About us

An affiliate of the Alzheimer's Assocation, the East Central Iowa Chapter, located in Cedar Rapids, IA, was founded in 1986 by a group of area caregivers.  The Chapter was officially incorporated in 1989.  In 1995 a Regional Office was opened in Waterloo, IA, helping to reach more families throughout the 19-county Chapter territory. 

Our mission
To eliminate Alzheimer's disease through the advancement of research; to provide and enhance care and support for all affected; and to reduce the risk of dementia through the promotion of brain health.  Learn more about our chapter.

Our vision
A world without Alzheimer's disease.

View our Chapter Brochure

Financial information

The Alzheimer's Association East Central Iowa Chapter is a tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) nonprofit, donor-supported organization. Programs and services are made possible through contributions from individuals, corporations and foundations. The chapter uses 80% of funds raised for programs, services and research efforts.  The Alzheimer's Association meets the BBB Wise Giving Alliance's standard for charity accounting.

Annual report

Annual report can be retrieved upon request. To request annual report, please contact Kelly Hauer, Executive Director, at kelly.hauer@alz.org

Strategic plan

Our Mission:  To eliminate Alzheimer’s disease through the advancement of research; to provide and enhance care and support for all affected; and to reduce the risk of dementia through the promotion of brain health.

Goal 1.   Increasing Concern and Awareness of the Disease and the Association
Mobilize forces that will amplify the level of concern for Alzheimer's disease as a nationwide movement and dramatically raise the level of awareness of the Association as the leader in the fight against Alzheimer's disease by:

Strategy 1: Increasing and influencing public concern about and knowledge of Alzheimer's disease.
Strategy 2: Increasing awareness and recognition, and revelence of the Alzheimer's Association relative to other voluntary health agencies (VHAs).
Strategy 3: Optimizing the Alzheimer's Association's impact through consistent messaging and event implementation.
Strategy 4: Increasing the ammount of resources that are dedicated to strategic communications (public relations, advertising, and marketing).

Goal 2:  Advancing Advocacy
To increase the reach, influence, and effectiveness of advocacy as a tool for advancing the mission
Recruit and engage diverse advocates to advance the Association's mission through improved public and private sector policies by:

Strategy 1: Building and sustaining a cultur of advocacy and capability to improve policies that affect research and care.
Strategy 2: Amplifying the power of Alzheimer's Association advocacy efforts that target and cultivate new Alzheimer's disease champions throughout the government, private sector, and grassroots level. 
Strategy 3: Raising the priority of Alzheimer's related policies at the state and federal level to significantly increase public funding of research, care, and support.

Goal 3:  Enhancing Care and Support
To develop and promote a full range of quality support, care, and services across diverse cultures
With a special emphasis on early detection, develop a variety of services that span the continuum of the disease for persons with Alzheimer's and their caregivers by:

Strategy 1:  Promoting early detection and brain health to reduce the stigma of Alzheimer's disease, increasing the understanding of evidence on modifiable risk factors, developing culturally competent community-based interventions, and initiating appropriate surveillance of the burden of Alzheimer's disease.
Strategy 2:  Sustaining and broadening the Association's Quality Care Initiatives to provide comprehensive and specific quality care resources and training options to help care professionals (including aides, nurses, physicians, and other health providers) enhance care to persons with dementia.
Strategy 3:  Offering a standardized set of culturally competent and language-sensitive services that span the continuum of Alzheimer's and addresses the needs of persons with the disease and caregivers and engages the person with Alzheimer's in planning whenever possible.

Goal 4: Accelerating Research
To increase financial support of both biomedical and social/behavioral research
In collaboration with the broader Alzheimer's community, fund and facilitate a greater focus on unrepresented and understudied areas of Alzheimer's research by:

Strategy 1:  Accelerating the progress in treating and preventing Alzheimer's disease by probing the earliest origins of the disease to identify novel targets for diagnosis (e.g. research on biomarkers in blood and cerebrospinal fluid), disease tracking, and therapy.
Strategy 2:  Reducing the burden of Alzheimer's disease through funding and facilitating research on early detection, eliminating physician barriers to early detection, identifying cost-saving and quality-of-life factors associated with early detection with special consideration for multicultural populations, broadening the understanding of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and its place in early detection, and enhancing participation in clinical trials.
Strategy 3:  Forming alliances that leverage joint resources to fund expanded strategic research investments. 
Strategy 4:  Facilitating communication between scientists and among scientists, lay audiences, and throughout the Association with self-sustaining mechanisms.

Goal 5: Growing Revenue Support of the Mission
To provide financial resources that will facilitate achievement of the strategic plan
Capitalizing upon a full range of donor sources, significantly enhance revenue support of the Association's full mission in a collaborative manner by:

Strategy 1:  Increasing revenue to support the Mission Focus recommendations.
Strategy 2:  Achieving the top five (5) rank of the "Philanthropy 400" forVHAs in private support.

Board of Directors - Alzheimer's Association East Central Iowa Chapter

Officers

Debbie Jones, President
Joel Schmidt, Vice President
Gary Wicklund, Vice President
Patrick Allen, Treasurer
Kathleen Collison-Good, Secretary

Directors

Nader Amr
Janice Charles
Debbie Craig
David Good
Joe Hartman
Ann Haugland
Kris Irey
Eric Johnson
Mona Knoll
David C. Kutcher
Anne Salamon
Rick Skogman
David Storey
Robert Vancura
Lynn Widdel