Stop Alzheimer’s crisis from escalating

By Kathleen Good

I would like to commend 1st District Congressman Bruce Braley (D-Waterloo) for co-sponsoring the Alzheimer's Breakthrough Act of 2009 (H.R. 3286).

For the more than 5 million people nationwide living with Alzheimer's, and the 67,000 living here in Iowa, it is a tremendous step in the fight against the disease and offers great promise for some day having a world without Alzheimer's.

With an aging baby boomer population soon to be at the epicenter of an escalating Alzheimer crisis, the disease is quickly becoming the country's biggest, broadest and most expensive problem - to individuals, families, and the health care system.

According to the Alzheimer's Association, total health care costs are more than three times higher for people with Alzheimer's and other dementias than for other people the same age without the disease. For the last six years, federal funding for Alzheimer research has declined in real terms. In fact, for every dollar the government spends on the costs of Alzheimer care, it invests less than a penny in research to find a cure. This is all while the loss of lives and costs to Medicare and Medicaid continue to soar.

The legislation authorizes a significant increase in funding for Alzheimer research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to $2 billion to restore momentum to the pursuit of better diagnosis, prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's disease. By supporting the Alzheimer Breakthrough Act, Braley has signaled his understanding of the grave threat Alzheimer's poses to the residents of Iowa and the nation.

In addition to the increase in research funding, this legislation provides much-needed support for the nearly 10 million caregivers nationwide, including more than 96,000 Alzheimer's caregivers who live in Iowa. Every day these individuals, myself included, grapple with the emotional, physical, and financial challenges of caring for someone with Alzheimer's or a related dementia. The bill provides vital resources and tools to assist caregivers in their demanding role.

It also calls for a national summit on Alzheimer's to look at promising research possibilities and programs that are important in fighting this disease and supporting those who are struggling with it.

I became a caregiver on June 23, 2003, the eventful day when Dave, my spouse, was diagnosed with the Visual Variant of Alzheimer's. At the time, Dave was an Iowa District Court judge.

As the disease has progressed, robbing Dave of more and more of his abilities, I have assumed more and more responsibility not only for the tasks we used to share (bill paying, financial planning, car and home maintenance, and our social calendar, to name a few) but also for the tasks Dave did independently (eating, toileting, shaving, bathing, dressing). Needless to say, it has been challenging to learn to do more each day than ever would have seemed possible, and to learn to do it all by myself, without the aide and support of the person on whom I'd always relied.

I never dreamed that I would be a person impacted by Alzheimer's disease and you probably haven't thought about it either. But the statistics are staggering and the possibility of you becoming one of us increases daily.

Alzheimer's disease poses tremendous human, social and economic burdens on the nation and its effects are and will continue to be a challenge to us all. The Alzheimer Breakthrough Act is a significant step forward in the fight against this disease.

Kathleen Good of Cedar Rapids is a licensed independent social worker and partner at Collison-Good, Williams & Dunnigan, Associates in Counseling & Consulting, LLP. Previously, she was a professor and coordinator of Human Services at Kirkwood Community College. She serves, along with husband Dave, on the board of the East Central Iowa Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association.