ST. LOUIS, MO (KMOX) - Deaths attributed to Alzheimer's and dementia have spiked since the pandemic hit.
Since February of 2020 those conditions have risen from the 6th, to the 4th leading cause of death in the United States.
Behind those statistics are families who saw their loved ones decline.
Before the pandemic, David Hill was able to spend hours with his wife Julie at her memory care facility in St. Louis County. Last March, her facility went into lockdown.
"It didn't take long to learn, from now on I'm going to be seeing Julie through a pane of glass for a long time," he says.
The facility designated a window where the couple could meet. Staff would bring Julie in her wheelchair and David would sit outside, talking, singing songs, and waving to his bride of four decades. But as the months passed, her health deteriorated.
"She was a very social lady, she was a very gracious lady and loved her friends and loved people, and it's the saddest thing that COVID took away from her and put [her] in seclusion."
David believes it was that isolation and lack of contact with family and friends that ultimately led to her passing shortly after Thanksgiving. He joined a COVID vaccine trial, hoping to spare other families the heartache of being separated.
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