LEAD Coalition Urges House Committee to Convene Alzheimer’s & Dementia Hearing

Seventy-one LEAD Coalition member organizations and supporters wrote to the House Energy & Commerce Committee encouraging it convene a hearing this fall on Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders, with a particular focus on implementation of the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease. Read the letter.  

Service To Those With Dementia Makes All The Difference

by Paul Rusk, executive director, Alzheimer’s & Dementia Alliance of Wisconsin Recently, a 67-year-old gentleman wrote this evaluation of our Crossing Bridges Educational Discussion Group:  “This program is invaluable.  You are a life raft in a sea of fear, grief, confusion, anger and guilt.  I don’t know what I would have done without you.”  Comments […]

LEAD Coalition Urges Senators, Representatives to Cosponsor the HOPE for Alzheimer’s Act

Fifty-seven LEAD Coalition member organizations and supporters wrote to all Members of Congress encouraging them to cosponsor the the Health Outcomes, Planning, and Education (HOPE) for Alzheimer’s Act (S.709/H.R. 1507) which would help ensure that individuals receive an appropriate diagnosis, and that they and their family get critical information about the disease and available care options.  Read the House letter […]

LEAD Coalition Strengthens Call for CMS to Approve PET Amyloid Imaging

Following on an April comment letter, fifty-five LEAD Coalition member organizations and supporters wrote again in early August encouraging the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to issue a National Coverage Decision allowing PET amyloid imaging in the evaluation of progressive cognitive decline under the narrowly defined circumstances of the appropriate use criteria (AUC) […]

The Invisible Victims of Alzheimer’s Disease: Family Caregivers

by MaryAnne Sterling , Co-founder of Connected Health Resources To a few close family and friends who know me as a longtime caregiver and advocate for my aging parents and (more recently) my in-laws, I have done the impossible: survived 17 years of struggling to support the needs of three-out-of-four parents who have either died from, […]

LEAD Coalition Builds Momentum for Expanded Research, Care and Support Funding

On the eve of action on the Health-Education-Labor Appropriations bill, LEAD Coalition executive director reiterated to Senate appropriators the urgency to provide at least the $100 million in additional funding for Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders as set forth in the President’s FY 2014 budget proposal. Read the July 8 letter.

Will the BRAIN Initiative Realize its Full Potential in a Budget-Cutting Climate?

by Mary Woolley, Research!America president and CEO Lofty goals are exactly what are needed to tackle daunting challenges. President Obama has recently announced just such a lofty goal. The Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN Initiative) promises profound impact for patients, caregivers, clinicians and others who cope with the effects of Alzheimer’s disease and other […]