Liz Morancy has never been afraid of a fight. As a regular guest on Arlene Violet’s popular talk radio show, she relishes sparring with those who may disagree with her political views.
Heck, you don’t spend a decade in the state Legislature (1978 to 1988) without getting into your share of political tussles. A Providence Democrat, Morancy built a reputation as a champion of education issues and an advocate for the poor.
These days, Morancy would rather people recognize her as executive director of the Rhode Island chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, where she has been for 14 years.
She got there in that same sort of way that she found herself connecting to other causes.
She saw a need and wanted to do something to help.
“I saw an emerging health issue and its impact was growing,” Morancy told me last week.
Years ago, when Morancy told her friend, Sister Mary Reilly, she was going to go work for the Alzheimer’s Association, Reilly said to her, “You’re going to work for the disease that we are all afraid of.”
That stuck with Morancy. She knew it was a fight worth fighting.
Fourteen years. For Morancy, it’s a long time to be in one place. But she’s hooked. She rattles off statistics with a dogged determination. About 25,000 Rhode Islanders, she says, suffer from Alzheimer’s. Nationally, it affects 10 percent of people over the age of 65 and 47 percent of people over 85.
The numbers are getting worse, not better. The baby boomers are getting older.
So Morancy spreads the word.
She called me up to see if we could sit down and talk about Alzheimer’s, arriving at my office with a report: “Alzheimer’s Disease: The Costs to U.S. Businesses in 2002.” It says that just a couple of years ago, Alzheimer’s cost American businesses more than $61 billion and broke the costs down this way:
*The cost of family care giving – absenteeism, productivity losses and replacement costs – as workers struggle to balance the responsibilities for a loved one who has Alzheimer’s with their obligations on the job: $36.5 billion.
*The business share of health and long-term care expenditures for people with Alzheimer’s disease: $24.6 billion.
The report suggests those numbers will pale in comparison to those coming within the next decade. The calculations in the 2002 report are based on 4 million people having Alzheimer’s. But by 2012, it is estimated that with those baby boomers getting older, the number of people with Alzheimer’s will explode to as many as 14 million.
The numbers only make Morancy more determined to make a difference.
The more she has learned about the disease, the more it bothers her. It is an insidious disease that strikes out at anyone. Those afflicted slowly lose the ability to remember, to reason, to communicate and to care for themselves. It steals something we all take for granted and deeply cherish – our independence. And every one of us – eventually – is susceptible.
“The biggest risk factor is aging,” she says.
And so through the Rhode Island chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, one thing Morancy can do is raise awareness and money to support the organization’s outreach programs.
“I know that our support services help,” she says. “It can be such an isolating disease.”
Morancy sets up outreach programs at area businesses. Of late, the response has been terrific. At Amica Insurance, for example, the program was so popular that it spilled over into an additional session.
Morancy’s plan is to do more outreach. Educating employers and employees is one way to fight back. Mostly, Morancy is looking to spread awareness and get more people involved.
Of course, raising money helps to make more programs and services available. One of the association’s biggest fund-raisers is its Memory Walk, which takes place in Providence and Newport on Oct. 2. Morancy would love for you to take part in that event.
But there’s something else. The association wanted to do something special this year. And they came up with this idea for a “Forget-Me-Not Flower pin. From there, the idea took off. Priscilla Malone, an artist who along with her husband owns Malone Studios in Newport, drew the flower. Next, jewelry designer, Michael Azzoli of AMA Ltd. in Providence, donated his time and talent to develop the model. And A. Carona Jewelry Inc., of Providence, agreed to manufacture the pins at a significantly reduced rate.
The association is selling the pins for $20. They’re beautiful and they’re for a wonderful cause. You can stop by the association’s office at 245 Waterman St. in Providence to get one. It would be a small gesture, but it would help in a fight that’s so worthy of fighting.
