Maybe if I post something helpful, I will cheer up.

I don't know why, but here is another Thursday and I'm feeling rather blah. Maybe Thursdays are just my depressed day so that I can seem really super happy on Fridays. Think that could be it?

I always want to blog but can't always seem to find the right words to do so. Anyways, I was thinking since I wanted to do a post, but didn't want to just gripe, as that seems to be the theme of things around here lately. So, something that always makes me feel good is doing something for someone else, I thought I would post a link to a great website that was forwarded to me this week in a Yahoo group that I belong to for people with family members with dementia and alzheimers. Then, any of the readers here can pass it along as well in the hopes that this information will get out to more people.

The link is http://www.veteranaid.org/index.php. Once you get to the home page, you will click on the link to the left that says "The A&A Program". Here is the quote from the website about what the A&A program is about. "The Aid and Attendance (A&A) Special Pension provides benefits for veterans and surviving spouses who require the regular attendance of another person to assist in eating, bathing, dressing and undressing or taking care of the needs of nature. It also includes individuals who are blind or a patient in a nursing home because of mental or physical incapacity. Assisted care in an assisting living facility also qualifies.

The A&A Pension can provide up to $1,632 per month to a veteran, $1,055 per month to a surviving spouse, or $1,949 per month to a couple*."

Bottom line is if you know of a military veteran (doesn't have to have served 20 or retired, just military service) or their spouse that needs care and can't afford it this is the program for them to look into. Right now only about 150,000 veterans and their spouse are recieving this benefit because no one seems to know about it. That is just a drop in the bucket compared to the military veterans that qualify and need it.

Please help me in doing your good deed for the day by letting others know about this benefit. To find your nearby office, call the Department of Veterans Affairs at
1-800-827-1000 or visit www.va.gov. They will be glad to assist.

Just think, right now there are 5.3 MILLION people in the United States alone with dementia and alzheimers and 10 MILLION caregivers spending 8.5 BILLION unpaid hours caring for a family member. This is not counting in the billions of hours that are paid.

Alzheimers (and the other dementias) are now the sixth leading cause of mortality in the US. The cost of these diseases are NINE times the average patient costs of care. The number of alzheimers/dementia deaths rose by more than 47% between 2000 and 2006 alone. Direct and indirect costs are more than $148 BILLION dollars per year in the US. These are the latest findings that the Alzheimers Association announced just last month.

Jessica, Lewis and I had a team of six last October that participated in the annual Memory Walk for Alzheimers. Our team was called "Team Hope" after Jessica's middle name of Hope and the hope that we have to help others with this horrible disease including Butch. Butch has the early onset type of this disease, that makes Jessica much more likely to inherit the genes from her dad for having this one day as well. We walk to not only help Butch but for the future generations to come. Consider also joining your local Memory Walk or sponsoring us when the October walk gets closer in addition to passing the Aid and Attendance link on.

Remember,tell someone you know about the facts that you learned on this post today. See!!! I already feel 100% improved!!!