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One victory in a long battle
Most advocates, no matter their cause or passion, know that change can be slow in coming. Few expect substantial results from a single afternoon of effort. Yet George-Ann Hyams of Los Angeles had the satisfaction of seeing $1 million in Alzheimer funding restored to the federal budget as a direct result of her actions.
As part of the 2006 Alzheimer's Association Public Policy Forum, Hyams spent an afternoon last June visiting members of Congress. Hyams and the other Forum attendees shared their personal experiences with the disease, and then pressed the representatives and senators for funding for Alzheimer research and programs.
Toward the end of the day, Hyams' group met with an aide to Rep. Maxine Waters. The aide acknowledged that budgets were tight and it would be tough to grant all that the advocates were seeking. Instead, she inquired, "is there anything that's smaller that we can do?"
George-Ann told her about Safe Return, a nationwide identification, support and enrollment program that provides assistance when a person with Alzheimer's or dementia wanders and becomes lost. Safe Return has united more than 11,000 wanderers with their families over the last 10 years, yet funding for the program had been eliminated from the 2007 federal budget.
"We said, 'we need someone to step up and be a hero,'" George-Ann recalled.
A few weeks later, it became clear that Waters had received and taken that message to heart; for the congresswoman was instrumental in restoring funding and increasing the Safe Return budget from $840,000 to $1 million.
Though that's an impressive return on one-day of advocacy, George-Ann is no overnight sensation. In truth, George-Ann has been a dedicated Alzheimer's advocate since soon after her mother was diagnosed with the disease 10 years ago. In the beginning, though, George-Ann admits her motivation was deeply personal.
"I honestly believed I could find an answer to make her well," George-Ann said, recalling how she traveled the world gathering information on new therapies, and then fought for access to those treatments.
But over the years, as she grew to accept her mother's diagnosis, George-Ann said her focus shifted to advocating for all people suffering from the disease; and that meant lobbying. George-Ann credits her involvement with the Association, and the Forum specifically, for this transformation. In fact, the impact of her first Forum still resonates today-seven Forums later.
"Something happened the first year I went that has continually given me the courage to keep going," she said.
Indeed, George-Ann now devotes herself nearly full-time to Alzheimer advocacy.
"We're on the verge of a national health crisis," she said, citing the growing numbers of people with early onset and the 16 million baby boomers who will be diagnosed in coming years. "I'm trying to let everybody know that the way you prepare America to deal with this crisis is by giving money for research right now."
Hyams realizes that to caregivers, taking on the additional role of advocate or heading to Washington, D.C. for a few days may sound intimidating and overwhelming. But, speaking as a caregiver herself, she believes these are just the people who will benefit the most.
"If you never take a few days out of your life to attend the Forum and be part of a community of people with the same purpose, you will be at home and these will be just the same days you have each week," she said. "If you go to the Forum and to the Hill, you will actually change your life forever and you will see a larger purpose in all you do."
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