O-HI-O

Greetings all! Although I love my extended and immediate family and think we are all amazing in our own unique and wonderful way, I am going to use this post to talk about something else near and dear to my heart - Alzheimer's disease.

I volunteered to put together a team at Billings Clinic to walk in the Alzheimer's Association's annual walk. The proceeds go towards research to find better treatments and faster detection of Alzheimer's. It can be a debilitating disease for both patients and families that suffer from this diagnosis. If you are interested, I urge you to donate to this great cause. You can either send a donation to my fabulous team or find an Alzheimer's Association walk in your area. In Billings, the walk is going to take place in September.

Another related cause near and dear to me is fighting for the rights of seniors. In our current economic and health care system crises, services affecting the elderly are often the first cut. I really think it is the new civil rights fight in America. In Montana, there have been significant cuts proposed such as cutting Medicaid reimbursement to assisted living facilities 10%. This will mean many facilities will join the growing trend of refusing to take Medicaid patients, resulting in these patients being placed in nursing homes and thus costing the state more. Often when government funds are cut, people who private pay have to foot the bill. Just so you are all aware of the high cost of long term care, it costs anywhere from $4500 to $7000 per month to live in an assisted living or nursing home. Who can afford that, especially in Montana?!

Anyhow, I'll stop rambling now. The kids are fine. Here's some fun, albeit old, pictures to enjoy.