As a volunteer advocate with the Alzheimer’s Association, I am grateful to use my voice to help advance the fight against Alzheimer’s and all other dementia. November is National Alzheimer’s Awareness Month as well as National Family Caregivers Month. As the Thanksgiving holiday comes to an end, I wanted to personally thank all those who care for loved ones with Alzheimer’s Disease. Often, your hard work and dedication are not acknowledged, but you remain dauntless in your efforts. I facilitated an Alzheimer’s Support Group for 25 years so I can safely say that caregivers are heroic. I learned so much about determination and unconditional love in that group. Now is the time to advocate for effective policy to support our loved ones and caregivers.
Over the past decade, Congress has helped us to secure robust increases for Alzheimer’s and dementia research funding and advancing critical legislation. This work wouldn’t have been possible without the bipartisan support of the National Alzheimer’s Project Act (NAPA) and Alzheimer’s Accountability Act (AAA), both of which will expire if not reauthorized by Congress before 2025. It’s imperative that our Representative Brett Guthrie, As Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, moves forward with a markup of the NAPA Reauthorization Act and Alzheimer’s Accountability Act.
His support is critical to our fight because 6.7 million Americans, including 75,000 Kentuckians, have Alzheimer’s Disease. Over 11 million Americans provide unpaid care for this population.
Please contact Representative Guthrie and ask him to support this legislation. We need his help to get closer to a world without Alzheimer’s and all other dementia.
To learn more about this important Alzheimer’s legislation, please visit alzimpact.org. Happy Holidays to All!
Written by
Susan C. Howard
Owensboro, KY
