Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

To the Editor:

More than 6 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease, including 150,000 in Virginia and their 349,000 caregivers. As an Alzheimer’s advocate, it is my honor to represent them.

Without medical breakthroughs, the number of Americans with Alzheimer’s is projected to rise to nearly 13 million by 2050. As a caregiver for my mother diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, I understand firsthand the impact this disease has on families across America.

My mother, Mrs. Lorena Antoine Jones, was diagnosed with this disease and she didn’t believe it and fought me tooth and nail to remain in her beloved Opelousas, Louisiana. It all started when she would constantly forget where she would park her car or whether she had eaten or taken her medication for high blood pressure. At that point you don’t really think that it is Alzheimer’s disease at work — just normal getting older.

More than 2,300 Alzheimer’s advocates from across the nation just attended the 2021 Alzheimer’s Impact Movement Advocacy Forum, meeting with Members of Congress on Capitol Hill.

Specifically, the advocates urged Congressman Bobby Scott to cosponsor the ENACT Act (S. 1548/H.R. 3085) which seeks to increase representation in Alzheimer’s clinical trials among traditionally underrepresented groups.

To learn more about this disease and how you can join the fight to end Alzheimer’s, visit alzimpact.org.

Wardenia Jones Lassiter

Chesapeake