Two not-for-profit organisations, The McCusker Foundation for Alzheimer’s Research and Alzheimer’s Australia WA, have teamed up to launch a campaign to assist Alzheimer’s and dementia sufferers.
Two not-for-profit organisations, The McCusker Foundation for Alzheimer’s Research and Alzheimer’s Australia WA, have teamed up to launch a campaign to assist Alzheimer’s and dementia sufferers.
The campaign, ‘‘Remember Me", was launched at Curtin University, and aims to raise $10 million for those living with dementia by appealing to businesses and community members for support.
Campaign manager Margaret Haydon said it was rare for two large not-for-profits to come together to raise funds rather than being in competition.
State Governor Dr Ken Michael AC also recognised this and congratulated the two organisations.
‘‘For many years the community of Western Australia has been calling for organisations such as these to pool their resources,’’ Dr Michael said in a statement.
Alzheimer’s WA chief executive Frank Schaper said the two organisations came together out of convenience and strategy.
‘‘We have had an interest in [uniting with the McCusker Foundation] for some years,’’ Mr Schaper said.
‘‘We had come together with other groups for some small projects but we wanted something more substantial, so we decided that it was strategically the best thing to do and came together.
‘‘The process was fairly quick and painless; after speaking with Malcolm [McCusker] about the proposition, the whole thing came together in about two and a half weeks.’’
McCusker Foundation chair Malcolm McCusker agreed that the combination would be beneficial.
"There is a common objective, although [Alzheimer’s WA] is looking at care rather than research,’’ Mr McCusker said.
‘‘The fact is, sometimes people may want to put money towards research, but confuse the two organisations, and give the money to [Alzheimer’s WA], when the fact is that they don’t do research, and vice versa, so we spoke with them and proposed to join forces for the campaign, dividing funds raised on a 50-50 basis.’’
Although the organisations have only agreed to work together for the next two years, both plan to consider a longer-term partnership.
Alzheimer’s WA chairman Craig Masarei said that funds raised through the campaign will be shared equally by the two organisations.
Alzheimer’s WA will use its share of the funds to assist with the construction of Australia’s first Centre of Excellence in Dementia Care on the Bentley campus of Curtin, while the McCusker Foundation plans to invest its share, drawing out money to fund research into finding a cure for Alzheimer’s and developing effective treatments for people already suffering from the disease.
Mr McCusker, who began research with his father over 17 years ago when his mother was diagnosed with dementia, said that research and support were important because of the disease’s ability to tear apart the lives of sufferers and their families.
According to Mr Schaper, 22,000 Western Australians are currently living with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, with this figure expected to rise to nearly 80,000 by mid-century.
He also stressed the fact that the time is looming where we won’t be able to facilitate care financially and physically.
