Alzheimer's Forum Helps To Draft National Plan

Education on the causes, treatments and strategies for caring for people afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease was the main suggestion from a group of concerned caregivers assembled at Tuesday.

The meeting was called as an information-gathering session while crafting a national Alzheimer’s plan following the passage by Congress earlier this year of the National Alzheimer’s Project Act, signed by President Barak Obama in January.

The law aims to create a national strategic plan to address the growing Alzheimer’s problem and coordinate Alzheimer’s disease efforts across the federal government, according to the Alzheimer’s Association, which hosted Tuesday’s session.

Alzheimer’s disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the country and the only disease in the top ten without a way to prevent, cure, or even slow its progression. More than 350,000 people in New Jersey and their care partners are affected by Alzheimer’s disease, according to the association.

“The people in high places could make this plan, but it wouldn’t be as good of a plan as it will be if we get input from people like you, in the trenches, dealing with this every day,’’ said Debbie Warburton, director of public policy at the Alzheimer’s Association.

Over the next 90 minutes, the audience – about a dozen health care professionals and other caregivers – said education was among the top priorities that should top the list of priorities as a new national plan to combat Alzheimer’s disease is crafted.

Audience members talked at length about the need to for education about Alzheimer’s disease for the general public, for the physicians treating patients afflicted by the disease and for those caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s.

“I hope it really gets incorporated into the national plan so we get a plan that’s second to none,’’ said U.S. Rep. Christopher H. Smith, R-N.J., who spoke during the session.

John Sturtevant, of Waretown, was among the attendees. Sturtevant, whose father suffered with Alzheimer’s before his death, said meetings like this were important, because the level of general awareness about Alzheimer’s was not as high as it should be.

“It’s a long road for Alzheimer’s,’’ he said. “People just don’t know as much about it.’’

For more information, or to leave your comments or suggestions about what should be in the national plan, see http://napa.alz.org/.