The writer, combines her personal experience with informational reporting in this well-done article.

excellent story and readers' responses on Azlheimers, its causes and effects on families.

This is a good story about a difficult topic. When I did my ratings and came to the Fairness section, my first thought was fairness has nothing to do with this disease.

Alzheimer's is a slow and ugly death sentence for the one in four Americans who will suffer from the disease by 2030, and awareness of the disease and its effects on the victims, their families and society are important. This article blends often reported statistics with a personal look at this medical horror story, and that is good. Where it falls short is in looking at the potential economic costs of the disease on society (going beyond mere dollar costs, which are impressive, but only the tip of the iceberg) or the environmental changes (diet, exercise, mental workouts, and more) that many believe can help forestall or even prevent the disease for millions of victims. This is vital information and could considerably change ... More »

When submitting the story, I tagged it "Health" but for a specific category I had to select "other" because there was no category for Alzheimer's, dementia or even eldercare issues. This story, which interweaves expert sources with personal observation, covers a topic that the media is NOT covering adequately in comparison to the potential it has to impact the U.S. population. Uncovering important, underreported stories is good journalism in my book.

An informative, even emotional article about a difficult subject. Hardly anyone isn't touched in some way by this disease. On the other end of the age spectrum is the alarming increase of autism in children. A few years ago it was 1 child in 1500. Now it's 1 child in 150. With such dramatic increases, one wonders the causes: Diet? Environment? Better diagnosis? Much research in needed in both these areas.

We need more articles showing personalized examples of patient and cargiver issues. What do you do when your parent starts calling you names and trying to hit you? Be prepared.