{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.collins.senate.gov/newsroom/bold-approach-fighting-alzheimer%E2%80%99s", "A Bold Approach to Fighting Alzheimers", "2017-11-13", "2017", "2017-11", "Republican", "House", "ME", "Susan Collins", "C001035", "www.collins.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "November is National Alzheimer\u2019s Disease Awareness Month, first declared by President Ronald Reagan in 1983.\u00a0 Just 11 years later, President Reagan himself was diagnosed with the terrible disease that eventually claimed his life, as it has claimed the lives of so many others.\n\u00a0\nThis month is dedicated to those who have been stricken with Alzheimer\u2019s, their family members and other devoted caregivers, and to the medical professionals and researchers who are working to advance our understanding of the disease, find an effective treatment, and, ultimately, discover a cure and a means of prevention.\n\u00a0\nAlzheimer\u2019s disease is one of the greatest under-recognized public health threats of our time.\u00a0 Five and a half million Americans are living with the disease, including 27,000 here in Maine, and that number is soaring as our overall population grows older and lives longer.\u00a0\n\u00a0\nIn addition to the human suffering it causes, Alzheimer\u2019s is our nation\u2019s costliest disease.\u00a0 The United States spends more than $259 billion per year, including $175 billion in costs to Medicare and Medicaid.\u00a0 By 2050, if we continue along this trajectory, costs are projected to increase to more than $1.1 trillion, and the number of Americans living with Alzheimer\u2019s is expected to reach 16 million.\u00a0 While Alzheimer\u2019s is the only one of our nation\u2019s most deadly diseases without an effective treatment or cure, new research is showing that there are actions we can take to promote prevention and improve treatment.\u00a0\n\u00a0\nThe first step we should take is to recognize Alzheimer\u2019s as a public health crisis.\u00a0 I have introduced bipartisan legislation, the Building Our Largest Dementia (BOLD) Infrastructure for Alzheimer\u2019s Act, to create a public health infrastructure to combat Alzheimer\u2019s disease and preserve brain health through early detection and diagnosis as well as improved treatment and care.\n\u00a0\nIt is because of public health advancements that we have safe water to drink, vaccines to prevent deadly diseases, and emergency preparedness tools to save lives.\u00a0 Using a public health approach, there is potential to change the trajectory of Alzheimer\u2019s.\n\u00a0\nThe effort to overcome Alzheimer\u2019s disease through a unified national effort is gaining traction.\u00a0 In 1999, when I founded the Bipartisan Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer\u2019s, there was virtually no focus in Washington on this disease.\u00a0 In fact, people were afraid to say the word \u201cAlzheimer\u2019s,\u201d just as \u2013 years ago \u2013 people didn\u2019t talk about cancer.\u00a0 Seven years ago, I co-authored the bipartisan National Alzheimer\u2019s Project Act, which set the primary goal of preventing and effectively treating the disease by 2025.\u00a0 That legislation created an expert council, which has calculated that $2 billion per year is needed to achieve that goal.\n\u00a0\nOn the Appropriations Committee, I worked to turn the words of that recommendation into action.\u00a0 The proposed funding bill for the upcoming fiscal year provides a $2 billion increase for the National Institutes of Health that includes a $414 million increase for Alzheimer\u2019s research, the largest in history.\u00a0 That brings the total for Alzheimer\u2019s research to $1.8 billion \u2013 well within reach of our $2 billion goal.\u00a0\n\u00a0\nWhile research is moving forward, we must also put in practice what we know about prevention, and enhance the quality of care and support for those living with Alzheimer\u2019s and their families.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Alzheimer\u2019s exacts a tremendous personal and economic toll on families and communities.\u00a0\n\u00a0\nThe BOLD Act, which I have introduced, would establish Centers of Excellence in Public Health Practice to promote better treatment and care for those living with Alzheimer\u2019s.\u00a0 The Centers would also educate the public on Alzheimer\u2019s disease, cognitive decline, and brain health.\u00a0\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\nMy legislation would also help communities across America to combat Alzheimer\u2019s. \u00a0The legislation would direct the CDC to establish and distribute awards of funding to local public health departments to support Americans living with Alzheimer\u2019s and their caregivers.\u00a0 The awards of funding would also be used to educate Americans about ways to reduce the risk of memory loss, and other symptoms that can happen before Alzheimer\u2019s strikes.\u00a0\n\u00a0\nFinally, at the heart of public health is data.\u00a0 This legislation would direct CDC to collect data to help us better understand the trends in cognitive decline, cognitive impairment, and caregiving.\u00a0 The data would be shared with the public and used to improve brain health.\n\u00a0\nFor far too long we have viewed Alzheimer\u2019s as an aging issue that plagues some seniors today and threatens to affect many more tomorrow.\u00a0 New research finds that, in fact, Alzheimer\u2019s is a public health issue with a course that we can change.\u00a0\n\u00a0\nThe BOLD Infrastructure for Alzheimer\u2019s Act would create a new enlightened public policy out of promising research.\u00a0 It would dramatically change the way we think of the disease, and ultimately, it has the potential to save millions of lives.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", 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