PORTLAND, ME – Today, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) provided remarks at the Southern Maine Agency on Aging (SMAA)’s Charting the Future: Innovation in Dementia Research, Treatment and Care symposium in South Portland. The symposium featured 200 policymakers and researchers who work to find treatments for dementia.

 

“Dementia affects 27,000 Maine people, robbing our family, friends, and neighbors of their memories and their independence. It is heartbreaking to watch, and requires a strong response from all corners of our communities,” said Senator King. “That’s why the work the Southern Maine Agency on Aging has done is so important. By fighting this debilitating disease from all angles, and by working collaboratively, they’ve changed lives and given hope to thousands of Maine people and their families.”

 

As the state with the oldest median age, seniors are a vital part of Maine’s population. In September, Senator King visited The Center for Seniors in Kennebunk to meet with members and discuss a number of issues facing Maine seniors such as, Medicare, the high costs of prescription drugs, and the importance of finding solutions that help Maine people age in place. In June, Senator King convened a roundtable discussion of strategies to combat Alzheimer’s Disease at the Bangor Public Library. During a visit to Woodlands Memory Care of Farmington in February, Senator King announced his support for the Building Our Largest Dementia (BOLD) Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Act, which would create a public health infrastructure for the treatment of Alzheimer’s patients. In 2015, he introduced the Ensuring Useful Research Expenditures is Key for Alzheimer’s (EUREKA) Act,  bipartisan legislation that would create prize-based incentives to encourage more public-private collaboration in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease and other causes of dementia. A provision based on the EUREKA Act was signed into law as part of the 21st Century Cures Act in 2016. Senator King cosponsored the Health Outcomes, Planning, and Education (HOPE) for Alzheimer’s Act, a bill that would ensure patients and families have all the necessary information to fight the disease. The legislation was implemented by CMS in 2016. Senator King is also a strong proponent of strengthening telehealth, and is a cosponsor of the ECHO Act, which was enacted in 2016 and expands access to healthcare through telemedicine in rural and underserved areas.

 

Following SMAA’s symposium, Senator King will travel to Portland to celebrate PHA’s 75th anniversary at a celebration that will include staff members, community partners and approximately 300 residents of Sagamore Village as well as Portland city officials and Maine state legislators.