Sen. Mark Warner’s Work to Combat Alzheimer’s Disease
Like too many Americans, Sen. Warner has personal experience with Alzheimer’s — his mother, Marjorie, struggled with Alzheimer’s for 11 years, not speaking at all during nine of those years. Her battle with the disease shaped Warner as a legislator, molding him into someone ready and willing to fight to improve access to health care for the most vulnerable among us.
Warner helped launch SeniorNavigator, a resource to help families navigate difficult decisions around long-term care services and the Virginia Health Care Foundation, which aims to improve access to care for underserved and underinsured Virginians. As governor, he focused on increasing protections for those in adult care.
Warner lost his mother to Alzheimer’s, but her memory continues to motivate him and guide his work in the Senate. He serves as a co-chair of the bi-partisan Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer’s Disease, and continues to advocate for increased funding to find a cure in every Fiscal Year budget. Warner also introduced the bi-partisan Care Planning Act of 2013, after the difficulty his own family had in developing a care plan for his mother. He does not want anyone to experience the regret he did in not having a conversation with her earlier about her care preferences. The Obama administration finalized a bill similar to that legislation in 2016, which sought to increase the number of doctors having detailed end of life care conversations with their patients and their families.
Warner understands the toll that Alzheimer’s can have on individuals and on their families and caregivers, and will continue to fight for funding to find a cure.