Alzheimer's Disease Research Investment

Floor Speech

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Ms. WATERS. I would first like to thank my colleague from California, Congressman John Garamendi, for this time, and I congratulate him for organizing this evening's Special Order on Alzheimer's disease.

JOHN, I would like to tell you that those charts that you just presented tell the story very clearly. It identifies the extent of this disease, and it also lays out that we need to do more with research.

We need to invest more in research, but you also showed, for those diseases where we have invested in, that they have reduced the death rates dramatically. I think your presentation needs to be seen by everybody because it does paint the picture of what is going on with this disease.

As the cochair of the Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer's Disease, I know how devastating this disease can be on patients, families, and caregivers. The task force works on a bipartisan basis to increase awareness of Alzheimer's, strengthen the Federal commitment to improving the lives of those affected by the disease, and assist the caregivers who provide their needed support.

I am pleased that the gentleman from California (Mr. Garamendi) has decided to take an active role in the work of the task force, and what a great job he has done.

Alzheimer's disease has touched millions of American families. However, most of us are probably unaware of the statistics behind the disease and the significant public health threat it poses to our Nation.

In the United States, someone develops Alzheimer's every 67 seconds. According to recent data, women have a one in six estimated lifetime risk of developing the disease at age 65, while the risk for men is nearly one in 11.

The Alzheimer's Association estimates as many as 16 million Americans over age 65 could suffer from Alzheimer's by 2050. It is now the fifth leading cause of death in California.

Right now, nearly 15 million people--mostly family members--provide unpaid care for individuals with Alzheimer's or dementia, a market value of more than $220.2 billion.

In California alone, approximately 1.5 million unpaid caregivers grapple with the tremendous challenges of Alzheimer's disease or dementia every day. Caregivers include spouses, children, even grandchildren.

Caregivers face a variety of challenges, ranging from assisting patients with feeding, bathing, and dressing, to helping them take care of their medications, manage finances, and make legal decisions.

I want you to know that I have friends who are taking care of both their father and their mother who have Alzheimer's. Caregiving is something that we have to pay attention to.

We have to give support to these families because not only is it a tremendous responsibility that so many people are taking on--as compared to caregivers for other diseases, Alzheimer's caregivers disproportionately report being forced to miss work, reduce work hours, quit their jobs, and change jobs due to caregiving demands. They are more likely to experience financial hardship, report health difficulties, experience emotional stress, and suffer from sleep disturbance.

These are just some of the reasons why I introduced the Alzheimer's Caregivers Support Act, H.R. 2975, last year. This bill authorizes grants to public and nonprofit organizations to expand training and support services for families and caregivers of Alzheimer's patients.

With the majority of Alzheimer's patients living at home under the care of family and friends, it is important that we ensure these caregivers have access to the training and resources needed to provide proper care.

The families and communities facing Alzheimer's also must deal with the difficult problem of wandering. According to the Alzheimer's Association, more than 60 percent of Alzheimer's patients are likely to wander away from home. In addition to being distracting for law enforcement, wanderers are vulnerable to dehydration, weather conditions, traffic hazards, and people who prey on vulnerable seniors.

In fact, the Alzheimer's Association estimates that up to 50 percent of wandering Alzheimer's patients will become seriously injured or die if they are not found within 24 hours of their departure from home.

To combat this, I have introduced H.R. 2976, a bill to reauthorize and improve the Missing Alzheimer's Disease Patient Alert Program, a small but effective Department of Justice program that helps local communities and law enforcement agencies quickly identify persons with Alzheimer's disease who wander or are missing and reunite them with their families.

The program is a valuable resource for first responders, and it enables law enforcement officers to focus their attention on other security concerns in our communities.

Of course, nothing can be more valuable for Alzheimer's patients, their families, caregivers, and communities than a cure for this terrible disease.

To that end, we must significantly expand the government's insufficient investment in Alzheimer's research. It is essential that Congress appropriate robust funding for cutting-edge research at the National Institutes of Health.

The private sector also has a role to play in funding Alzheimer's research, as do donations from concerned individuals. A simple way for Congress to encourage the public to contribute is to require the U.S. Postal Service to issue and sell a semipostal stamp, with the proceeds helping to fund Alzheimer's research at NIH.

This would be similar to the popular and successful breast cancer research semipostal stamp. A bill to do this, H.R. 1508, was introduced by now-Senator Ed Markey prior to his election to the Senate, and I am working very hard to pass it.

So as we continue to search for a cure, our Nation is at a critical crossroads that requires decisive action to ensure the safety and welfare of the millions of Americans with Alzheimer's disease and dementia.

Together, let us commit to take every possible action to improve treatment for Alzheimer's patients, support caregivers, and invest in research to find a cure for this disease.

Once again, I want to thank my colleague, John Garamendi from California, for organizing tonight's Special Order. It is important that we do as much as we can to educate the public, to gain widespread support, to make sure that we have the support that is necessary to get more funding for research.

You are doing a fine job of getting us focused. I appreciate that.

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Ms. WATERS. Absolutely. I have been watching for some time what caregivers go through in an attempt to provide the care that is needed by Alzheimer's patients, and you hit it on the head when you said: If only these individuals had had a little help in understanding the disease--what is it like? What is likely to happen? What can you anticipate? How should you react, and what can you do to get some help?

If that information simply was available, it would be of tremendous help to caregivers, but in addition to that, many of the caregivers put their own well-being at risk in so many ways.

Not only do they oftentimes have to lose time from work--which causes difficulties--but many times, the caregivers themselves have health problems that they are addressing that are exacerbated by the fact that they have additional responsibilities in giving care to their Alzheimer's relatives.

Yes, I have seen a lot of this, and I know the pain that families go through. As I saw my own mother age--and they said: Ms. Waters, what you are seeing now is dementia.

I watched this very vibrant, energetic woman, who lived to be 97 years old, eventually go into a state of being that certainly was not the woman that I had known that had reared me, had been so energetic all of her life.

The lapses in memory and finally, toward the end, the inability to recognize her family was a very traumatic and heartbreaking thing to see.

So I want for every family the ability to deal with this. I want their government to be of help to them. As you have said, we have got to get our priorities in order. That $80 billion that you mention is a tremendous amount of American taxpayer money that is going toward an effort that most of us don't even understand. There is no reason that we should be in this situation.

I am looking at this chart, ``Investments in Health Research.'' That is shameful what I am looking at, only $566 million as compared to what we are putting into other diseases. We don't mind the money that is being put into other diseases. We see how it has reduced debt. We just want attention also to Alzheimer's. I think you have made it very clear this evening with the information that you have presented.

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