OPINION: Thank you, Congressman Dan Crenshaw

Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia are a rapidly growing public health problem in Texas and across the country. Approximately 460,000 Texans over the age of 65 suffer from Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, and there are more than 1 million unpaid caregivers in Texas. These healthcare providers provide our state with an estimated $24 billion worth of unpaid care.

As a daughter who supported my mother as she cared for my father, I have seen firsthand how devastating and cruel this disease is. My father, Dick Knowlton, the former chairman and CEO of Hormel Foods, was a very talented businessman. He started from humble beginnings and knew the value of hard work. He loved people, treated them with respect and always had a never-ending instinct for reaching out in friendship. My father and mother were married for 64 years. It was just a true love story. Father and mother lived with Alzheimer’s disease for more than eleven years – what should have been the best part of his life was robbed.

Fortunately, since the passage of the bipartisan Building Our Largest Dementia (BOLD) Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Act (PL115-406) in 2018, progress has been made. Since then, public health departments have made significant progress in improving brain health across the lifespan in communities like ours. The BOLD Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Reauthorization Act (S. 3775 / HR 7218) would continue to build on this progress. This legislation will reauthorize the BOLD Act and allow public health departments to continue improving brain health and supporting health care providers. The Texas Department of State Health Services’ Alzheimer’s Disease Program benefited directly from the BOLD Act when it received federal funds through a BOLD grant in 2023. As a result, our state public health department will roll out initiatives across the state to increase early detection and diagnosis, provide education on reducing the risk of dementia, and help healthcare providers find the resources and information they need. We have to continue the momentum.

Fortunately, Congressman Dan Crenshaw (TX-2) has played an important role in ensuring we continue to address this critical public health issue. Please join me and the Alzheimer’s Association in thanking Congressman Crenshaw for his support of the BOLD Reauthorization Act.

Visit alz.org to learn more about this disease and how you can join the fight to end Alzheimer’s.