Rep. Steve Tharinger was one of about 35 participants in the state’s Alzheimer’s Disease Working Group, held May 1 at the Shipley Center in Sequim.

Tharinger was one of the sponsors of the initiative to create a state Alzheimer’s plan on how to best serve the multiple needs of dementia patients and their families on a large scale. The group will glean comments and concerns from the public at meetings across the state.

“The input will be used in the first state plan and hopefully to have more coordination between private and public agencies,” said presenter Lynne Korte, DSHS program manager of the state Alzheimer’s plan.

Korte said 108,000 Washingtonians are living with some form of dementia and that number is expected to rise dramatically as the population ages.