Every 67 seconds, someone in the United States develops Alzheimer’s disease. That’s more than 5 million people and the number is growing. Add to that the fact Alzheimer’s is only one type of dementia, and it makes sense that journalist David Shenk calls this an epidemic. Wednesday, as we launch a new short documentary series profiling one Utah woman’s advancing dementia, Shenk joins us to talk about the disease and its impact on individuals and the community.
David Shenk is the author of The Forgetting, Alzheimer's: Portrait of an Epidemic [Indiebound|Amazon], which was also the basis of the PBS documentary of the same name. Shenk is also creator and executive producer of a film project called Living with Alzheimer's.
Gerda Saunders is retired from the University of Utah, where she served as Associate Director of Gender Studies. She was diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2010, and wrote about My Dementia for Slate.com in 2014. She's currently writing a book about her experiences with the disease.
This week on VideoWest, we're starting a series of short films ... a portrait of Gerda and the family and friends that surround her with love.
