[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 93 (Wednesday, June 6, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H4780-H4781]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  RAISING AWARENESS OF ALOPECIA AREATA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I would like to raise awareness of 
alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease that causes hair loss on the 
scalp and other areas of the body.
  Today, close to 7 million Americans live with alopecia areata, 
including over 1 million children under the age of 12.
  Alopecia areata is a greatly unpredictable disease and currently has 
no known cause and no known cure.
  Sadly, this disease often presents itself at an early age, with small 
round, smooth patches appearing on the head.
  With limited treatment options, many individuals use wigs, which come 
at a significant out-of-pocket cost.
  It was one of my constituents, Deirdre Nero, an alopecia patient, who

[[Page H4781]]

first brought to my attention the challenges facing the alopecia areata 
community. That is why I have been proud to stand with my colleague, 
Congressman Jim McGovern, and support H.R. 2925, legislation to provide 
coverage for wigs as durable medical equipment under the Medicare 
program.
  Mr. Speaker, I encourage all of my colleagues to stand with alopecia 
areata patients across the Nation and cosponsor this commonsense and 
bipartisan measure.

                              {time}  1015


                  Honoring South Floridian Larry Adams

  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a remarkable 
south Floridian, Mr. Larry Adams.
  Born in West Palm Beach in 1927 to a family of limited means, Larry 
understood from a young age the importance of getting an education. 
Larry also possessed a strong desire to serve his country during World 
War II. He enrolled at Purdue University as a U.S. Air Corps Cadet and 
served in the U.S. Air Force in Germany from 1945 to 1946.
  Upon returning home, Larry attended my alma mater, the University of 
Miami--Go Canes--where he excelled at both sports and academics, 
including pitching for our university's baseball team.
  In 1949, Larry began a 42-year career at Florida Power & Light 
Company--42 years. Starting from the bottom, he worked his way from 
being a lineman digging ditches and climbing power poles to being a 
vice president of the State's largest electric utility.
  While excelling at his difficult job duties, Larry reenrolled in 
school while working for the company and earned a degree from Harvard 
Graduate Business School's Advanced Management Program for executives.
  Never one to limit himself, Larry also devoted extraordinary time and 
effort to his community, serving in over 36 local, regional, State, and 
national community service organizations, which earned him many 
accolades.
  Larry also played a founding and integral role in the development of 
management systems to improve the quality and cost of goods and 
services produced throughout our great Nation.
  In 1987, President Ronald Reagan requested that certain U.S. 
corporations provide a team of quality management experts whose mission 
was to create an American Quality Management Award for Excellence 
program. Florida Power & Light assigned Larry to work under the 
direction of the U.S. Commerce Secretary and the National Institute of 
Standards and Technology, where Larry co-chaired one of four teams of 
professional quality improvement management experts provided by 
American businesses.
  Together, they developed and secured Presidential and congressional 
approval to create the Malcolm Baldrige Foundation Award to empower 
U.S. organizations to reach their goals and become significantly more 
competitive in national and international trade and commerce. Today, 
the now popular Sterling Management program is a derivative of the 
Baldrige program and is managed by the Governors of each of our 50 
States.
  At the age of 89, Larry became the recipient of the 2016 Florida 
Governor's Sterling Ambassador of the Year Award for successfully 
coaching businesses, charitable, and government agencies to learn and 
deploy Sterling and Malcolm Baldrige management systems during the past 
25 years.
  Larry has had an extraordinary life, which he has enjoyed with his 
wife of over 65 years, Betsy Gregg Adams. Together, they have three 
sons: Larry, Jr., an architect; Ron, a trial attorney; and Thad, a 
commercial realtor.
  Congratulations to my friend, Larry Adams, for a remarkable life well 
lived.

                          ____________________