Week of March 23 - March 29, 2008

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - As the Alzheimer’s epidemic continues upward, wreaking havoc for increasing numbers of California families, the Alzheimer’s Association projects that the state’s already overwhelmed care and research infrastructure will shrink – and in some cases disappear – if Sacramento lawmakers complete proposed mid-year budget cuts. To shine a spotlight on what has been described as “the public health crisis of the 21st Century,” the five California chapters of the Alzheimer’s Association, and its Sacramento-based California Council, today announced that volunteers and staff are organizing over 1,000 individuals from throughout California to turn up in Sacramento for a first-ever Alzheimer’s Rally on the Capitol Steps (North Side, L Street), Wednesday, April 16, 2008, 12:30pm to 2:00pm (11:30am attendees check-in).

Alarmed that California is headed in the wrong direction when it comes to one of the top fears among Baby Boomers and the aging American population, Alzheimer’s Association Advocates from every part of the state will stand on the steps of the state capitol and tell their elected representatives – some of whom are expected to attend – that when it comes to Alzheimer’s: “The present is catastrophic and California’s totally unprepared for what’s coming.” Coming to Sacramento, by plane, train, bus and automobile, in a pure exercise of representative democracy, they’ll ask their public servants, when it comes to Alzheimer’s and related dementias: “What’s your plan?”

Participants will include: People with Dementia (PWD), family members, friends and neighbors, caregivers, health care professionals and researchers.

Among those also expected to participate are representatives from the California Alzheimer’s infrastructure that is now at risk, including: Alzheimer’s Day Care Resource Centers, Adult Day Health Care, Caregiver Resource Centers, In-Home Supportive Services, physicians and other Home Health Community Providers, and those representing Medi-Cal Optional Benefits.

California’s Alzheimer’s Research Centers (ARCCs) are now also facing cuts that would: slow current research, delay better diagnosis, treatment and management strategies for Alzheimer’s, and impact dementia care in other health settings. The ten California ARCCs are at: UCSF, UCSF at Fresno, UC Davis, UC Davis at Martinez, Stanford, UCLA, USC, USC Rancho Los Amigos Rehabilitation Center, UC Irvine and UC San Diego.

Details of the Rally Program will be announced during coming weeks, including attending elected officials, caregivers, speakers with Alzheimer’s and related disorders, and special celebrity guests.

William Fisher, Alzheimer’s Association CEO for Northern California, said there currently are over 5 million Americans with Alzheimer’s or a related disorder – 500,000 here in California. If no cure is found, those numbers could triple by mid-century, to 16 million Americans. Meanwhile, Alzheimer’s can be expected to bankrupt the health care system. Already, annual National costs of care (direct and indirect) for individuals with Alzheimer’s are at least $100 billion; current costs to American businesses are $61 billion. One out of every eight people age 65 and older has Alzheimer’s and nearly one out of every two over age 85 has it. Alzheimer’s is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States.

According to Peter Braun, President and CEO of the California Southland Chapter, seven out of 10 people with Alzheimer’s live at home, where family and friends provide almost 75% of their care. However, crucial at-home care will decline as an option if the State continues to pull back on what little infrastructure there currently is to support families, by: under-funding community providers, forcing the closure of adult day health care programs, and reducing access to physicians.

Fisher said that in addition to the immediate pull-backs in the State’s community support apparatus – limited though it already is for the exploding Alzheimer’s population – one of the most significant demands of Alzheimer’s caregivers and others throughout the state is the failure to plan ahead. “California must create a strategic planning process in order to be ready for the Alzheimer’s epidemic.” He said, “To not be ready for a public health crisis that we already know is forming would be unconscionable.”

Braun succinctly summarized the situation this way: “Alzheimer’s is surging forward, and, at this moment, California is falling backward.”

Loretta Redd, Alzheimer’s Association Executive Director for Santa Barbara and the Central Coast, said, “These cuts are a blow to a fragile network of services families use to help them keep their Alzheimer’s patient at home, for perhaps years, rather than placed in far more costly institutions.”

Jim McAleer, Alzheimer’s Association Executive Director for Orange County, said that if California were to travel down this path, “The message from the California State Legislature, to all Californians – because every Californian is vulnerable to Alzheimer’s – would be: ‘If you’re struck by Alzheimer’s, you and your family are on your own.’” In fact, McAleer said, “These proposed cuts from the developing state budget situation sabotage smart, cost-saving mechanisms, such as aging-in-place and community-based care.” Ultimately, he said they do not help save California’s budget situation, and, “as an assault on family caregivers, they are unacceptable.”

Lisa Bruner, Interim CEO for the Alzheimer’s Association in San Diego County, said the message Alzheimer’s families and other Advocates will carry to legislators is personal as well as public: “If you do not think you know a person with Alzheimer’s, you certainly will.” She said, “Now is the time to address this escalating epidemic.

More Information:

California Central Coast Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association

Source:

Adapted from materials provided by The Alzheimer's Association

Copyright:

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