Quality care in challenging times

Every 72 seconds, someone in the United States develops Alzheimer's disease, an incurable affliction that kills at least 66,000 people annually, making it the nation's seventh leading cause of death. Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia, accounting for 60 percent of cases (5.1 million people), according to the Alzheimer's Association, Chicago. Dementia describes a group of symptoms--loss of memory, judgment, language, and other intellectual skills--caused by damage to neurons, the brain's nerve cells.