WASHINGTON — Sargent Shriver once walked the halls of Congress pressing senators and members of the House of Representatives for more money for the Peace Corps, Head Start and Job Corps, his daughter, Maria Shriver, testified Wednesday.
“He knew every senator and every congressman by name. He knew their careers, their interests, their politics and, of course, their soft spots,” California’s first lady said. Now, at 93, the one-time adviser to two presidents doesn’t remember his daughter, thanks to the ravages of Alzheimer’s, the disease that’s left him entirely dependent on others.
It was for her dad and millions like him that Shriver testified Wednesday, pushing for increased attention to Alzheimer’s in the wake of a new report that suggests the disease “could very easily surpass even the current economic crisis in the damage it inflicts on individuals and our economy.”
The report by the Alzheimer’s Study Group projects that Alzheimer’s-related costs to Medicare and Medicaid alone will top more than $1 trillion annually by 2050.
“We have to put Alzheimer’s on the front burner, because if we don’t, Alzheimer’s will not only devour our memories, it will cripple our families, devastate our health care system and decimate the legacy of our generation,” Shriver told the Senate’s Special Committee on Aging.
The study group — convened by Congress in 2007 — recommends creating what it called an Alzheimer’s Solutions Project to accelerate and focus national efforts, including an emphasis on research into preventing Alzheimer’s.
