Support bill on Alzheimer's care

I was in my early twenties when my father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, and U was his primary caregiver for eight years until his death in 2012.

My story is not unique; a simple Google search will return countless stories of people with Alzheimer's disease wandering and many of those stories do not end well.

Every time the winter cold sets in, instinctively I get a little nervous. Despite the fact that Alzheimer's is the sixth most-common cause of death in the U.S., I am often shocked at how few people know that it is actually a terminal illness with no cure or treatment.

This lack of knowledge is not specific only to the general public: only 45 percent of the people who have Alzheimer's actually receive a diagnosis, despite the fact that Medicare covers Alzheimer's diagnostic services.

Even for those who are diagnosed, documentation and care planning are patchy at best.

After my father passed away, I joined the Alzheimer's Association Ambassador program, which consists of teams of constituents who lobby their elected representatives to engage in the fight to make this disease nothing but a memory. The HOPE for Alzheimer's Act (S.857/H.R. 1559), legislation strongly backed by the Association, would expand Department of Health and Human Services outreach to physicians across the country to increase awareness of Alzheimer's diagnostic services, require that diagnoses be documented in patients' charts and expand Medicare's covered services to include care planning.

My member of Congress, Jan Schakowsky, was one of the first members from the Illinois delegation to sponsor the bill, and she has always been very generous with her time and eager to learn more about how federal policy makers can help fight Alzheimer's disease.

Encouraging Speaker Paul Ryan to call the bill, which enjoys broad, bipartisan support, would be a big help. Especially before the next cold winter.

Carrie Jackson

Evanston