 In the United States, there are currently 5.8 million people living with Alzheimer's disease. By the year 2050, this number is projected to double. An organization in the Brainerd Lakes area is working to educate the community on the rapidly growing disease. Reporter Rachel Johnson has more. According to the Alzheimer's Association, every 65 seconds someone in the United States develops Alzheimer's disease. About 10 years ago they recognized that this was going to be really nearing epidemic proportions by 2020-2025. So we're recognizing that this is a growing occurrence. A group based out of Brainerd, the Lakes Area Memory Awareness Advocacy is working to educate the community and provide resources for those impacted by the common disease. Llama is a non-profit organization in the Brainerd Lakes area and it's made up of a bunch of different volunteers, both professional and non-professional, that come together once a month to really talk about how can we make the Brainerd Lakes area more dementia friendly. Llama was founded 10 years ago when a group of individuals came together to try and combat the lack of dementia awareness in the Brainerd Lakes area. And it started with us recognizing that the public doesn't know what to do with dementia. We just saw the need. There was a need for it, and that's how it started. Llama works to educate the community in a variety of ways from support groups and classes to an annual educational forum. A long-term goal would be to keep growing for sure and to make this community dementia aware, not to be afraid of a dementia and have people know it's nothing that they have to fear. Many of the members of Llama work in healthcare or elder care, but they all see the everyday effects that dementia can have that offers people who feel like, what can I do to help? What can I do for this illness? It's an opportunity to get together and recognize that we can be advocates because that's right in our name. Llama hopes to keep growing in the future and furthering the group's mission. It's so important to just not be afraid to talk about it, but to get out there, reach out to other people and get some information and just know that you're not alone. Reporting from Brainerd, Rachel Johnson, Lakeland News. The Lakes Area Memory Awareness advocates are holding their annual community forum on May 14th at Lutheran Church of the Cross in Niswa. The event is free and open to the public. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.