alzcny.org/news

Yesterday was one of the biggest days of the year at the Chapter. Our annual Facts & Figures report garners media attention from throughout the 14 counties and is a catalyst in motivating people for our cause. Here’s a rundown of newspaper articles and television reports from yesterday:

• WSYR-TV (Syracuse), which focused on Clay caregiver Tami Schanbacher.
• Syracuse.com/Post-Standard (Syracuse), which featured the report in its news and health sections
• The Observer-Dispatch (Utica), which had a lengthy article feature an interview with Saquoit caregiver Patrick Inserra.
• WKTV-TV (Utica), which featured Janice Durant, a caregiver from Oneida Castle. WKTV is a member of the Alzheimer’s Early Detetction Alliance and reporter/anchor Megan Koskovich is a member of our event planning committees.
• WWNY-TV (Watertown), which featured Limerick caregiver Yvonne Thompson and her husband Cecil. WWNY is also an AEDA member and news anchors Brian Ashley and Anne Richter-Ashley are longtime friends of the Chapter.
• News10Now (CNY), which reported the statistics.
• WAER-FM (Syracuse) conducted an interview with Tully caregiver and Chapter volunteer Kris Terrillion.
• The Ithaca Journal and The Press Sun-Bulletin (Binghamton) ran articles summarizing the statistics and the disease impact on the Southern Tier community.

WRVO-FM also taped a lengthy feature with Chapter CEO Catherine James and a 54-year-old Syracuse woman living with Alzheimer’s that will run this week.

We also put the call out to GO PURPLE! on March 9 and are pleased to see as many people as we did wearing purple in support of the cause, as our friends at WKTV and WWNY did. We are also pleased to report that more than 75 people became our friends on Facebook yesterday, a trend we are looking to continue over the coming weeks. If you are on Facebook and haven’t done so already, become a fan of our page. Once you become our friend, make sure to invite your Facebook friends to become part of the cause.

If you drove around the Greater Syracuse area on Wednesday, March 25, you may have seen people holding signs with Alzheimer’s facts.

Our volunteers took to the streets to raise awareness about the disease and follow up on Tuesday’s Facts and Figures launch. Signs saying “Every 70 Seconds Someone Gets Alzheimer’s” and “There are 5.3 Million Americans with Alzheimer’s” faced drivers during morning, lunch and evening rush hours on Syracuse’s busiest roadways — Lyndon Corners in Dewitt, Heid’s Corners in Liverpool, Clinton Square in Syracuse, West Genesee Street in Westvale and the corner of West Fayette and West Streets near Armory Square. Our teams report that car horns were honked and that a few people stopped in traffic to ask questions.

More pictures of the standouts can be seen by clicking the headline above.

One new link has come around since last night’s wrap up. WWNY-TV in Watertown posted a story and video from their evening news, featuring a family struggling with the costs of Alzheimer’s care.

In addition, Toni Daley, the chapter’s director of development, appeared Movin’ 100.3/96.5 this morning to talk about yesterday’s launch and the upcoming chapter benefit night at the Syracuse Crunch. Movin is our next door neighbor in Syracuse and the media sponsor of the Greater Syracuse Memory Walk.

With the evening news wrapped up, here’s a quick look at where we’ve been today:

• Action News on NBC3 (via CNYCentral.com) in Syracuse
• News 10 Now (via News10Now.com) throughout Central New York
• NewsChannel 34 Evening News (via WIVT.com) in Binghamton –now with video
• NewsChannel 2 at Six (via WKTV.com) in Utica

In addition, spokespeople from the Central New York Chapter discussed the report on Syracuse’s WAER-FM and WWNY-TV in Watertown.

It has been a busy morning for us here at the chapter. With the launch of the 2009 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures Report, we were able to work with WSYR-TV to put together an In-Depth morning, where callers could call the studio and have their questions about Alzheimer’s disease answered. So far, here are the articles and television reports thus far:

• The Post-Standard (via Syracuse.com).
• The Morning News on NewsChannel 9 (via 9WSYR.com).
• NewsChannel 2 at Daybreak/Sunrise (via WKTV.com).

We’ll continue to update this list throughout the day.

A report released by the Alzheimer’s Association, Central New York Chapter today reveals that 5.3 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease and that someone develops the disease every 70 seconds. The 2009 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts & Figures Report also shows that healthcare costs are, on average, three times as higher for those 65 years old and older with Alzheimer’s than those who do not have the disease.

In conjunction with the report, the Central New York Chapter released its newest population estimates for its 14-county region. The chapter estimates that there are 45,221 individuals in Central New York living with Alzheimer’s. With an average of three people — both unpaid family members or friends and paid professionals — providing direct care to each person with Alzheimer’s disease, there are now in excess of 135,600 Central New Yorkers providing Alzheimer’s disease care. This represents a 24 percent growth since the year 2000.

alzcny.org/news is your home for news about the Facts & Figures Report. In addition to the press release below, we also have links to:

• The complete 2009 Facts & Figures Report
• Central New York Alzheimer’s Disease Statistics

Also, stay tuned for updates and links to media appearances as the day goes on. The full press release appears after the jump.

Continue reading this entry…

Tune in as representatives from the Alzheimer’s Association discuss findings of a new report about Alzheimer’s in America.

Representatives from the Alzheimer’s Association, Central New York Chapter will be in the WSYR-TV studios to answer questions about Alzheimer’s disease on Tuesday, March 24. Staff will be on hand during The Morning News from 5-7 a.m. Make sure to tune in and learn about the big Alzheimer’s-related story being released.