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In lieu of flowers

Please consider a contribution to Alzheimer's Research & Prevention Foundation or Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration.

Background

Frontotemporal Dementia is a lesser-known and often hard-to-diagnose degenerative cognitive disease. Rick's eventual diagnosis with FTD came after several months of attempts at diagnosis as it is still relatively uncommon in the medical community.

We are not the first family to struggle with both getting a diagnosis and also with finding information about the progression and care for someone with this disease. Although it, like Alzheimer's, is under the general title of dementia, it is distinct from Alzheimer's. We hope that by bringing Rick's diagnosis to light, more people will recognize the signs and symptoms of FTD. In lieu of flowers, please contribute to the Association of Frontotemporal Dementia or any charity.
Contribute to Alzheimer's Research & Prevention Foundation Right arrow Contribute to Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration Right arrow

About Alzheimer's Research & Prevention Foundation

We are dedicated to preventing Alzheimer's Disease by funding integrative medicine research and providing educational training, outreach and memory screening.

Frequently asked questions

Answered by a team member at Alzheimer's Research & Prevention Foundation

  • What is your mission?

    The ARPF provides an alternative to the conventional, “magic bullet” drug approach to Alzheimer's Disease and dementia. We believe that you can help yourself, right now, by utilizing a holistic or integrative medical approach, based on the lifestyle tools we have scientifically researched over the past 20 years. This modern medical research reveals that all of the aspects of the ARPF’s 4 Pillars of Prevention plan, including physical and mental exercise, especially when used together, help build a healthier and stronger brain and memory. You can review the 4 Pillars and other research updates on: http://alzheimersprevention.o…

  • How are donations used?

    Our last audit (2021) showed that 93.3% of every donated dollar went to research and programs. Our organizational structure is very small and virtual, which allows new and continuing research projects and professional education to be our focus. To see how “America’s Best Charities” and other oversight organizations regard ARPF, please scroll to the bottom of our home page: http://alzheimersprevention.o… .

  • What can be done with a $100 donation?

    $100 provides free memory screening assessments for 15 at-risk people or pays for a comprehensive blood test for one person for research purposes.

  • What progress has been made already thanks to your donors?

    Our donors’ generosity is allowing ARPF to participate in continuing studies, including the FINGER Study, organized by the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. FINGER Study is the largest project in history on preventing Alzheimer’s disease through a lifestyle program, and is showing beneficial effects on cognition. For more details, please visit http://alzheimersprevention.o…. ARPF is also sponsoring a new, three-year study called “The Pink Brain™ Project,” in conjunction with the Psychiatry Department at UCLA, to study the impact of a yoga program in women at high risk for the development of Alzheimer’s disease.

  • What is the history of your organization?

    Almost 30 years ago as we started ARPF, we asked, “What if we could reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s and many people could avoid developing dementia? For those who have it, what if there was a way to slow down its progression, so that they could live a healthier and longer life?”

    Our mission is to prevent Alzheimer’s disease by funding research studies and providing educational outreach and memory screenings. Our research phase started 20 years ago and, since then, the ARPF has been on the leading edge by researching, advocating, and educating for a holistic or integrative approach to preventing memory loss and Alzheimer’s.

    We do this by: Researching innovative and breakthrough modalities in the holistic or integrative medical approach for the prevention of this disease. Our research has been published in the prestigious Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, as well as other significant medical journals, such as The International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, Psychiatry Research, Nuclear Medicine Communications and Consciousness and Cognition.

    Educating healthcare professionals, patients, and their families as well as the public on the known aspects of Alzheimer’s disease, with particular emphasis on the prevention and treatment of early stage memory loss. In 2017, we began holding annual trainings for professionals to receive CEU’s when they graduate from ARPF’s ​Brain Longevity® Therapy Training.

    Providing Free Memory Screenings to allow those at risk to establish a baseline assessment of their brain health so they can manage their brain’s health.

  • As a professional serving older adults, how can I apply ARPF's research results?

    In 2017 we launched the first annual train-the-trainer style educational program to greatly increase the numbers helped by our research. Brain Longevity® Therapy Training is an evidence-based curriculum that has already helped tens of thousands of individuals maintain healthy brain function with age. This breakthrough medical approach for healthy aging was created by Dharma Singh Khalsa, MD, in the early 1990s as the core program for ARPF. This Brain Longevity Specialist certificate program is offered to all professionals who want to become part of the movement to prevent Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of cognitive decline. This training includes: advance reading assignments, lecture, discussion, a review of medical and lifestyle risk factors for Alzheimer’s, review of the latest cutting-edge yoga therapy research on Alzheimer’s prevention, and the elements of a holistic approach to healthy aging and optimal brain functioning. Follow this link to learn about the BLTT: https://arpf.com/

Recent contributions to Alzheimer's Research & Prevention Foundation

$100.00
April 29, 2022, 6:15 p.m. PDT
April 11, 2022, 7:56 a.m. PDT
March 2, 2022, 5:39 p.m. PST
Sally & J.Lee Cauthen
$100.00
Submitted by Sally Breaux on Feb. 16, 2022, 9:04 a.m. PST
$25.00
Feb. 11, 2022, 3:52 a.m. PST
Feb. 10, 2022, 10:47 a.m. PST
Jackie Newman
$50.00
Feb. 9, 2022, 11:44 a.m. PST
DAN FULGHUM
$50.00
Feb. 9, 2022, 9:03 a.m. PST
$100.00
Feb. 8, 2022, 7:42 p.m. PST
$100.00
Feb. 8, 2022, 3:29 p.m. PST
Feb. 7, 2022, 7:28 p.m. PST
Anonymous
$100.00
Feb. 7, 2022, 7:01 p.m. PST
Feb. 7, 2022, 4:22 p.m. PST
Feb. 7, 2022, 2:20 p.m. PST
Feb. 7, 2022, 1:56 p.m. PST

About Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration

AFTD’s mission is to improve the quality of life of people affected by FTD and drive research to a cure. We work every day to advance:

Research. We promote and fund research toward diagnosis, treatment and a cure.
Awareness. We stimulate greater public awareness and understanding.
Support. We provide information and support to those directly impacted.
Education. We promote and provide education for healthcare professionals.
Advocacy. We advocate for research and appropriate, affordable services.

Frequently asked questions

Answered by a team member at Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration

  • What is your mission?

    AFTD’s mission is to improve the quality of life of people affected by FTD and drive research to a cure.

  • How are donations used?

    Donations in support of AFTD’s mission drive our work to increase FTD awareness, provide education to healthcare professionals, offer support to people who are navigating a diagnosis, advance research to bring forward early and accurate diagnosis and effective therapies, and foster advocacy to bring attention to the needs of people and families facing FTD.

    In collaboration with a growing network of volunteers, including our Medical Advisory Council and Persons with FTD Council, we provide help through resources such as our support groups, Comstock Grants program, HelpLine, and library of educational webinars. We bring hope by advancing FTD-focused research through AFTD Pilot Grants and Holloway Postdoctoral Fellowships, while nurturing engagement among community stakeholders and legislators through our Advocacy Action Center and awareness campaigns.

  • What can be done with a $100 donation?

    Support Families: A donation of $50 can share vital information and resources with five families facing FTD.

    Educate Professionals: A donation of $100 can help distribute materials to healthcare professionals, for better diagnosis and best FTD care practices.

    Offer Support: A donation of $500 can fund a Comstock Respite, Quality of Life, or Travel grant for a person diagnosed or a care partner.

    Advance Research: A donation of $1,000 can support cutting-edge research initiatives to foster earlier diagnosis and the development of treatments.

  • What progress has been made already thanks to your donors?

    With the support of our generous donors throughout fiscal year 2023, AFTD distributed 748 Comstock Grants – up to $500 each – to people currently affected by an FTD diagnosis, provided tailored guidance to 3,379 people who contacted our HelpLine, worked with 102 trained volunteer facilitators to organize and lead 77 support groups across the U.S., and welcomed 947 in-person and virtual attendees from 24 countries to the 2023 Education Conference. As of June 30, 2023, we are funding or co-funding more than 30 grants to advance research focused on understanding the underlying causes of FTD, discovering biomarkers for early and accurate diagnosis, and developing therapeutic interventions.

  • What is the history of your organization?

    Founded in 2002 by Helen-Ann Comstock, a former care partner to her husband Craig who was diagnosed with FTD, AFTD has grown into the leading national organization focused exclusively on improving the quality of life of people affected by FTD and accelerating research to bring forward the first-ever approved treatments, and one day, a cure.

    Every day, we work to raise awareness, offer support, provide education, advance research, and foster advocacy. From our headquarters in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, our staff of nearly 50 professionals collaborates with a national network of volunteers, including persons diagnosed, care partners, and healthcare professionals to deliver our programs throughout the country, providing support to all who face this disease.

Recent contributions to Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration

Anonymous
$100.00
April 22, 2022, 8:07 a.m. PDT
Anonymous
$20.00
April 21, 2022, 3:56 p.m. PDT
Anonymous
$20.00
April 21, 2022, 3:00 p.m. PDT
Anonymous
$100.00
April 21, 2022, 5:54 a.m. PDT
Darlene & Brad Bratton
$100.00
April 12, 2022, 1:02 p.m. PDT
$25.00
April 6, 2022, 1:15 p.m. PDT

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Rick Smith