On march from Atlanta to D.C. Alzheimer's advocate hopes to bring more support, regulation to dementia caregivers

It took William Glass 41 years to find his passion, but he has more than made up for the lost time.

The Illinois native is in the middle of his second cross-country walk to raise awareness about Alzheimer's, this time focusing specifically on bringing support to caregivers and improving the standards for care facilities.

"We keep dumping all our money into finding that magic [cure] pill," he said. "Are we going to find that magic pill, or should we be looking at alternative methods, holistic approaches? Instead of assisted living facilities and Medicare units, how about we have living facilities where people go to live?"

Alzheimer's disease, a degenerative disorder, affects more than 5 million Americans along with their family and caregivers, according to the Alzheimer's Association. Glass, who now lives in Atlanta, decided to trek the 640 miles from the Georgia capital to Washington, D.C., to raise awareness. He plans to take 30 days for the trip, traveling through six states from Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and the District of Columbia on his "Until a Cure" campaign; he stopped in Concord on Wednesday, July 19.

But the advocate said he didn't want the focus to be on the feat itself but rather on the cause.

"People are always asking me about my walk; it's not about me," he said. "When it rains, I get wet; I just keep on walking. Why? Because when the going gets tough for caregivers, when the going gets tough for people with Alzheimer's, they can't just say, 'You know what? I'm going to take a break.' "

"I want to show people this is serious stuff, and I'm taking this walk and this campaign to show the American public we've got a serious problem on our hands, and I'm taking it seriously."

The motivation

Glass said he has many motivations for his cross-country walk, starting with the very personal and stretching to an almost social obligation. Glass' mother lives in an Atlanta nursing home, herself suffering from Alzheimer's disease. The walker said he wants to educate the public on the illness itself, its prevalence and devastation, as well as the resources out there for other caregivers who might just need a little support.

"The main platform of this walk is calling for our government to have higher standards, ethics, transparency and education for our long-term care facilities," he said. "And more support for our caregivers because our caregivers right now-these are people in-home and in facilities-they need more support. Our in-facility caregivers, they're barely making minimum wage, and they're taking care of human lives."

With a 20:1 ratio of patients to caregivers in many states, many find themselves overworked and overwhelmed, which can lead to an overuse of anti-psychotic drugs.

"The campaign is a lot of unspoken things, which we don't talk about in the general public," he said. "We don't talk about it. We try to keep it hush hush. We know it's going on, and I'm referring to anti-psychotic medications. We're using these medications to manage instead of letting these people in nursing facilities live."

The first time around

This isn't the first time Glass has hiked cross-country for a purpose. In August 2013 he began a 66-day journey from Chicago to Atlanta on a walk he dubbed "Flowers for Mom." That 750-mile trek through six states worked to raise money for the Alzheimer's Association and bring awareness to the disease.

Glass met with different organization chapters and local public officials along the way.

"It is truly admirable what Mr. Glass is doing," Alzheimer's Foundation of America founder and board chair Bert E. Brodsky said in a release. "We need to increase awareness of this debilitating disease while eliminating the stigma that goes with it. We appreciate William's efforts. It is a daring task. The more voices are heard, the more we can make a difference and, hopefully, reach the goal of the National Plan to Address Alzheimer's Disease, which is to find a cure by 2025."

Glass said that first experience really opened his eyes to the true state of dementia, Alzheimer's and long-term care facilities in the country.

"I was so green," he said. "I was walking around going, 'Hey, Alzheimer's, let's raise awareness. Let's find a cure.' And we're so far from the cure. I just learned so much about Alzheimer's that until a cure, which may not even happen, there is so much going on right now. The journey had just begun."

Addressing the here and now

This time around, Glass said he's focusing more on what we can do in the meantime, before a cure comes along. He wants to spread the word that there is support out there for caretakers; both the Alzheimer's Association and Alzheimer's Foundation have free help lines.

"I've called them at 3 in the morning to just vent for an hour," Glass said. "They're skilled. They're certified. They're trained caregivers themselves. They're not going to answer all your questions, but they are there for support. We all need support, and there's so little support given on this."

Glass also said he hopes to raise some awareness on the use of anti-psychotic drugs in the care of dementia patients. He said he thinks facilities tend to overmedicate people with Alzheimer's, which can lead to a loss in quality of life or possibly even life itself.

On his journey through Charlotte, he spoke to two gentlemen with relatives who went to nursing homes while they were still medium to high functioning, and within a few weeks they had died.

"I listen to stories; that's what I do," Glass said. "I'm not completely against anti-psychotics. There is a use for anti-psychotics in certain individuals in certain circumstances. But my thing is, if I'm walking, and I get a rock in my shoe, I'm not going to take an anti-psychotic to calm me down. I'm not going to take morphine. I'm going to stop and take the rock out.

"Then if it hurts, I go and take some Tylenol, and if it still hurts I might go to something else. Victims of Alzheimer's can't tell us 'I'm itchy,' or 'I'm wet. I need to be changed.' They can't tell us that, so they act out in agitation."

A walk in progress

So far on his journey, Glass said he's had a few rough spots. It rained the first few days, which left him with some feet issues as his skin began to prune and blister. His legs also blistered in the hot son, though Academy Sports at Concord Mills gave him a pair of white leggings to help protect his skin.

"To get my 20 miles in I walked until 4 in the morning one morning," he said. "Painful, yeah, but [caregivers] can't take a break. If they can't take a break, I can't take a break."

Gas stations tend to be his go-to, Glass said, downing sugary drinks and salty snacks to keep up his energy. He also said several hotels-including the Hampton Inn in Concord-will occasionally let him snag some breakfast and update his social media accounts on their wireless. Fire stations, such as Firehouse No. 4 in Charlotte, have also offered up a bed and hot shower, which allows Glass to put up his tent for the night.

Along the way Glass said he's heard some incredible stories-one of the reasons he opted to walk instead of bike or some other form of transportation. He told of the woman in Georgia he met a convenience store who went home and returned with a cool cloth for his neck. He told of an older man he ran into at a UPS store who asked him to witness the signing of his will, then later donated a sizeable amount of money to dementia caregivers.

"People are out there, and they want to help," Glass said. I have inspiring stories like that every single day. You never know who you're going to bump into, who you're going to walk into. So many people out there, they want to help. They want to do something, they just don't know how."

To the White House

Once Glass gets to Washington, he hopes to speak to President Donald Trump-or anyone who will listen. He wants to talk with them about higher education, higher training, higher ethics, higher standards and higher transparency in long-term care facilities. He also hopes to achieve more support for in-home and facility caregivers as well as more regulation and restrictions on the use of anti-psychotics.

In the long term, Glass said he hopes to open his own life facility and personal care home in the next few years. The center will also have a higher education component to it, he said, looking at how more knowledge can arm caregivers for the tasks they face.

"I'm 41, and I've now found my passion in life," he said. "I foresee an institute of higher learning, of realizing what we do now instead of looking for that big magic pill."