Those of us in the Alzheimer’s world are celebrating. At long last we will have nearly a billion dollars in annual research funding to help slow and prevent this disease.
This was accomplished by the superb leadership of the Alzheimer’s Association and a coalition of several organizations and thousands of individuals who let our Congress people know we need this to prevent bankruptcy of our health care system in addition to of course supporting the struggles of so many people dealing with Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative dementias, both as patients and as family and professional caregivers.
Another aspect of this good news is that for once both parties in both houses of Congress agreed that a major increase in research funding was long overdue. Last summer the Appropriations Committees in both houses of Congress had voted for this major increase. Many of us worried that the budget would never pass and this first of its kind opportunity might be lost. Fortunately a broad scale budget agreement was reached after all, and the increase in Alzheimer’s funding has been realized.
