Protecting those with dementia during Florence

This story is from Kaiser Health News. As Hurricane Florence barreled toward her coastal community, Patty Younts grappled with a question: Where should a person with dementia go? Her husband, Howard, 66, suffers from a type of dementia called posterior cortical atrophy, which has robbed him of short-term memory and made him almost blind. Their home on Pawley Island in South Carolina, where they have lived for more than 30 years, lay in a mandatory evacuation zone. Staying could mean exposing themselves to raging winds and a storm surge. But leaving would mean upending the familiar routines and sense of security that her husband relies on. Patty, 65, who is her husband’s sole caretaker, decided to take him to higher ground. They spent one night in a hotel in Columbia, S.C., before fleeing inland for Greenville. Patty said her husband, a former golf course superintendent, has always been good-natured and calm. But even eating in a restaurant has become stressful — his vision has...