Calling all Alzheimer's Activists!

[Julie G]

The time is now! As the annual Alzheimer's Association International Conference comes to a close, with no major scientific breakthroughs, it's clear that diet and lifestyle are finally being recognized as key strategies to slow down this worldwide epidemic. We've historically had many entrenched factions, with multiple motivations, working to control the messaging on this important topic. We need to step up and become the voices for a population who're unable to speak for themselves... for we are ultimately them. They are our parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles. etc. We need to heal old divisions and bring everyone together for the greater good in much the same way that HIV activist stepped up in the 90s and demanded unification to come up with an effective treatment. Alzheimer's pathology takes decades to develop, the sooner any of us begins working on prevention/remediation, the better. We need to take our message on the road to a much broader audience.

I'm looking for allies in this quest. Let's meet for a brainstorming session via Zoom video conferencing. I have some ideas and I want to hear yours. I'm tentatively shooting for sometime in August. Let me know if you're interested and dates that you are available.

[Fiver]

I agree. I'm interested. My schedule gets complicated in August, but I'll try to fit into whatever schedule you come up with.

[Grace]

I'm down Julie!

[JML]

Exciting! I’d like to participate. The more notice, the better for my calendar. Tuesday mornings, Friday afternoons, evenings and weekends work best for me.

[buck3Maureen]

I'm interested. I have benefited from the information that Dr. Bredesen has brought forward and I don't see the information getting enough public attention.

Maureen

[Lis]

Keep me posted, please.

[Julie G]

Thanks for the response, friends. I'm guessing we should plan to meet after work hours. If folks have more flexibility with time, we can meet earlier in the day. How is Tuesday, August 6th or the 13th? Name a time that works for you. I hope more members get involved...

Let's begin brainstorming in this thread. Remember the ALS ice bucket challenge that was all over social media a few years ago to raise money for research? I'm envisioning something similar with the goal of raising awareness (not money) for AD prevention strategies. We need to make AD prevention cool. We need to break the stigma associated with this disease and put young-ish , hip, vibrant people out there as the face of this disease. We needn't reveal our ApoE4 status unless you want to "come out." After all, everyone is at risk. We need to get people talking about this. Share your ideas!

[mike]

I'm interested

[TheresaB]

I'm interested

[TheBrain]

I'm interested! I would prefer an earlier time on either date in August. I'm on the east coast, and if I do anything stimulating past 7 pm ET, my sleep is negatively affected, and I feel like crap the next day. But if the evening ET works better for everyone, maybe I could later listen to a recording?

My husband and I are just beginning the process of working with an attorney to do a new will and powers of attorney. The attorney we met with today specializes in estate planning and elder law. I told her about my ApoE4 status to ask if there's anything we should consider due to my status. And yes, there is. (I can go into that somewhere else, if anyone is interested.)

But as we were talking, I realized that she is unaware that Alzheimer's can be prevented or delayed. It became evident that she thinks I'm just "monitoring" my cognition. I thought to myself: I should get her a copy of Dr. Bredesen's book! She (or perhaps she and I) could potentially spread the word to a sizable audience in my community.

Anyway, I thought that one target for us could be attorneys who specialize in estate planning and elder law. Younger people do wills as well (or at least they should!).