Previously published in Examiner
The amount of elderly people living alone is staggering both in the USA and Canada. Many of these people are living with early stages of dementia. Roughly one in seven elderly Americans have Alzheimer’s which is a form of dementia. According to CNW Canada Newswire, 71,000 people under the age 65 have Alzheimer’s in Canada.
The elderly in both countries want to maintain their independence and live alone as long as they are mentally able to do so. Living alone is part of the Montreal culture. Housing in Montreal is very expensive; eating up most of pensioner’s income. Furthermore, according to Greater Montreal’s Vital Signs, Montreal is the “Canadian capital of living alone.
In 2010, in Greater Montreal, 30,404 people of the average age of 82 spent $1,454 monthly for a standard room in a senior’s residence. Close to three-quarters of these seniors lived alone (72.9%). On the whole, 3.5% of these seniors required fulltime care, which boosted their rent to $3,065.
Care is expensive in Montreal and many people still tough it out as long as they can living alone in their home or rented apartment especially when they cannot afford treatment at a facility.
Living alone and living with Alzheimer’s creates a lot of problems. Alzheimer’s patients lose their cognitive abilities, and according to the Montreal CTV report on the state of Alzheimer’s patients living alone in the USA, living alone with Alzheimer’s can be dangerous. There is no one to check if the stove was left on, no one check to see if they are hurt or left the home and gotten lost. The same dangers befall elderly people living alone with Alzheimer’s in Montreal as well.
There were already cases in Montreal where the elderly with Alzheimer’s left the home and froze to death in the dead of winter. These individuals were living with their families; imagine the dangers for people living alone.
A person living alone with Alzheimer’s is as much a Montreal problem as it is a Canadian and American problem.
