The assault on the Hill

How invigorating to be an advocate and go from office to office meeting with public officials who have the power to really make a difference.
Alzheimer's is the 6th leading cause of death in the US.
How humbling to realize that most of their days are spent meeting with folks just like us with (almost) equally worthy causes.
It is currently estimated that people over 65 years of age have a 10% chance of developing Alzheimer's, while those over 85 have a 50% likelihood of developing AD.
The Missouri delegation, all 24 of us, outside Senator Claire McCaskill's office, our first appointment.

We were asking for three things: money, a government office, and a change in the two year Medicare waiting period for people disabled by the disease before they are 65.

We want $250 million more for the next two years to bring the annual federal total commitment to Alzheimer's research to $1 billion. Without a cure and with the aging of the baby boomer generation, this disease will cripple our nation's health care system.
By comparison the National Cancer Institute receives over $4 billion annually. We want Alzheimer's survivors too.

A fun moment: one of Claire's staffers came out to take this pic and then another arrived and offered to help. I looked at her, looked again; she was looking at me.
"Were you my student?"
"Menchhofer?"
Yup, I taught her in 2001 in Honors Soph English.

Healthcare News: 20/03/2009 There is renewed hope of finding a drug to treat Alzheimer's disease as scientists say they are closer than ever to a discovery.