Ronald Reagan’s long goodbye helped raise awareness about Alzheimer’s disease, but it remains an illness of stigma and secrets.

John Goeller, 65, isn’t keeping it a secret. He has been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s and has gone public with the news. He and his wife, Gail, have been the “go-to” couple when people in the Inland Northwest needed information about everything senior citizen, because they published a well-regarded directory of resources for seniors.

The Goellers’ disclosure coincides with an awareness-raising campaign launched recently by the Alzheimer’s Association’s national group. The association’s president and CEO, Harry Johns, was in Spokane last week as part of the eighth annual Nancy Rockwell Gala, a fundraiser for the Inland Northwest chapter of the association. In 1999, Rockwell, a well-known child advocate who was in the early stages of the disease, died in a Palouse wheat field after getting lost on her way home from a health club. After the tragedy, her family worked to raise community awareness about the disease.

Johns believes our society is in the early learning stages when it comes to Alzheimer’s. He compares the level of understanding about Alzheimer’s to that of cancer awareness in 1974, when Betty Ford announced she had breast cancer. Her candor shocked the nation, but it also led more women to get mammograms and fueled momentum for more research.

Alzheimer’s needs a similar push. One in six women and one in 10 men who live to at least 55 will develop Alzheimer’s disease in their remaining lifetime, according to the national group’s recent publication: “2008 Alzheimer’s Facts and Figures.” It’s projected that by 2015, the disease will drain $27 billion in Medicaid costs and $189 billion in Medicare expenses.

Johns urges citizens to ask political candidates about their solutions to this looming health care crisis. More federal research money is needed, too, because of the disease’s potential burden on the federal budget.

In the meantime, the real heroes when it comes to Alzheimer’s are the victims and their families who speak openly about its physical, financial and emotional costs. In our community, the Rockwells and the Goellers are teaching us that true awareness of Alzheimer’s grows one courageous story at a time.