a social welfare director for Mapo District, stated that in most of the cases a member of the family will have to give up work in order to take care of the person who suffers from the disease. Because of this, the families who have a sick member will be affected from a financial point of view as well.

Mr. Kwak said that numerous nursing homes have been built in the past, and that the country can not built too many of them in the future. He says that it is very difficult having a person affected by the disease in the family, because the entire house is affected by that person. It has been estimated that the number of the people who suffer from dementia will be increase in the future as well. Currently there are 30 million people who are affected by the disease, and the number will rise to 100 million by 2050. The people from South Korea are afraid that the people who suffer from dementia will be stigmatized, as it was considered for a very long time that these people are violent. Mr. Kwak also said that in most of the cases, the people who suffer from it are being taken cared of for about 3 years. Even if the children take care of them, the task is too daunting after two or three years, so in most of the cases, the children give up. The problem is that the birth rate has dropped a lot in the previous time, and it has been estimated that it will drop in the future as well.

The South Korean doctors are afraid that the countries will be hit by a huge wave of people who are suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. The people from the government try to doe everything they can in order to make the situation better. They have encouraged the businessmen to start the development of certain businesses intended for the elder. They said that these businesses could create items which might be useful for the elder, and which might help the elder who are suffering from certain diseases. These devices are intended to make the life of the elder much better, and it is very likely that they will be produced in the future. The students are often presented with 3-D movies, through which they can get to see the way in which an elder feels like. They get to see the way in which people affected by dementia moves like, and acts like.

They get to see that most of the people who suffer from this disease are being ignored on the street, as they are often considered to be drunk. More and more people have been involved in these programs, including the small children who were sent to the hospitals in order to interact with the people suffering from dementia. The kindergarten children receive information about the disease as well, as the trainers tell them to exercise as much as they can, to stay away from too many sugars, and to try to convince their parents not to drink any alcohol in case they do. It seams that the elder people are interested in the projects as well, as most of them go to the doctors in order to see if they do not suffer from dementia. The doctors have said that one of the earliest symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease is a severe loss of memory. The persons might forget things very often; for example they might go to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee, and they return with something else.

The first thing to do when one has these symptoms is to take him to the doctor in order to receive an M.R.I. The doctors have stated that there are certain drugs which might be used in order to delay the effects of the disease, but there are also numerous programs one can go through, such as floral therapy, music therapy, and so on. The schools from South Korea offer community service credit to the students who are involved in these types of programs. The teenage girls often go to the clinics in order to take care and to interact with the women who suffer from dementia, and who have been abandoned by their children. It is sad, but that is a reality; these people are often abandoned by their children when they needed help the most. Park Min-jung is a 17-year old girl who goes to these clinics in order to help the elder who suffer from this disease. She stated that her grandparent once took a cab in order to circle the neighborhood, and to look for the house where he grew up; house which did not exist any more. She said that she believes that he was suffering from dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.

She said that thanks to the training she received in the clinics, she has the possibility of treating and of taking care of him. The task is very difficult for the girls, because they have received instructions not to become too involved in the project. They should not get attached to the elder, because it will make the elder suffer. There was one case when the elder cried when they left, and the girls felt really bad about it. The girls need to be as “cold” as they can, and they should not offer their love to the patients, no regardless of the difficulty of this process. The boys often got involved in physical activities with the elder, as they danced with them, and they played badminton. Some of them had grandparents who suffered from the disease, and they admitted that in most of the cases they got annoyed by their behaviors.