More on health ...

Coincidental to our previous post, this appeared on Facebook today.  Now would be a good time to start following the Adult Down Syndrome Clinic on Facebook,  if you are interested in these questions, posted 29 June 2016:

Expansion of Research and Education Programs at the Adult Down Syndrome Center
What are the critical issues facing people with Down syndrome?

This is an important question for people with Down syndrome, their families, and agencies that serve them, including the Adult Down Syndrome Center.

While there are additional issues and each of us may have a different answer to what is important, our discussions with many individuals, our clinical experience and our review of others’ publications has led us to prioritize these 3 issues and seek ways to address them:

1. Healthy aging and Alzheimer disease
This includes addressing health care issues across the life span to promote good health for its own sake in the younger years but also to set the stage for healthy aging. This also includes determining appropriate health screening for adolescents and adults with DS as well as studying a variety of health conditions.

2. Social skills and daily function optimization
Our initial interest in this topic revolved around the issue of transitioning out of high school and the challenges that has presented for some of our patients. However, it is clear that there may be issues across the lifespan to be addressed.

3. Self-promotion of health
How do we include people with DS in the process of promoting their own health?

Over the next several days (and weeks), we will be posting information as to what some of the questions are that we are addressing and how we are addressing them. In short, we are expanding our research and education efforts. As we progress through this journey, we will be looking to you for input and feedback and will reach out to you as we develop the feedback process.