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AFA held our inaugural Alzheimer’s Advocacy Day in Washington, D.C.
on Thursday, May 23. On Wednesday, May 22, we traveled to Washington, D.C. via Amtrak and proceeded to the Kimpton George Hotel. We ended the day with
a dinner to review our agenda, speaking points, and meetings for the following day. Joining our staff were members of our Medical, Scientific, and Memory Screening Advisory Board, volunteers, and alliance partners. Our CEO and president, Chuck Fuschillo, Jr., opened the dinner with remarks on our organization and goals for the event.
The next morning started with a breakfast briefing, after which we all assembled on Capitol Hill together with our founder and board chair, Bert Brodsky, promptly at 9:00 am and divided into seven teams to cover the six Congressional office buildings.
Throughout the day, our teams interacted with all 535 U.S. Senators and representatives, whether it was a brief chat with their offices, meetings with their legislative staff, or speaking with members themselves. We met with the co-chair of the Bipartisan Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer’s Disease, Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), as well as Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS), Representative John Garamendi (D-CA), Representative Kat Cammack (R-FL), and Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL).
We held meetings with staffers from the following offices: Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), Senator Tina Smith (D-NM), Representative Grace Meng (D-NY), Representative Tom Cole (R-OK), Representative Chris Pappas (D-NH), Representative Katherine Clarke (D-MA), Representative Anna Eshoo (D-CA), and Representative Nanette Barragán (D-CA).
We concluded the day with a meeting from a representative of the Special Committee on Aging, which is chaired by Senator Bob Casey (D-PA). These meetings allowed us to both establish and re-establish working relationships with members of Congress who are at the forefront of Alzheimer’s specific legislation and public policy.
Our agenda included advocating for an increase in appropriations for FY’25 for Alzheimer’s disease, in addition to advocating for legislation that AFA supports: The Change Act (HR 3354), which authorizes physicians to use a cognitive assessment test identified by the National Institute on Aging to detect cognitive impairment during the Medicare Annual Wellness Visit (AWV) and Initial Preventive Exam (the “Welcome to Medicare” visit); The Alleviating Barriers
for Caregivers Act (S3109), which would eliminate red tape with Medicare, Medicaid, SSA, and CHIP to lessen the administrative burdens on families;
The Connecting Caregivers to Medicare Act (S. 3766/H.R. 7274), which would inform Medicare beneficiaries about the option they have to fill out a form to give Medicare permission to share their personal health information with a family caregiver; and The Credit for Caring Act (S3702/HR7165) which would provide up to $5,000 in the form of a non-refundable federal tax credit for eligible working family caregivers to help offset a portion of their
out-of-pocket caregiving expenses.
Our day also featured a briefing by Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) who spoke to our staff, volunteers, and esteemed guests on caregiver legislation and his own personal experiences with Alzheimer’s disease. We were also honored to have our founder, Bert Brodsky, join us to discuss his story of how the foundation was created and his vision for the foundation going forward. Other speakers included our director of educational and social services, Jennifer Reeder, and our director of external relations, Stephanie Evans-Ariker. The day concluded with remarks
by AFA CEO and president, Chuck Fuschillo, and director of
public policy, Ruby Dehkharghani.
Overall, it was an incredibly successful day that fulfilled many of our goals.
We were able to advocate for our patients and caregivers, while also providing information to folks about our organization and the work we do on a daily basis. We received positive feedback— both from folks who attended and the congressional offices where meetings were held. We look forward to making
this an annual event, and we look forward to continuing the work
AFA does in Washington, D.C.
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