Alzheimer’s… Have you heard of it? Perhaps your grandmother has been diagnosed but you have no idea what that means.

• Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an irreversible, progressive brain disease that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills, and eventually even the ability to carry out the simplest tasks.
• In most people with AD, symptoms first appear after age 60.
• AD is the most common cause of dementia among older people. Dementia is the loss of cognitive functioning—thinking, remembering, and reasoning—to such an extent that it interferes with a person’s daily life and activities.
• Alzheimer’s is one of the fastest growing diseases of the 20th century and has grown 10-fold in the last 10 years.
• One person is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s every 70 seconds.
• According to recent estimates, as many as 2.4 to 4.5 million Americans are living with AD.
• Alzheimer’s is one of the toughest diseases to truly diagnose with an accuracy rate of between 85-90% due to sharing traits with other diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and brain cancer among others.

World Alzheimer's Day - September 21

Launched in 1994, World Alzheimer’s Day is a day when organizations around the globe unite efforts to raise awareness about the disease and its impact on families, communities and nations.

With the theme 'Diagnosing Dementia: See It Sooner', the focus is to bring awareness to the importance of getting a diagnosis and encouraging medical professionals to recognize the signs of the disease in order for people to receive the treatment they need.

With 77 million American baby boomers reaching the age of greatest risk, it is clear that the crisis of dementia and Alzheimer's cannot be ignored. Left unchecked, dementia and Alzheimer's will impose enormous burdens on individuals, families, health care infrastructures and the worldwide economy.

What can you do?

• A Million Tweets to Remember Essentially the idea is to create a Twitter-based movement to digitally memorialize a million people who are currently living with or who have died from Alzheimer's disease. How can you participate?
• Go to http://1mtweets.com and Tweet about the program and/or a friend/loved one/family member who is currently living with or who has died from Alzheimer's disease
• Spread the word on Twitter by letting people know about 1Mtweets.
• Follow @1MTWeets on Twitter for updates
• Post a Twitter tribute called a “Twibute” of a loved one
• Become a fan and follow the movement on Facebook




• Write Congress now and urge your representatives to support the Alzheimer's Breakthrough Act, making the disease a health care priority. The legislation seeks to:
• Increase funding for Alzheimer’s at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to $2 billion which would be a significant step in restoring momentum in the pursuit of better diagnosis, prevention and treatment.
• Create a National Summit on Alzheimer's, which would bring together researchers, policymakers and public health professionals to discuss the latest promising research avenues in Alzheimer's disease. 
• Provide diagnosed patients with vital resources and tools to assist them in coping with the disease.