Paul Tonko: “Absolutely. You talked too about the caregivers, and it is theorized that nearly 60 percent of those caregivers who…”

“Absolutely. You talked too about the caregivers, and it is theorized that nearly 60 percent of those caregivers who respond to Alzheimer's patients and those living with dementia are impacted with tremendous emotional stress, and they rate that as high or very high. And then of that 60 percent of caregivers, literally one-third is suffering from some order of depression. So the impacts here continue to sprawl and cause greater expenditure for those who are doing their good deed, responding to the needs of loved ones or friends or the patient population out there, and then they are impacted by this order of depression. {time} 1800 It is assumed that has added additional cost to the system of our health care drain, and that is at $9.3 billion. That estimate goes over the year of 2013, so it is very easy to begin to do the calculus here on the cost of status quo, of not responding in deep measure or in wise capacity, so as to put together the sort of research that we require and the respite relief programs that are essential. Having talked to a number of caregivers during my tenure here, now closing out my third term, but before that in the State Assembly of New York, I would routinely hear from folks who would deal with these situations, these family issues in ways that they never imagined would be possible.…”