Currently, 5.3 million Americans are afflicted with Alzheimer's disease. It is a terminal illness that robs a person of their memory, their ability to understand and communicate and oftentimes, alters their personality. Ultimately, along with impaired cognitive ability, Alzheimer's sufferers forget how to do simple, personal care tasks. Unfortunately, in the last six years, funding for Alzheimer's research has decreased while costs to Medicare and Medicaid soared.
Please urge your local representatives and senators to support the Alzheimer's Breakthrough Act of 2009 which increases funding and encourages the National Institute of Health to emphasize Alzheimer's research as a top priority in regards to early detection, diagnosis, prevention and identifying possible precursors. It also, supports caregiver training and education.
Currently, there are 64 members of Congress who co-sponsor the bill. Only three representatives from Missouri have provided their support. Unfortunately, Kansas has yet to show any sponsorship. With the Baby Boomer population reaching age 65 in two years, we as Kansans and Missourians can not afford to live in states that fail to support the well-being of our senior citizens.
Currently, 5.3 million Americans are afflicted with Alzheimer's disease. It is a terminal illness that robs a person of their memory, their ability to understand and communicate and oftentimes, alters their personality. Ultimately, along with impaired cognitive ability, Alzheimer's sufferers forget how to do simple, personal care tasks. Unfortunately, in the last six years, funding for Alzheimer's research has decreased while costs to Medicare and Medicaid soared.
Please urge your local representatives and senators to support the Alzheimer's Breakthrough Act of 2009 which increases funding and encourages the National Institute of Health to emphasize Alzheimer's research as a top priority in regards to early detection, diagnosis, prevention and identifying possible precursors. It also, supports caregiver training and education.
Currently, there are 64 members of Congress who co-sponsor the bill. Only three representatives from Missouri have provided their support. Unfortunately, Kansas has yet to show any sponsorship. With the Baby Boomer population reaching age 65 in two years, we as Kansans and Missourians can not afford to live in states that fail to support the well-being of our senior citizens.
We the undersigned, would like to express our concern regarding the decrease in funding towards Alzheimer's research in the last six years. Furthermore, we urge you to support the Alzheimer's Breakthrough Act of 2009 (S. 1492/H.R. 3286). The act would increase funding for research in areas such as prevention, precursor recognition, and early diagnosis. Since many families of Alzheimer's sufferers are also their caregivers, the bill also addresses the need for caregiver support and programs.
Increasing age is one of the prime risk factors of Alzheimer's. Secondly, in two years, the Baby Boomer generation will have reached the age of 65. Given those two factors, the amount of people who will be diagnosed with Alzheimer's will increase exponentially. More specifically, the expense to Medicare and Medicaid in the next 40 years is predicted to total $20 trillion dollars.
We urge you to sponsor the Alzheimer's Breakthrough Act of 2009 to combat this impending financial and medical crisis. The restored funding in research will tackle the costly impact that Alzheimer's will have to our nation's health insurance programs. More importantly, the act will strive to improve the quality of life for Alzheimer's sufferers and their families and/or caregivers.
We signed the "KS and MO for Alzheimer's Breakthrough Act" petition!
# 35:
9:06 am PST, Nov 21,Name not displayed, New York
# 34:
11:03 pm PST, Nov 19,Shurice Schenk, Kansas
# 33:
7:45 am PST, Nov 19,Mary Ingham, Kansas
# 32:
6:06 pm PST, Nov 18,Norma J. Conrad, Kansas
I would have benefitted from having more knowledge about early detection of this debilitating disease. When my mother was finally diagnosed in the late 90's she had been showing signs of memory and communication failure for about 10 years prior. Being a single parent at the time I could have used some caregiver assistance and maybe I could have avoided placing my mother in a nursing home. I urge all Congressional representatives to please support increased funding to further research about this dreaded disease and to edu-train dedicated healthcare workers to serve as caregiver and help minimize the need for nursing home care for these individuals.
# 31:
1:35 pm PST, Nov 18,Jon Corlett, Florida
# 30:
8:15 am PST, Nov 17,Michelle Schmitz, Missouri
# 29:
7:09 pm PST, Nov 15,Barbara Breazeale, Kansas
There is Alzheimer's in both sides of the family. I have seen what it does. =( We need hope!
# 28:
6:37 pm PST, Nov 15,Christine Albrecht, Kansas
# 27:
4:00 pm PST, Nov 15,Becky Guilfoyle, Kansas
I believe that we need more support for Alzheimer's patients and their families. Do you part and sign this petition!
# 26:
3:28 pm PST, Nov 15,John Harrod, Kansas
Please help get rid of this dreaded disease
# 25:
9:53 am PST, Nov 15,Cori Harrod, Kansas
# 24:
8:44 pm PST, Nov 14,Mary Herbert, Kansas
My mother died of Alzheimer's, what I would do to have her back with us. By all means this should have the support it needs. Don't let others lose their Mom's and Dad's like I did. I miss her with everything in me, and what stinks is she didn't even know who I was when she passed.
# 23:
7:53 pm PST, Nov 14,Tracy Price, Kansas
My Grandfather suffered from Alzheimer's for many years. We watched him change from a strong, able man to someone that required nursing home care.
He lost his memories of us as well as his ability to even speak. In April 2008 we said our final good-byes to him even though it felt like we had lost him already as his disease took more of him from us over the years. It is a horrible experience for the families as well as the person who becomes a shell of themselve. We need funding for research-point blank!!!
# 22:
12:50 pm PST, Nov 13,Kelli Sutley, Kansas
# 21:
3:44 pm PST, Nov 12,Karen Marcel, Kansas
My grandmother died of Alzheimer's many years ago when there was probably no research at all available. Please keep funding available for this important research.
# 20:
12:32 pm PST, Nov 12,Megan Hogan, Kansas
# 19:
7:56 pm PST, Nov 11,Marlo Winstead, Kansas
I lost my grandmother to Alzheimer's - it was the most undignified death a woman who lived through the Japanese colonization of Indonesia, the long difficult trip to the U.S., racism and prejudice upon entering the country, and the birth of 5 children. I pray that a funding will be appropriated in order to prevent others from suffering from this awful disease - the person who is diagnosed, and his/her family.
# 18:
4:19 pm PST, Nov 11,Ryan Hanneken, Kansas
# 16:
9:56 am PST, Nov 10,Cynthia Eggers, New York
Having personally witnessed my mothers struggle to provide care to a loved one with Alzheimers, I can only say that it's heart-breaking. These caregivers really need help, they can't possibly do it alone. Please, please, please, help them get the support they need!
# 15:
2:37 am PST, Nov 10,Steve Klein, Virginia
# 14:
11:12 pm PST, Nov 9,Pam Boland, Georgia
# 13:
9:23 pm PST, Nov 9,Anne Eggers, Maine
Please, consider this carefully. Those of us figting this battle as caregiver's need all the support we can get. It seems to get lost in the BIG diseases! only someone that has been doing it 24/7 for 3 years can begin to understand the horror of this disease!
# 12:
8:26 pm PST, Nov 9,Carole Hagen, Oregon
# 11:
2:13 pm PST, Nov 9,Panagiotis Rigopoulos, Greece
# 10:
11:13 am PST, Nov 9,Name not displayed, California
There needs to be more funding and research for Alzheimer's and other dementias. My mother passed away this year of Alzheimer's. It was so sad to see her go through the changes slowly and slowly. I wish I had know more about this disease and been able to do something about it.
# 9:
9:55 am PST, Nov 9,Joanne McBride, Kansas
I hope you will support the Alzheimer's Breakthrough Act.
# 8:
9:42 am PST, Nov 9,Iris Chynoweth, California
# 7:
9:18 am PST, Nov 9,Name not displayed, Washington
Please support the ALzheimer's Breakthrough act.
