Breathe Easy Causeway

Guest speaker was Aoife McMaster, of the Alzheimer’s Society, which is leading the fight against dementia, organizing support for people battling the disorder and initiating research.

She delivered a set of statistics which vividly illustrated the growing incidence of memory loss.

Explaining that there were over 100 different types of dementia, of which Alzheimer’s was a factor, Aoife reported that statistics showed that throughout the United Kingdom there would be over one million people with some form of dementia by 2025.

Currently there were over 850,000 people battling dementia in the United Kingdom, with 19,765 in Northern Ireland, and 1,283 in the Causeway Area.

The total cost to the United Kingdom health budget is £26,000,000 each year. In addition family carers save the health budget £11,000,000 yearly.

Urging people to seek expert help as soon as they believe they may have some symptom, she added: ”Dementia is a progressive illness. It is currently terminal, with no known cure.”

The guest speaker was welcomed by Breathe Easy Chairperson, Margaret Henry.