You may be asking yourself, “why does this 20-something year old care about funding for Alzheimer’s?” Well, the answer is pretty easy for me. For the past three years, I have worked in nursing facilities as a Licensed Social Worker and have come into contact with many individuals that have an Alzheimer’s or Dementia diagnosis. I have seen firsthand how this disease can progress quickly and how families/doctors have a hard time managing it. I once had a resident who transferred into our nursing home from a very small and remote town in Texas. She came to us because her family doctor could not help her with her diagnosis and did not know the best way to proceed. She was only 75, and was fairly healthy in terms of her physical health. But because of her diagnosis, she was very forgetful and the doctor did not want to prescribe her any medication that could potentially help. Now, this resident missed her home so much that she fell into a deep depression and ultimately passed away not even five months after being moved in. I care because of people like this. Because of individuals who deserve to have their rural doctors trained on Alzheimer’s/dementia so that way they can stay at home for even a few months more.