Access Promotes Understanding
Floor Speech
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Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 20th anniversary of the Arab-American Community Center for Economic and Social Services of WNY. ACCESS was founded to promote understanding and foster bonds of friendship between Arab Americans and people of all faiths, ethnicities, and backgrounds, recognizing the critical importance of dialogue and understanding.
Over the past 20 years, ACCESS has connected individuals with legal services, financial assistance, healthcare, and employment opportunities. It provides our young people, who often face uncertain and challenging circumstances, with the mentorship and programs required to enrich their lives and set them on a path of success for the future.
In addition, ACCESS is committed to aiding immigrants as they pursue their dream of citizenship, helping them navigate the application process financially, culturally, and linguistically. For refugees fleeing persecution, poverty, and violence, ACCESS offers programs that help people and families begin new lives, acclimate to life in the United States, and thrive.
I thank Executive Director Talib Abdullah and the leadership of the board for their extraordinary efforts meeting our community's needs and making western New York a more welcoming and connected home for all.
Our community and Nation look forward to their continued success and congratulate them. Sickle Cell Disease
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Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the passage of the Sickle Cell Disease and Other Heritable Blood Disorders Research, Surveillance, Prevention, and Treatment Act.
I am proud to support this critical legislation to reauthorize Federal efforts to research, prevent, and treat sickle cell disease through 2028.
Sickle cell disease is an inherited genetic blood condition affecting approximately 100,000 Americans and a million people around the world.
As a clinical nurse specialist caring for sickle cell patients, my own mother knew firsthand the hardships stemming from this terrible disease, including pain, anemia, infections, and stroke, as well as kidney, liver, and heart disease.
For those with sickle cell, life expectancy is 20 years shorter than the average.
We have more to do, especially as this disease disproportionately impacts Black and Latino people who are already facing health inequities.
To put it in perspective, in my home State of New York, one in every 365 Black babies is born with sickle cell disease.
During Sickle Cell Awareness Month this September, the legislation passed in the House will honor the resilience of those affected by this disease, advance important research to improve treatment options, and help ensure equitable access to care for all patients. The time to act is now. Combating Alzheimer's Disease
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Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Speaker, I rise to celebrate the passage of two bipartisan bills that will continue our Nation's commitment to researching, treating, and ultimately curing Alzheimer's disease that has caused so much heartbreak and pain across the country.
Families are enduring the profound emotional, physical, and financial toll of Alzheimer's disease and dementia. Nearly 7 million Americans currently live with Alzheimer's, but their burden is not theirs alone. Each of those individuals have families and communities that are impacted. In fact, the Alzheimer's Association estimates that 11 million Americans provide unpaid support to patients every year, accounting for more than 18 billion hours of care.
This disease impacts families in every State, city, neighborhood, and of all races, incomes, and religions. My own family has felt the pain of Alzheimer's, as my grandmother suffered for years with this debilitating disease. I watched as my family provided 24-hour care for her in her home until the time that she passed.
It is critical that we make Federal investments to research and address Alzheimer's disease and provide resources for the patients and families who are impacted. The bipartisan legislation to extend and strengthen the National Alzheimer's Project and to develop the Advisory Council on Alzheimer's Research, Care, and Services will go a long way to combat this terrible disease.
I thank the advocates who have volunteered their time caring for loved ones, fighting for research funding, and for always keeping faith for future generations that will hopefully not have to feel the grief of watching a loved one slowly slip away. Remembering Mark Mortenson
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Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in remembrance of Mark Mortenson, who passed on September 14 and whose life work always brought beauty and wonder to so many lives in western New York.
After taking on his most recent role as president and CEO of Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens in 2022, Mark was ready to take on a new multimillion dollar expansion to fulfill its mission to change the region.
His life will always be remembered in western New York. Our prayers are for his loved ones that he left behind: his husband, Curt Maranto; and his children, Nicolas, Kiara, Mikey, Elliott, Emily, and the late Clayton, who will always be remembered.
He will be missed. May he rest in peace.
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