SOUTH DAKOTA(WNAX)- Helping those helping people with dementia issues is a priority for the South Dakota Alzheimer’s Association.

Executive Director Leslie Morrow says they are working with state agencies and the legislature on funding and finding respite care.

Morrow says finding enough respite care workers is also a problem.

Morrow says those health care workers are a critical piece of caring for Alzheimer’s patients.

The Association estimates that about eighteen thousand people in South Dakota have some form of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.