Chapter News:

Mission Enhancement Center Hosts Open House   posted 6-5-08

Association-Wide Strategic Plan Approved   posted 6-5-08

Young-Onst Dementia Takes Center Stage   posted 6-5-08

The Alzheimer's Association Again Earns Seal of Excellence   posted 2-25-08

From the Executive Director   posted 11-9-07

"Away from Her" Released on DVD   posted 11-9-07

Champions Campaign Kickoff   posted 10-2-07

Alzhemed Phase III Clinical Trial Results   posted 9-5-07

Update: Alzheimer's Breakthrough Act   posted 9-5-07

Students Take Action Towards Charitable Cause   posted 8-7-07

Mission Enhancement Center Hosts Open House

More than fifty friends, colleagues and supporters of the Alzheimer’s Association filled the Greater Maryland Chapter’s new Mission Enhancement Center (MEC) the evening of April 29th.

The MEC open house honored the artists from local assisted living facilities who gladly donated their artwork to the new space, the donors whose generosity made the expansion possible, and the volunteers who have been utilizing the new space to help advance our mission.

“Faces of Alzheimer’s,” a short video showcasing the many celebrities, athletes and politicians who have had Alzheimer’s, was shown, reminding us all that no one is immune to the disease.
Thank you to everyone who attended this event, and all those who have supported the chapter as we continue our work to end Alzheimer’s disease.

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Association-Wide Strategic Plan Approved

The Alzheimer’s Association has undertaken a comprehensive planning effort involving local chapter and national staff and volunteers to best position the organization to confront the challenges outlined in the Alzheimer’s Association 2008 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures (see cover article).

The Alzheimer’s Association will advance its mission by:
  • Expanding its nationwide reach as the “go to” Alzheimer’s organization
  • Updating the public face of Alzheimer’s disease by encouraging those
    with the disease to speak out.
  • Advocating more powerfully to change the course of Alzheimer’s disease.
  • Working to speed the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease.
  • Increasing access to quality care, services, education and support

Now, more than ever, the Alzheimer’s Association needs the support of friends and donors. We have a narrow window of time to truly make a difference before the baby boomers are impacted by this disease. Visit www.alz.org/maryland to find out more, because Alzheimer’s doesn’t just steal the past – it can steal the future.

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Young-Onset Dementia Takes Center Stage

Hundreds of individuals affected by young-onset dementia traveled to the nation’s capital on May 12 for a young-onset town hall meeting. This meeting was an opportunity to share experiences about the diagnosis process and how their lives and relationships have been impacted by the disease.

One participant said her family went bankrupt while seeking a diagnosis since she had no health insurance. Another participant expressed hope of a cure so her children would be spared by a disease that has affected three generations of her family.

The individuals with young-onset who shared their stories came from a variety of backgrounds, some of whom spoke out about how they were prematurely forced to leave their jobs. Alzheimer’s Association staff from chapters all over the U.S. attended to see how they can design programs and services that will better meet the needs of this younger population.

This town hall meeting was held the same week as the first ever Dementia at Midlife: A Conference on Young-Onset Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias in Timonium on May 17. This conference drew a crowd of more than 85 individuals affected by young-onset dementia. We thank everyone involved for its success and look forward to planning next year’s event.  

For information and support services concerning young-onset dementia, call 800-272-3900 or email info.maryland@alz.org. Also, visit www.alz.org.

The Alzheimer's Association Again Earns Seal of Excellence  

For the third time since 1999, the Alzheimer’s Association, Greater Maryland Chapter, has been awarded the Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organization’s Seal of Excellence for successfully completing the Standards for Excellence re-certification program. Once again, the Alzheimer’s Association voluntarily opened itself to scrutiny by a “jury of its peers.”  The peer review team examined the Alzheimer’s Association for compliance with the Maryland Nonprofits Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector.

The Standards for Excellence are based on fundamental values such as honesty, integrity, fairness, respect, trust, responsibility, compassion, and accountability. The Alzheimer’s Association’s programs and services, management, fundraising and financial practices were re-examined in depth before the certification was again awarded.

Cass Naugle, Executive Director of the Alzheimer’s Association comments, “Once again submitting to the scrutiny required for certification under the Standards for Excellence wasn’t easy, but it was a worthwhile process. This seal shows we have continued to take every step to ensure we’re serving the community and operating in an ethical and upright way and we’re proud to wear it. We will continue to strive for excellence -  to ensure better care, to develop better programs, to advance knowledge and understanding about this disease and to achieve our vision of a world without Alzheimer’s disease.”

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From the Executive Director

The support and involvement of good friends like you has enabled the Alzheimer’s Association to expand awareness and services during the past year. Following are some accomplishments of FY 07 that you have helped make possible:    

- Hired a Volunteer Coordinator and implemented a volunteer program.
- Developed and implemented Chapter’s first ever support group for people with young-onset Alzheimer’s disease.
- Developed a relationship with Kaiser Permanente where doctors, through a Rapid Referral Form, obtain permission from newly diagnosed patients for the Alzheimer’s Association to provide follow up.
- Renewed our contract with the State Department of Human Resources to provide respite subsidies to families. This contract was extended to 2012.
- Implemented a Train-the-Trainer program through which we trained key assisted living staff to train their new employees on the Alzheimer’s Association’s 5-hour dementia training program. 
- Developed a new, user-friendly website.
- Received a grant from the Office of Health Care Quality for the development of an 8-hour dementia training DVD targeted to care providers in nursing facilities.  
- Advocacy: Successful in passing of legislation that will examine how to weigh cognitive impairment more equitably in State Medicaid long term care applications.
- Contributed $120,000 in research funding to the National Alzheimer’s Association research program.

We hope that you will use the enclosed envelope to demonstrate your continued support for our mission. We will put your gift to work to assure that families living with Alzheimer’s disease have essential services, and to help make Alzheimer’s a distant memory.

Cass Naugle
Executive Director

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"Away from Her" Released on DVD

Critically acclaimed film "Away from Her" is now available on DVD. Based on a story by noted novelist Alice Munro, the film follows a woman (Julie Christie) slipping into Alzheimer's and the disease's effect on the relationship with her husband of almost 50 years, played by Gordon Pinsent.

Co-star Olympia Dukakis and actress Sarah Polley, the film's screenwriter and director, are among several actors who are Alzheimer Champions urging Americans to learn about the disease and get involved in fighting it as part of the Alzheimer's Association new consumer education campaign.

The DVD release includes a letter from Olympia Dukakis and a video featuring well-known celebrities championing the Alzheimer cause by talking about how the disease has affected their own families and friends.

"Away from Her" is now available for rental from the Lending Library. Call 410-561-9099.

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Champions Campaign Kickoff

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Alzhemed Phase III Clinical Trial Results

While they found numerical differences between people taking the drug and those taking placebo that trended toward positive, the results — both on test of cognitive functioning and activities of daily living — did not reach statistical significance. A second Phase III trial in Europe is ongoing.

On behalf of people with Alzheimer’s disease, their loved ones and caregivers, the Alzheimer’s Association is disappointed that the results from this first Phase III trial of an anti-amyloid therapy in Alzheimer’s were not more strongly positive.

However, we have learned important lessons about how to do these types of very complex, long-term, large-scale Alzheimer’s trials, which is very important because there are now so many promising Alzheimer’s therapies in the pipeline.

We are very pleased to see several compounds now in Phase III clinical trials for Alzheimer’s that represent a variety of treatment strategies.
- Clinical trials of possible Alzheimer’s therapies raise hope for an emerging new era in treatment of the disease.
- The odds are quite good that we’ll have more effective new treatments for Alzheimer’s in the near future.

Advances in therapies, early detection, and risk factors for Alzheimer’s will change the landscape of diagnosis, care, treatment, and prevention. How fast we get there depends completely on the investment in research. We need more Alzheimer’s research money now to capitalize on the progress we’ve made in the last decade.

- To learn how you can become an Alzheimer’s Champion and get involved in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease, visit www.actionalz.org.

The trial results highlight the important need for more volunteers for Alzheimer’s clinical studies. Recruiting and retaining study participants has become one of the greatest impediments to developing the next generation of treatments for Alzheimer’s.

- Persons interested in Alzheimer’s clinical studies and medical professionals can visit the Research Page for more information and for a listing of current clinical studies. You also can visit www.clinicaltrials.gov.

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Update: Alzheimer's Breakthrough Act

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Students Take Action Towards Charitable Cause

That’s all Sofia needed; she told Mimi she wanted to help. Mimi, delighted and proud, arranged to have a fundraising package sent to her. Sofia then approached her school principal, Mrs. Karen Wizemen, with the idea and was given a green light. Sofia and her friend Jaina Sharma made educational posters and went class to class asking the children to donate their spare change to the fund. At the end of their campaign they raised $187. When she told her family about these amazing results, her nine-year-old brother Blaise went to his room, took $13 from his piggy bank, and gave it to her so she would have an even $200. 

She then thought that if she was so successful at school she would approach the pastor of her local parish, St. Boniface, to see if she could do something similar at church. Seeing how hard Sofia worked, Blaise volunteered to assist her in the next project. They headed to church before 8:00 am mass and set up their card table and posters outside the front doors. They sat there for five hours and collected $300 more from the parishioners. It was evident that each person donating was entirely impressed with such young people working so hard for an important cause.

In a society where children appear to have lost their sense of putting “others” first, this effort went a long way to showing that many children may be misinterpreted, and may actually show that they too can “love thy neighbor.”

“Mimi” is Kitty Shea, and a long time eastern shore resident and volunteer for the Alzheimer’s Association.

From left: Dee Myers (PR/Development Coordinator, Eastern Shore), Sofia Zingale, Blaise Zingale, Kitty Shea

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