Scores of participants in purple shirts – signifying their commitment to fight this disease – are expected to gather for this year’s Walk to End Alzheimer’s in Durango. Attendees may be among the estimated 1,300 people in La Plata County living with Alzheimer’s and related dementias or the more than 2,100 unpaid family members caring for their loved ones at home. Many participants may have lost someone close to them to some form of dementia.

One-third of Americans 65 and older have either mild cognitive impairment or some form of dementia