BOLD
This month, legislators made history when both our senators and congressional leaders passed the Building Our Largest Dementia Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Act (BOLD), which would create a nationwide Alzheimer’s public health infrastructure to implement effective Alzheimer’s interventions.
Now it’s the president’s turn to help those in our community who are facing this devastating disease.
I am a new Alzheimer’s Association advocate, volunteering to raise awareness with our legislators on the association’s behalf.
I am asking the president to sign this legislation into law, as soon as possible, to improve the lives of those facing Alzheimer’s and related dementias throughout our communities.
The BOLD would create the change necessary for those living with Alzheimer’s disease to live a higher quality of life while reducing the costs associated with Alzheimer’s. BOLD would increase early detection and diagnosis, reduce risk, prevent avoidable hospitalizations, reduce health disparities, support the needs of caregivers and support care planning for those living with this disease.
In California Alzheimer’s is the third leading cause of death—as opposed to the rest of the country in which Alzheimer’s is the sixth leading cause of death. Women are two-thirds of those diagnosed—and women are two-thirds of all caregivers as well. No one is immune to Alzheimer’s, a disease that cannot be prevented or cured.
Now that the Senate and our Congress have stepped up to fight this deadly disease, we must demand our president support this legislation. The BOLD Act’s journey through Congress and the Senate provided an example of parties coming together to do the right thing for the people they are meant to serve.
Thank you to my local legislators, Congressman Ted Lieu and Senators Feinstein and Harris, for co-sponsoring BOLD.
Adele Carter
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.