Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by abetlen 2015 days ago
I may be misreading that, but isn't the table saying that 82% of residents with dementia require assitance in their daily living activities?

From having spent time volunteering at a nursing home, that 87% number is not far off from my experience. I'd add that they tended to put volunteers with people who had less severe forms of cognitive impairment.

That being said, you would occasionally meet people who seemed mentally impervious to aging, I had the pleasure to speak with an 87 year old computer programmer who was still actively using all kinds of technology. He talked to me about punch card programming accounting systems on IBM 1401's and dealing with technology skeptical secretaries who would double check every computer calculation by hand.