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State Rep. Wants To Ease Paperwork Burden For Illinois Alzheimer's Patients

(CBS) -- An Illinois lawmaker is working on ways to help Alzheimer's patients through the paperwork maze.

State Representative Robin Gable from Evanston says witnesses at her committee hearing explained how hard it can be to get the help they're entitled to.

"Filling out paperwork for long-term care insurance and having it be denied because they didn't fill out the paperwork correctly, so people need some assistance with just maneuvering through the system," said Gable.

Alzheimer's patient Patty Hauffman told the committee that while she can no longer drive, she could contribute to the community if she could just get a ride to the community center.

And Cathy Perkowitz told the committee of her chagrin when the psychologist she retained to help her two teens reported her to the Department of Children and Family Services because she was letting them live in a home with an Alzheimer's patient: their father.

State Rep. Wants To Ease Paperwork Burden For Illinois Alzheimer's Patiens

Gable's human services committee is updating the state's three year Alzheimer's plan and considering legislation to ease the burden for caregivers of 210,000 in Illinois with symptoms of dementia.

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