8 Powerful Ways You Can Support the Fight Against Alzheimer’s

When a loved one has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, it can have quite a life-changing effect on friends and family members. They may begin to wonder how they can best direct their efforts to offer help and support. As daunting as the battle against Alzheimer’s can be, there are still plenty of ways people can influence change and join the fight against the disease. Here are some of those ways that you can become a warrior in the fight against Alzheimer’s.

8. Help Raise Awareness

Whether you speak casually for five minutes or present a workshop, share what you learn about Alzheimer’s with everyone you know. Be contagious — in a good way — in getting others excited to learn that they can help fight this horrible disease with their efforts. Explain symptoms, causes, treatments, and resources that are available for Alzheimer’s patients and their families.

7. Join Alzheimer’s Advocacy Networks

Get involved with an advocacy network and learn all you can about how your voice can influence public policies. A key piece of advocacy is ensuring that elected officials who make decisions about funding, research, and health services treat Alzheimer’s as a priority. You are a powerful advocate when you give lawmakers access to the people who experience Alzheimer’s, so that they understand how their decisions impact these citizens.

6. Consider Volunteering for a Clinical Trial

Everything that can be done to end Alzheimer’s points to a common terminus: discovering the cure. Researchers need all kinds of people, including healthy volunteers, to participate in clinical trials. Studies test ways to understand, diagnose, treat, and hopefully one day, cure and prevent Alzheimer’s. Whatever your age, race, or gender, consider checking if there’s a clinical trial near you that you can join.

5. Volunteer At Places That Serve Alzheimer’s Patients

There are plenty of places that provide direct services for Alzheimer’s patients, and just about all of them need volunteers. Whether you prefer a hospital, a nursing home, or a social organization, the myriad volunteer opportunities may include data entry, preparing media for mailing or meetings, or helping with special events. Perhaps you might help by providing information and referrals in response to phone calls or email requests. Just share your special skills, whatever they may be.

4. Donate

When your heart is really in it and you want to do even more, monetary donations to reputable Alzheimer’s charities are always welcome — and they’re tax-deductible! You can help support research and other programs with a one-time donation, maybe as a tribute to a loved one, or you can make an annual pledge.

3. Participate in Fundraising Events

Another way to help fund the fight against Alzheimer’s is to take part in fundraising events, such as an Alzheimer’s run or walk. Whether you lace up your sports shoes, hand out flyers, emcee the event, recruit teams, or work as a volunteer, every minute you devote to the cause helps.

2. Join a Local Alzheimer’s Organization

Your community organizations that are devoted to Alzheimer’s issues depend on people just like you to lead the fight at the local level. The time you give volunteering and helping with special events, learning about advocacy, or providing administrative support helps keep the mission alive. Plus, you will have lots of information to share with others in casual conversations, be it breakthroughs in research, or details about upcoming events.

1. Help Connect Friends and Family To Services

As you become more active in the fight against Alzheimer’s, you become more of a resource, and your knowledge of the available services grows greatly. This familiarity gives you an edge when it comes to helping friends and family connect with services they might otherwise miss. Your loved ones are more likely to open up to you about their needs than to a stranger; help them find answers to their questions, and connect them to the resources they need.

While everyone who deals with Alzheimer’s faces their own battle against the disease, they all fight for a common cause. Through their experiences caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s, friends and family members can become uniquely qualified to take action and inspire others in the fight against the disease. Do what you can to help advocate and raise awareness, and help empower others to do the same. Find your voice, and channel your efforts to influence change.