Ohio Woman to Received Alzheimer's Association's Highest National Advocacy Award

Alzheimer's Association
Sunday, 30 March 2003

Virginia Ragan, an at-large member of the Ohio Council of the Alzheimer's Association from Westerville, received the 2nd Annual Maureen Reagan Outstanding Advocate Award during the 2003 Alzheimer's Association Public Policy Forum.

Nominated by the Ohio Council of the Alzheimer's Association, "Ginni" Ragan will receive this award—and a $5,000 grant to support the Ohio Council's public policy activities—for her efforts in supporting affordable and accessible respite services for Alzheimer caregivers and enhancing the lives of thousands of Ohio families touched by Alzheimer's disease or a related disorder.

"She is outspoken and tenacious. And, like Maureen, she knows no limits when it comes to helping Alzheimer families," said Sheldon Goldberg, president and CEO of the Alzheimer's Association. "Maureen was a force. Nothing was too big a challenge. She was determined to get the attention and the resources needed to win the war against Alzheimer's. Ginni demonstrates Maureen's commitment to advocacy."

Ragan's involvement with Alzheimer advocacy began in 1992 when her father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. The challenges she faced in her personal caregiving experience fueled her passion to improve services for individuals affected by Alzheimer's and to ensure they have the highest quality of life possible.

"Ginni gets results," said Margaret C. Carpenter, president of the Ohio Council of the Alzheimer's Association. "The gains for hundreds of thousands of Ohioans would not have been possible without Ginni's tireless advocacy."

According to the Ohio Council of the Alzheimer's Association, Ragan has helped the chapter achieve the following:

• Funding for Ohio's Alzheimer respite program, which provides services for Alzheimer caregivers, increased nearly six-fold from $775,000 in state fiscal year 1997 to $4.5 million per year in state fiscal year 2002.
• Despite a $1.5 billion shortfall in state fiscal year 2002, Ohio's Alzheimer respite program was the only line item in the Ohio Department of Aging (ODA)'s budget that increased (by 20 percent), and was later spared a six percent administrative cut when revenue did not meet projections.
• An average of 100 legislators, out of the 132 Ohio General Assembly members, have attended each legislative luncheon on Ohio's annual Memory Day, and it attracts 250 advocates.

"It isn't easy to roll with the flow of Alzheimer's disease," Ragan said. "But people with Alzheimer's deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, and services must instill dignity and respect in people living with a diagnosis of Alzheimer's."

The Maureen Reagan Outstanding Advocate Award is presented annually to an extraordinary volunteer from an Alzheimer's Association chapter who has demonstrated exemplary success as an Alzheimer activist. A selection committee that includes chapter staff, chapter volunteers and association board members judges the nominees.

The award is named in honor of President Ronald Reagan's daughter, the late Maureen Reagan, who was a member of the association's national board of directors and a leading advocate for raising public awareness about Alzheimer's disease, supporting caregivers and substantially increasing the nation's commitment to Alzheimer research.

The Ohio Council of the Alzheimer's Association nominated Ragan for her advocacy work on behalf of all of the chapters in Ohio.

Currently 4 million Americans, including over 208,000 Ohioans, have Alzheimer's disease. By the middle of this century, it is projected that 14 million will have the disease unless a cure or prevention is found, according to the Alzheimer's Association.

The Alzheimer's Association is the premier source of information and support for the 4 million Americans with Alzheimer's disease. Through its national network of chapters, it offers a broad range of programs and services for people with the disease, their families, and caregivers and represents their interests on Alzheimer-related issues before federal, state, and local government and with health and long-term care providers.

The largest private funder of Alzheimer research, the Association has committed nearly $136 million toward research into the causes, treatment, prevention, and cure of Alzheimer's. You can reach the Alzheimer's Association at (800) 272-3900 or on the web at www.alz.org.

For more information, or to contact Alzheimer's Association, see their website at: www.alz.org