Am I Repeating Myself? A Former Caregiver’s Angst about Alzheimer’s

By Meryl Comer I think most people are worried about their own risk if they have seen Alzheimer’s in their family. As a former 24-year caregiver for both my husband and mother, I worry all the time. When I walk up the steps to retrieve something and pause to try to remember what it was, I fear that I have begun to slip. When I mistakenly walk out without my house keys or misplace jewelry or money tucked away for safekeeping, I panic. Is this the beginning? Other memories are so vivid that I feel as if they happened just

Congress Should Act: Paid Leave for Caregivers Essential in the Battle with Dementia

“I got plenty of money; it’s just tied up in debt,” as the saying goes. Humor often has a way of getting to the point. The debt and associated burdens are mounting at staggering levels for caregivers of those afflicted with Alzheimer’s, other forms of dementia, and other serious illnesses. There are an estimated 53 million family caregivers in the United States—16 million providing dementia care who too often are caught in an unsustainable conflict between caregiving and work responsibilities. I know this path well—first as a family caregiver, and now as one diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and being helped by

A Letter to Doctors: Talk with Your Patients about Brain Health and Alzheimer’s Disease

Editor’s note: This blog post is an open letter to the medical community from UsAgainstAlzheimer’s board member Greg O’Brien, who suffers from and lives daily with Alzheimer’s, about how doctors can improve the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s and other dementias; care in the early stages of the disease; and the critical importance of a candid dialogue about brain health. Dear Primary Care and Family Doctors, As T.S. Eliot has said: “We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started, and know the place for the first time.” Alzheimer’s has been

Stephanie Monroe's Congressional Testimony on the Importance of Paid Leave

Stephanie Monroe, Executive Director of AfricanAmericansAgainst Alzheimer's, a network of UsAgainstAlzheimer's, testified before the Subcommittee on Health of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, "Caring for America: Legislation to Support Patients, Caregivers, and Providers." Ms. Monroe spoke about her experience as a family caregiver to her father who lives with Alzheimer's and emphasized the vital importance of health equity in driving early detection and investing in caregivers through paid family and medical leave. Watch the full testimony below.

Mandy Moore Raises Awareness of Alzheimer’s On and Off Screen

She plays a character with dementia on the TV show This Is Us. In real life, the actor is joining the fight against Alzheimer's disease. * This article was originally published in Brain&Life Magazine. After filming her last scene for the 2019 Thanksgiving episode of This Is Us, a decades-spanning NBC drama, Mandy Moore rushed back to her trailer, shut the door, and burst into tears. “I had all this emotion pent up that I was holding back, and I had to let it go,” she recalls. In that episode, her character, Rebecca, finally admits to her son Randall that