| No Images? Click here   We spent today in Des Moines, where Mollie Reilly met Paula A. Martinez. Paula, 63, was born and raised in Des Moines, and has worked as a judicial assistant in the city for over 20 years.“We’ve worked hard to be a welcoming city, a welcoming state, and it’s my heart and my soul,” she said of her hometown. “When you’re in Iowa, this is your home, regardless of it’s for a short-term or a long-term."Paula, who has been a union member for decades, is heavily involved with her local AFSCME council, and spends much of her free time doing outreach — helping register voters, bringing people to the polls, and making sure her neighbors are aware of the key issues facing their community. She said she hopes she can inspire more women to get involved in union leadership.“Latino women aren’t leaders in the union as much as they should be, because I think we have a lot to contribute,” she said.   The aging population is fueling what some health experts call an “Alzheimer’s tsunami” — for which Iowa, and the rest of the nation, is ill-prepared. Unless a cure is found, an estimated 7.1 million Americans age 65 and older could have Alzheimer’s by 2025. The number of Iowans who are 65 and older is higher than the national average.Anne Scherer, a retired accountant, has been running the numbers to try to determine what the future holds for her and her husband, Alan, 76, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at age 68.Alan is physically healthy, but he needs help with everyday chores such as bathing and getting dressed. “Nothing is independent,” Anne said.Many caregivers worry about affording nursing home care for patients if Medicaid funding continues to tighten in Iowa. HuffPost partnered with IowaWatch to investigate.
 The athlete told HuffPost about starting her gymnastics career in Iowa and why her hometown is so special. We’ll be back in Missouri tomorrow. Catch our bus at Union Station, or join us at the Diastole Scholar's Center for a discussion about transgender troops.
 Join us virtually on the bus! Ride along with our editor-in-chief, Lydia Polgreen, as she dispatches news from the road via Facebook Messenger.  Learn more about what it really means to be an American by signing up for our morning news brief.Did a friend send you this? Subscribe here. For more politics news, check out our HuffPost Politics email.©2017 HuffPost | 770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003 |
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