Weinstein, Pichora-Fuller, Chodish, Lafargue present
Ellen Lafargue, AuD, CCC-A
I’m thrilled to be taking part in the May 11th audiology conference presented by the Center for Hearing and Communication in partnership with CaringKind.
Hearing Loss, Dementia and Healthy Aging: Audiologist as Gatekeeper? is a vitally important continuing education course that puts a spotlight on the dementia crisis and highlights the unique opportunity audiologists have to act as gatekeeper for older adults with hearing loss who are also at risk for Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias (ADRD).
What better time is there to be addressing this topic than Better Hearing and Speech Month!
Conference description
Currently, 5.3 million older adults have ADRD. Every 66 seconds someone in the United States develops the condition and by mid-century. Every 33 seconds a baby boomer will develop dementia. Hearing loss afflicts a third of adults age 65 and older and it increases to two out of every three adults age 75 and older. Research confirms that people with hearing loss are at risk for developing dementia.
As the dementia crisis deepens, we believe audiologists can better serve their clients if they have a comprehensive understanding of how ADRD impacts current and future older adult clients with hearing loss. Identifying ADRD as early as possible is critical. Audiologists have an important role as a gatekeeper in identifying people at risk and connect them with the proper resources for diagnosis and care.
Presenters will include CHC and CaringKind staff as well as these esteemed experts in audiology, geriatrics and dementia:
Kathy Pichora-Fuller, PhD, University of Toronto Barbara Weinstein, PhD, Graduate Center, CUNY Josh Chodish, MD, NYU School of Medicine
Sponsor recognition
We are grateful for the commitment of our corporate sponsors to furthering audiologists’ understanding of dementia and its relation to hearing loss. Gold Level Sponsor, Oticon, shared this perspective on why their participation in the conference was important given the community they serve:
At Oticon, we put people first, so they can enjoy their daily interactions with loved ones, as well as conversations at work and at social gatherings. Cognitive health is a concern across all age groups but especially among older adults. Recent studies showing that wearing hearing aids reduces the cognitive decline associated with hearing loss is very important news for those who are considering doing something about treating their hearing loss but have been delaying. It’s not just about hearing well today, it’s about the long-term effects of untreated hearing loss. We encourage hearing care professionals to explain the health risk of untreated hearing loss to patients as a way of motivating them to do the right thing to treat their hearing loss.
CHC and CaringKind greatly appreciate the support of all of our corporate sponsors. Their participation provided partial funding for the conference.
We look forward to a stimulating and informative conference and will be in touch soon to share highlights.
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