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Sales of The MIND Center's "Ride with MIND" Mississippi specialty car tag support Alzheimer's disease research and clinical care.

New 'Ride with MIND' car tag supports Alzheimer’s awareness, research

Published on Monday, August 26, 2019

By: Karen Bascom

Specialty car tags let Mississippians show their support for causes they hold dear. With 207,000 Mississippians providing care for loved ones with Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia, it is time for a tag that shows they “Ride with MIND.”

The MIND Center at the University of Mississippi Medical Center has created a distinctive license plate benefiting Alzheimer’s research and clinical care.

Through fundraising efforts, The MIND Center has raised enough money to start producing the tag in conjunction with the Mississippi Department of Revenue, but needs vehicles to put them on.

“In particular, we are looking for people to nominate others to receive a tag, including caregivers for people with Alzheimer’s or dementia, or who otherwise support Alzheimer’s patients,” said Melissa Robinson, major gifts officer for The MIND Center.

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, in 2019 about 55,000 Mississippians have Alzheimer’s disease, and an additional 10,000 people will develop the disease by 2025. In the state, family and friends provide nearly $3 billion worth of unpaid care for their loved ones with Alzheimer’s each year.

Through The MIND Center’s website, people can either purchase the specialty car tag for themselves or nominate someone to receive complimentary tag.

Members of the Reservoir Fire Department, including Quinton Robertson, back row center, are all smiles at the 2017 Brawn and Bubbles 5K benefiting The MIND Center. Robertson had the idea to create a Mississippi car tag supporting Alzheimer's after the death of his father from the disease. — Members of the Reservoir Fire Department, including Quinton Robertson, back row center, are all smiles at the 2017 Brawn and Bubbles 5K benefiting The MIND Center. Robertson had the idea to create a Mississippi car tag supporting Alzheimer's after his father died from the disease.

The tag, emblazoned with The MIND Center’s logo and “Stop Alzheimer’s,” originated with an idea from Reservoir Fire Department firefighter Quinton Robertson of Ridgeland, who wanted to honor his father who died from Alzheimer’s disease. A bill to approve the distinctive tag benefiting THE MIND Center received a unanimous yes-vote from the Mississippi Legislature.

“The amazing work being done at the MIND Center for Mississippians suffering from Alzheimer’s made it the perfect choice for tag proceeds,” Robertson said. “The high-caliber support they provide is valuable to any family or caregiver.”

The MIND Center is also hosting a “Coffee, Cookies and Car Tag” event August 30 from 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. in the old School of Medicine hallway. UMMC employees and students can come to the table to buy, donate or nominate someone else to receive a tag.

The tag costs $36 annually, $29 of which will support Alzheimer’s research and care. To apply or nominate someone for the tag, applicants must have the recipients current tag number.

The MIND (Memory Impairment and Neurodegenerative Dementia) Center at UMMC leads a collaborative study that combines pioneering research, brain imaging and genetic technologies to make discoveries about Alzheimer's, which affects 5.8 million Americans and more than 40 million people worldwide. The MIND Center Clinic offers diagnosis and outpatient treatment for patients with memory loss and cognitive impairment. The MIND Center is leading some of the most comprehensive studies of dementia risk ever undertaken with hopes to find new treatments and methods of prevention for these devastating diseases.