President Obama pitched a human brain research initiative on Tuesday that he likened to the Human Genome Project to map all the human DNA, and said it will not only help find cures for diseases such as Alzheimer’s and autism, but create jobs and drive economic growth.
Obama proposed $100 million in federal funding to kick start the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies or BRAIN Initiative.
I do not wish to offend anyone, but, adhering to website policy (see website policy "sticky" above) , I had to delete a political comment. All political comments, no matter which way they lean are deleted in order to prevent politcal arguments, which do not belong on this website.
I'm not sure what goes on at Alz. Spouse on Facebook. Charlotte is in charge of that, so you may want to ask her if you can post political comments in that group.
On the federal side this will be overseen by NIH, DARPA, and NSF. Private sector organizations include The Allen Institute for Brain Science, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Kavli Foundation, and Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Official White House information can be found at http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/04/02/fact-sheet-brain-initiative. NIH information is http://www.nih.gov/science/brain/index.htm. NSF information at http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=127477&org=NSF&from=news. UCSF has some info http://www.ucsf.edu/news/2013/04/104826/president-obama-unveils-brain-mapping-project. And I now see that some of the money will be coming from the private institutions mentioned above. Live Science has an article. http://www.livescience.com/28360-paying-for-obama-brain-project.html. Both Newt Gingrich and Eric Cantor praise Obama for the BRAIN Initiative. For more information about it http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/04/03/thoughts-on-the-brain-initiative.html
That sounds great, but I sure wish there would be more assistance for those of us on the frontline of caregiving. A little extra cash for day care, in-home help, etc. would really come in handy. I'm all for research, but my practical nature wishes for a bit more direct relief.
Both areas are important. Help for caregivers and families won't come unless more of us make noise about it. I know from my own experience, several close friends didn't "get it" until their own spouses became ill and they were forced into the caregiving role. One, whose spouse has cancer, said "now I know what you've been going through" because his wife didn't want to drive and he had no time to himself. Another friend, who had a stroke, became dependent on her husband for everything for a while. She said to me, "I was thinking, I don't know how Marilyn did this for 6 years." They were sympathetic before, but people just don't understand what we are going through. So my point is, more caregivers need to become involved, like Coco is doing, to publicize what dementia does to the family as well as the patient.
I agree Marilyn, we caregivers do need to be more involved even though it is very difficult with our caregiving responsibilities. And I too didn't get it when a close friend was dealing with her mother's horrible dementia behaviors until I was experiencing similar issues. I apologized to her.