NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — It's Alzheimer's Awareness Month — the perfect time to hear how local advocates are fighting for a better future.
While the Tennessee chapter of the Alzheimer's Association has long raised awareness and funding for treatments and a cure, there's a relatively new push for early intervention and detection.
Tiffani Johnson, a former caregiver and volunteer for the Nashville Walk to End Alzheimer's, recently traveled to DC to support the ASAP Act.
"And what that is is the Alzheimer's Screening and Prevention Act, and what that will help is to get insurance companies to be able to help with paying for all the different biomarker testings that are out there," she explained.
Through new legislation, the idea is to find a suitable screening tool to detect the proteins that are involved with and often lead to the disease.
"We know it can't change the inevitable, but it can still give them a better quality of life as they navigate this disease," said Johnson.
"We are truly looking at this as the mammogram moment for Alzheimer's, and we really need everyone's help to seize that," added Megan French, the development director for Nashville's Walk to End Alzheimer's.
Johnson's mother Mary Ann, who was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's in 2020 and passed away in 2024, is the reason she fights for family support, policy changes, new treatments and ongoing research for a cure.
"I'm really trying to learn how to cope with that as a good memory and not a sad memory," she said.
"Right here in Tennessee, we have 129,000 individuals 65 or older currently living with the disease," French shared.
The Alzheimer's Association expects that number to double in the next 35 years, highlighting the need for continued funding, ongoing help for caregivers and renewed hope in the future.
"As a caregiver, know that you're not alone. Know that there's help out there, know that there's support," concluded Johnson.
If you want to learn about the resources available to you, or how you can mitigate your own risk for the disease, visit the Alzheimer's Assocation website.
You can also show up at Nashville's Walk to End Alzheimer's on November 14.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at nikki.hauser@newschannel5.com.
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