BrainGuide

In South Dakota alone, 18,000 older adults, age 65 and older, are living with an Alzheimer’s diagnosis. In North Dakota, 15,000 persons, aged 65 and older, are living with Alzheimer’s. Estimated projections show an increase of 6 to 11 percent by 2025. For more information on the impact of Alzheimer’s, access Alzheimer’s Facts and Figures. Whether you are concerned about your own brain health, or that of a loved one, now is the time to take action. Recognizing early signs of Alzheimer’s or other dementia symptoms can be the key to maximizing the most valuable asset you have, which is time.

UsAgainstAlzheimer’s recently developed BrainGuide™ to accelerate the next stage of the Alzheimer’s movement. It follows key scientific advances in risk reduction, greater understanding of the importance of brain health and growing public awareness of Alzheimer’s to empower everyone to take steps to maintain their brain health.

BraningGuide is the ‘first-of-its-kind’ platform which empowers people with knowledge and resources to take the best next steps in managing brain health. This tool can help whether you’re interested in protecting your brain health, you’ve been diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or Alzheimer’s disease, or you’re concerned about a family member. BrainGuide is free and easy-to-access; in English and Spanish. BrainGuide is an automated, confidential, self-administered memory questionnaire, developed with input from memory experts, that can be taken on behalf of yourself or someone you care about. Once you complete the questionnaire, BrainGuide offers tailored education and resources to help identify the best next steps in an individual’s brain health journey. BrainGuide does not provide a diagnosis.

UsAgainstAlzheimer’s worked in close collaboration with medical, technology and industry experts to innovate and carefully create BrainGuide, and was developed with in-kind and financial support from Biogen. The platform uses state-of-the-art technologies to power the memory questionnaire capability and make it available to anyone with a telephone or internet access.

Driving awareness of Alzheimer’s disease and resources is the first step in combating this health crisis. As the general public becomes more aware of the signs and symptoms, earlier detection will become more likely. BrainGuide provides resources your community can use to determine the next best step in managing an individual’s brain health or memory concerns. By leveraging this awareness toolkit, you can help be a part of the solution. We are pleased to share this platform and encourage you to take the first step in acting on your brain health today by visiting MyBrainGuide.org.

Alzheimer’s Disease: Key Facts

With 60% of Alzheimer’s cases in patients over 65 years old going unrecognized, we know that there are millions of people nationwide worried about brain health and we want to reach as many of them as possible.

  • portrait of happy smiling senior couple outdoorsAn estimated 6.2 million Americans age 65 and older are living with Alzheimer’s dementia today. This number could grow to 13.8 million by 2060 barring the development of medical breakthroughs to prevent, slow or cure Alzheimer’s Disease.
  • Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias have a higher prevalence among women: 65% of Alzheimer’s patients are women
  • According to data from Chicago Health and Aging Project [CHAP] study, there is a greater risk of Alzheimer’s disease among Black and Latino communities. 18.6% of Blacks and 14% of Hispanics, age 65 and older, have Alzheimer’s disease compared with 10% of White older adults.
  • Family members and friends provided more than $271 billion in unpaid care to people living with Alzheimer’s and other dementias in 2021.

Resources in the Dakotas

Source: Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures (2022)