LITTLE ROCK — State Rep. Butch Wilkins, co-chairman of a task force on Alzheimer's disease, opened the first meeting with a personal story Wednesday.
Wilkins said his wife, Pat, was diagnosed about seven years ago with the progressive disease that affects memory, thinking and behavior. Her mother and father also suffered from Alzheimer's, he said.
"We need to get something done on this," the Bono Democrat told the 17 members of the task force, which is supposed to submit a report to the House and Senate Interim Committees on Public Health, Welfare and Labor as well as to Gov. Mike Beebe by January 2011.
Any proposed legislative measures will have to take into account a perennially tight state budget, Wilkins and co-chairman Sen. Cecile Bledsoe, R-Rogers, said.
Mark Fried, executive vice president of the Arkansas and Oklahoma chapter of the Alzheimer's Association, told the panel that projections show 36 percent of Arkansans over the age of 65 will have Alzheimer's by 2025.
About 100,000 of the state'sresidents have the disease now, he said.
About 5.3 million Americans have Alzheimer's, and the country's aging population means that number will only grow, Fried said.
"We are standing on the tracks and the train is coming," he said.
Rep. Dawn Creekmore, DBauxite, sponsored a bill that became Act 92 of 2009, which authorized the task force. She said Wednesday that the projections of the disease's growth are daunting, and urged the task force to come up with solutions to implement on a state level.
The task force will assess Alzheimer's impact on the state, examine existing resources to combat the disease and develop a strategy for a state response, according to the law.
Beebe; House Speaker Robbie Wills, D-Conway; and Senate President Pro Tempore Bob Johnson, D-Bigelow, each appointed four members of the task force. Five more are members of state agencies that deal with the elderly and public health.
The panel, composed of health-care providers, advocates and caretakers of people with the disease, will try to meet once a month, Wilkins said.
Arkansas, Pages 18 on 08/30/2009