Wrap up celebration for Alzheimer’s Walk

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By Portia Williams

[email protected]

The Alzheimer’s Association of Greater Cincinnati (AAGC) held a follow up celebration of the 2015 Walk to End Alzheimer’s held in Portsmouth on Sept. 18. The celebration was held recently at Gatti’s Pizza in Portsmouth.

According to Jeffrey A. Dehner, JD, Special Events Coordinator (AAGC), the 2015 fundraising currently stands at $30,303.

“We’ve gone 92 yards and now have the ball on the 8 yard line. First and goal If each of our 420 Walk participants asked just seven people for $1 each, we would make our goal,” Dehner said.” We will be accepting donations for this year’s campaign through the end of December. There is a lot of potential in this area, because there is a lot of need. I think that if everyone that has been affected by Alzheimer’s showed up for the Walk we would probably have 4,000 instead of 400. It is just a matter of getting the word out, and getting the people engaged, and letting them know that it is easy and fun to be a part of. I love this area, and I think there are some great people out here with big hearts, and I really think it is a matter of getting the message out.”

He said Alzheimer’s is not discussed as other diseases, and is in need of more exposure.

“I think that Alzheimer’s is still a sort of unspoken thing, there is still a stigma about it, and I think that we need to bring it out of the shadows, and give it the attention it deserves. It is the most expensive disease in the country. We spend more Medicare and Medicaid dollars taking care of people with Alzheimer’s than any other disease,” he said. “By 2050, they expect the cost in caring for people with Alzheimer’s and other forms of Dimentia to exceed one trillion dollars.”

AAGC planning committee for the 2016 Walk to End Alzheimer’s will get underway in February or March of 2016.

“In February or March we will have our first planning committee meeting. We will be inviting people to get involved with the planning. The bigger the committee is, the more successful the event is going to be, because everyone who is a part of the planning committee brings their own network of family, and friends and coworkers, and church members,” he said. “And that is how we have to get out and get the message out to people. Rather than seeing an ad on television, it is through word of mouth that the message is disseminated.”

Anyone who desires to help with the cause http://act.alz.org/2015ps can make an online donation to one of our teams or to an individual walker.

Checks should be make payable to the Alzheimer’s Association of Greater Cincinnati and mailed to 644 Linn Street, Suite 1026, Cincinnati, Ohio 45203. Putting “Portsmouth Walk” on the memo line will ensure that the donation is applied to the correct Walk.

We are actively recruiting new members for our Walk planning committee. Anyone interested in knowing more can contact me by email at [email protected] or by calling 800-272-3900.

The 2016 Walk to End Alzheimer’s will be held in Portsmouth on Saturday, Oct. 8, (We will be returning to a September date beginning in 2017.

Reach Portia Williams at 740-353-3101, ext. 1929, or on Twitter @PortiaWillPDT.

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