In just over a week, many advocates will be joining together at the 25th Annual Alzheimer’s Association Advocacy Forum in Washington. Over those several days, they will share their own very personal stories and encourage lawmakers to make Alzheimer’s and related dementias a top national priority.

Recently, we’ve made great strides with the passage of the National Alzheimer’s Project Act and development of the first ever National Alzheimer’s Plan, but there is still much work to do. Widespread budget cuts threaten the progress that we’ve made, making it so very important to continue sharing the message that ALZ is on the brink of becoming a national epidemic; we must continue to march forward.

One way you can help is to contact your legislators, and this site makes it very easy to do! Ask your representative to co-sponsor the Alzheimer’s Breakthrough Act. The HOPE for Alzheimer’s Act (Senate bill number S. 738 and House bill H.R. 1386)

The Act will:

• Improve diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease
• Increase access to information on care and support for newly diagnosed individuals and their families
• Provide essential support for those facing this devastating, debilitating disease.
• Ensure that an Alzheimer’s or dementia diagnosis is documented in the individual’s medical record.
• Support recommendations made 2012 National Alzheimer’s Plan.

Once again, use this site to contact your representative in Washington by simply entering your name and address. After you’ve done that, you’ll have a chance to review and customize (if desired) the message before sending it. Please share the URL with your friends. This can literally be done in less than 5 minutes.

Thank you, and keep fighting!