After being the primary caregiver to his wife of 30 years before she passed away from disease in 2021, Bob Scott wasn’t sure he ever wanted to have anything to do with the letters “ALS” again. But a burning in his gut told him that he should do something to help; that he could try and make it all a bit more “fair.”

In recognition of National Volunteer Week, we are shining a spotlight on some of The ALS Association’s amazing, dedicated volunteers, and highlighting the incredible work they are doing to support our mission.

We spoke with Kara Nett Hinkley, vice president of state policy at The ALS Association to learn more about the role that state advocacy can play in the fight against ALS.

It is on us—those who have experienced this disease firsthand, those of us who are living with the disease, those who are serving as caregivers—to determine the value and quality of life with ALS. We need to stand up and object to discriminatory assessments that overlook the most important things that give life value.

The Institute of Clinical and Economic Review, commonly known as ICER, has opened a review of AMX0035 to determine the cost-effectiveness of the drug. The ALS Association is committed to making sure ICER’s review does not discriminate against people with ALS and that its analysis does not prevent people with ALS from accessing promising treatments.

Before his diagnosis, John Russo had two fears: the first was getting attacked by a shark while fishing at night, and the second was being diagnosed with ALS. He managed to avoid the sharks, but not ALS. After taking a few weeks to process what the rest of his life would look like, he realized he needed to face down his biggest fear and keep going. He found a new purpose: making life better for people living with ALS across the country, as well as deepening research efforts to learn more about the disease.

With many ALS drugs now in phase II and III clinical trials, The ALS Association is considering strategies that will ensure any new treatments are accessible and affordable. We used our second ALS Roundtable to explore several important questions for our community including: How will these new therapies get paid for? How can people access to them? How long will it take to get access?

Every two years, hundreds of ALS health care professionals come together to discuss new trends, share best practices and guidelines, exchange ideas and successes, and talk about challenges and potential solutions. To capture the collaborative power of the 2018 event in Fort Worth, Texas – our largest-ever Clinical Conference, with more than 500 attendees – we put together a short video highlight reel.

At our most recent clinical conference, we honored Frances (Fran) McClellan with the Lawrence A. Rand Prize. The award recognizes the courage, passion, integrity, and commitment of people serving the ALS community as volunteers, health care professionals, educators, communicators, or in other ways contributing to the quality of life of people living with ALS. It was established by Lawrence Rand, a former chairman of the Association’s Board of Trustees who played a major role in laying the cornerstone of what is now The ALS Association.

We had the pleasure of joining ALS scientists, clinicians, health care professionals, industry and advocacy partners, and, most importantly, people with ALS and their families at the annual events hosted by the International Alliance of ALS/MND Associations and the MND Association last month. It’s always a great opportunity to come together and learn from each other.