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Today, September 21, is also World Alzheimer’s Day. It is a day to recognize the uphill (and getting steeper all the time) battle we have in treating and finding appropriate care for dementia. How shiver-inducing to learn that If dementia care were a country, it would be the world’s 18th largest economy (ranking between Turkey and Indonesia).

Here, from the Alzheimer’s Association, are some ways to get involved with Alzheimer’s advocacy today and throughout the year:

Check with your local Alzheimer’s Association chapter to learn about events going on in your community. On World Alzheimer’s Day and throughout the year, there are many ways to take action in the fight against this devastating disease:

• Write to Congress. Tell Congress to make Alzheimer’s a national priority.
• Go Casual for a Cause at work.  Encourage your colleagues to dress down at work in exchange for a small donation (usually $5) for the Alzheimer’s Association. Order a free kit on to implement this idea in your work place.
• Participate in Memory Walk. Gather your friends and family for a walk to end Alzheimer’s. Memory Walks happen throughout the country each fall.
• Volunteer for a clinical trial. Recruiting and retaining trial participants is the greatest obstacle, other than funding, to developing the next generation of Alzheimer treatments. Trials are recruiting people with Alzheimer’s, as well as healthy volunteers to be controls.
• Make a donation. Make a tax-deductible donation to the Alzheimer’s Association and support vital research and essential support programs and services.