Statewide Iowa — With high temperatures flirting with triple digits this week, practically everyone in Iowa is struggling to stay cool, but the heat wave can be particularly challenging for people who are living with dementia.
Lauren Livingston, spokeswoman for the Iowa chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, says the extreme heat can be just as dangerous as a wintertime blizzard for people with memory issues.
Family and friends should make plans to regularly check in on a person living with dementia during extreme heat and special arrangement may be needed for sleeping.
During the winter, we’ll occasionally hear about so-called Silver Alerts when a person with Alzheimer’s has wandered from home during the bitter cold. Livingston says the risks during the heat of summer are just as great.
More than six-million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease, including 66,000 Iowans.
