Home to about 215,600 people, 15.4 percent of whom are aged 65 and older, Doña Ana County is a small agricultural center along the Rio Grande Valley. Of the county’s senior residents, 10.8 percent have Alzheimer’s disease or another form of cognitive impairment. Doña Ana County offers three memory care facilities in the city of Las Cruces to accommodate these people.
The Memory and Aging Center at UNM estimates approximately 43,000 people in New Mexico are living with dementia. Special memory care units are housed in Assisted Living Facilities for Adults (ALFs) that must meet additional requirements relating to care coordination, staffing, employee training, documentation, security, and other provisions. The New Mexico Department of Health, Division of Health Improvement, Health Facility Licensing and Certification Bureau licenses and regulates ALFs.