November is National Alzheimer's Disease Awareness Month

November is National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month

For many of us, November marks the start of the holiday season, when we look forward to quality time spent with family and friends. For individuals living with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia family caregivers, it can be a time of additional stress and sadness.

Alzheimer’s is now the 6th leading cause of death in the United States. In Maryland alone, 99,000 individuals are living with Alzheimer’s. If current trends continue, that number will increase by more than 30% in 2025. The impact on caregivers is heartbreaking and the financial burden is devastating. Nationwide, the cost of caring for people living with Alzheimer’s is $226 billion in 2015.

My mother passed away in 2002 after an 11 year battle with younger-onset Alzheimer’s. When I was a child, Thanksgiving was one of our favorite family holidays. Mom would pull out all stops. She helped us as we took turns working the old-fashioned cranberry grinder. She tasked us to polish the silver. We opened our home to those in our community who might not have a place to enjoy a turkey dinner. One year, after she had been dealing with Alzheimer’s for awhile, I remember trying my best to give her simple tasks to complete, such as folding the napkins for the table. The complications of cooking had long become too much for her. We so wanted her to remain part of the celebration, even as the extent of her memory loss and ability to communicate began to make that impossible.

In 1983, President Ronald Reagan designated November as National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month. At that time, fewer that 2 million Americans had the disease. Today, the number has soared to more than 5 million. The time is now for Alzheimer’s to be recognized as the epidemic it is.

I urge our representatives in Congress to listen to the recommendations of our nation’s top scientists at the National Institutes of Health. By increasing Alzheimer’s research funding by $300 million, we hope to implement the National Alzheimer’s Plan and find a way to effectively prevent and treat Alzheimer’s by 2025. Congressman Van Hollen, I trust we can count on your support and leadership on the Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer’s to make Alzheimer’s a national priority.

For more information, contact the Alzheimer’s Association National Capital Area Chapter at our toll-free 24/7 Helpline 800-272-3900 or www.alz.org/nca.