More than 150 Illinois citizens rallied together to make their voices heard in Springfield on Wednesday. One of hundreds of advocates was Deanne Alexander of Oak Park. Alexander recently lost her mother after a three year long battle with Alzheimer’s disease, a diagnosis that led her to the Alzheimer’s Association. “I wanted to be a part of an organization that would help my family get through the devastation of her diagnosis.” Deanne said. “It just made me stronger, realizing that so many others were dealing with the same problems. It gave me a purpose and direction towards working to help find a cure. I believe through numbers, comes power.” It’s with that power she joined advocates from across the state to lobby for SB 1624 and HB 3392. Legislation which, if passed, would protect the growing number of long-term care residents currently being abandoned in hospital psychiatric units and provide the necessary penalties to enforce legally-required staffing levels, saving lives and greatly enhancing quality of life for long-term care residents. “It is not only criminally inhumane to make the population in long-term care facilities live with understaffed caregiving, but the idea that a patient that might be unstable can be admitted into the hospital’s psych ward, and then be illegally discharged from their facility is wrong. This leaves them stranded in the hospital, basically homeless,” Alexander said. “Over one third of Illinois nursing homes voluntarily reported to the state of Illinois that they we understaffed.” The 2017 Illinois Action Summit, hosted by the Alzheimer’s Association- Greater Illinois Chapter, gave Advocates a chance to meet with their elected lawmakers to help draw critical attention to the sixth deadliest disease in America. More than 220,000 Illinois residents are living with the disease.