Champions for the Cause

The Alzheimer's Association has been moving the cause forward for 27 years. We’ve been the leader in Alzheimer care and support since those origins and have played a significant leadership role in fostering research in understanding the disease, its potential treatments and cure. In 2007, we moved the cause by building public awareness and knowledge, encouraging a national voice for those with the disease and focusing our mission on reaching more people who need our support and accelerating progress to end the disease.

Harry Johns President and CEO

Millions of Americans are affected by Alzheimer’s, yet public apathy is one of our greatest challenges. Every 71 seconds someone in America develops Alzheimer’s and its prevalence is increasing, yet 9 of 10 Americans don’t know that it is the seventh-leading cause of death.* The Association’s inaugural publication in March of Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures 2007, a statistical abstract of U.S. data on Alzheimer’s, put the spotlight on Alzheimer prevalence and focused on the Association’s role as the leading information resource.

Evan Thompson Chair, National Board of Directors

We held the spotlight in April and May as millions saw our messages through a public awareness campaign combining advertising and media outreach. We earned key exposure on morning talk and nightly network news, national newspapers and consumer magazines about the growing epidemic of Alzheimer’s. And thousands of new supporters — including bighearted celebrity advocates — responded to our call to action and signed up to be Champions for the cause.

Some of our most active Champions are individuals with the disease, including a representative group that serves as advisors to our Association staff. This Early Stage Advisory Group assembles active volunteers at local and national levels. They are part of a growing segment of people who get diagnosed in the early stage of the disease and benefit from symptom-treating medications and lifestyle changes that allow them to extend their quality of life.

Indeed, we believe that the ultimate path of Alzheimer’s is that of a controllable disease. Better diagnostic tools to detect the disease at earlier stages — even before symptoms appear — and disease-modifying drugs are closer than ever before. Our staff worked closely with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to improve the drug approval process by including input from those living with dementia and their care partners. Also during the year, we advanced a pilot program to encourage greater participation in clinical research studies.

While much work remains to slow or stop the progression of Alzheimer's disease, the advancement of science increasingly gives us hope. Our organization has been part of nearly every major advance in Alzheimer research since our formation in 1982, and we have committed millions of dollars in grants to promising research projects. To foster the field of study, we host science conferences that are the primary knowledge-sharing forums for thousands of the world’s leading Alzheimer researchers.

In July 2006, we hosted some 5,000 dementia researchers at the International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders (ICAD) in Madrid, Spain, and made global headlines by announcing key discoveries on the etiology, pathology and treatment of Alzheimer’s, including findings on the connection between diabetes and Alzheimer’s.

And, in June 2007, the Association made headlines again as more than 1,500 researchers, physicians and policy advocates joined us in Washington, D.C. at the Association’s International Conference on Prevention of Dementia to focus on early diagnostics and interventions.

At the federal level, our goal is to make Alzheimer’s a national priority. The federal government’s commitment to Alzheimer’s is without question insufficiently disproportionate to its epidemic growth rate, considering that as many as 16 million Americans could have Alzheimer’s by 2050. Our policy advocates continue to urge Congress to appropriate at least $1 billion annually for large-scale Alzheimer research and clinical studies at the National Institutes on Aging (NIA). And, we work tirelessly on Capitol Hill and in state capitals to make Alzheimer’s a priority, advocating for policies that will help those who are affected by the disease and burdened by its costs.

At the grassroots level, our 78 chapters provide an unparalleled level of service and support to Alzheimer families and direct care providers. Through care consultation, educational workshops, regional conferences and support groups, we reach out to a growing Alzheimer population, including those in multicultural and rural communities. Staff and volunteers provide information, resources and support through our nationwide 24/7 Helpline, 1.800.272.3900, as well as our Web site, www.alz.org, which earned the 2007 Caregiver Friendly award from Today's Caregiver magazine.

Teams of volunteers and sponsors in all our communities helped set new records in FY2007 for the Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk®, by raising $31 million in our signature awareness and fundraising event hosted locally by chapters.

Our mission is fueled by the generosity and good will of all our donors, sponsors, volunteers and staff who contribute to the cause in so many ways. In 2007, our contributors’ loyal support brought our total nationwide revenues, together with our chapters, to over $241 million.

As significant as our organization’s achievements have been, we must still do more — as soon as possible. We are driven by the reality facing the more than 5 million people estimated to have Alzheimer’s today and the millions more who will face the disease tomorrow. Our progress energizes our staff, volunteers, donors and sponsors to move ever faster to achieve our vision: a world without Alzheimer’s.

* On June 12, 2008, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that Alzheimer’s disease is now the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States, surpassing diabetes.

Harry Johns President and CEO

Evan Thompson Chair, National Board of Directors

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