A suburb of Portland, Gresham, OR, is home to 113,103 people, of whom around 14% are seniors 65 and up. Across the nation, there are 6.5 million people over 65 living with Alzheimer's or another type of dementia. This figure is expected to increase to almost 13 million by 2050. Between 2000 and 2019, Alzheimer's related deaths have more than doubled. In Gresham, deaths related to Alzheimer's rose by 17.26% between 2016 and 2020, at a higher rate than total deaths, which increased by only 12.18%.
Residential dementia care helps reduce accidents and hospitalizations in people with Alzheimer's. Memory care helps slow cognitive decline through research-backed interventions. It also offers personal care to residents, helping them with daily tasks like bathing, managing medication and transferring to and from mobility devices. This guide talks about the cost of memory care in Gresham and the low-cost resources available to seniors in the city.