The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Takes on Alzheimer’s

Maria Shriver, wife of United States California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose California Women’s Conference is the preeminent forum by, for, and about American women, is joining with the Alzheimer’s Association to release The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Takes on Alzheimer’s on October 15.

The Shriver Report is a groundbreaking, comprehensive examination of the impact of Alzheimer’s disease on American women as caregivers, advocates, and people living with the disease.

The Shriver Report will provide a pioneering and comprehensive examination of the Alzheimer’s experience in the United States as the first of 78 million baby boomers are entering their mid-60s, an Alzheimer’s tsunami is approaching, and it will impact women disproportionately.

Women are not only the majority of Alzheimer’s patients, they are also the overwhelming majority of caregivers for people living with Alzheimer’s and other dementias. This presents a huge and growing burden on millions of women as people living with the disease, as caregivers, and as half of the American work force.

Maria Shriver’s own father, Sargent Shriver, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2003.

“Alzheimer’s has had a profound impact on my family,” she said.

“The Alzheimer’s Association tells us as many as 5.3 million people, most of them women, are living with Alzheimer’s disease in our country and unless something is done, by 2050, it will impact up to 16 million families directly and millions more indirectly.

“We launched this edition of The Shriver Report to shine the spotlight on the fact that Alzheimer’s is a national epidemic that affects all of us, not just the elderly, and cuts across economic and age groups to have overpowering implications on all aspects of American life.”