10/28/14

Daniel Iszak
Rhetorical Analysis of Artifacts

I contacted the CEO of the Alzheimers Association and asked her to send me five artifacts that
are important within her job. She listed these five documents.
- Their mission Statement
- Strategic Plan
- Annual goals
- 2014 Alzheimers Facts & Figures (each year's)
- A poster that they have up on the wall in their offices that says (and I paraphrase):
"You can remember the day you supported Alzheimer's research, or remember nothing at all"
Unfortunately I have not received any of these documents from them, but have been able to find
some of them on their website.
Their mission statement to eliminate Alzheimers disease through advancement of research; to
provide and enhance care and support for all affected; and to reduce risk of dementia through the
promotion of brain health
Through this statement, the Alzheimers Association is making an argument that they are willing
to do what-ever it takes to eliminate Alzheimers all together, to promote brain health and reduce
the risk of dementia. They are mostly focused on people with Alzheimers, and their families/
caregivers, but also on everyone else who might have a risk of getting it.
The Alzheimers Association has a lot of ethos, being the worlds leading voluntary health
organization dealing with Alzheimers and dementia. They run 24 hour helplines, provide
families with caregivers when needed, provide over 20,000 educational programs, and offer
online information in 15 different languages.
It is not so much a persuasive argument as it is informative. Their argument are logical and can
be interpreted by anyone who reads it.
Something that caught my attention was, how they work from a multi-dimensional perspective
with research, advocacy, and care and support on both local, national, and global level.
The next document I found of particular interest due to its important message.
The CEO told me they have a poster hanging on the wall in their office with the text "You can
remember the day you supported Alzheimer's research, or remember nothing at all"
The argument made by this poster is that you either remember the day you started to support
research on Alzheimers or you dont, because you have Alzheimers, or dementia.
People who have the slightest hum about what Alzheimers is, know this argument is true and
have great ethos. There is plenty of sufficient facts that serves as evidence on their website, in
books, and medical journals about the effects of the disease, and exactly how true this argument
is.
The only annual report I could get my hands on is from 2013 and includes some of their goals for
that year. To increase awareness, advancing public policy, enhancing care and support,
accelerating research, and growing revenue to meet mission goals.

10/28/14
Daniel Iszak
Rhetorical Analysis of Artifacts

The one I got caught up on was their goals and achievements about advancing public policies
I found a section within their goals where they claim that, they work diligently to make
Alzheimers a national priority while speaking up for the needs and rights of people with
Alzheimers and their family.