Maria Shriver Talks Candidly About Alzheimer’s Disease

By Lucy Danziger, Editor-in-Chief,SELF magazine, author,The Nine Rooms of Happiness

Maria Shriver generously got on the phone with me today to talk about her heartfelt cause, the cure for Alzheimer's. Her father suffers from it, and as Time magazine points out, more than half of all Americans report knowing someone who has it, and for 30 percent, the sufferer is a direct family member.

Related: 20 Superfoods for Weight Loss

Maria's report on the disease is being released today. In it, she talks about how along with the growing number of patients, there is a corresponding community of family members who also feel pain, both emotionally and financially, in terms of stress and lost wages, as they often have to take time off in order to care for loved ones. Caregiving is especially a woman's problem, and Maria is calling on women to step up and get involved, since together we can make changes to try to make life easier on the families and the baby boomers for whom this will continue to be an ever-growing concern.

Related: Check out the food lover's guide to great skin

Maria explains that in the early days of her father's diagnosis, when she was newly first lady of California, she was unable to get involved the way she has today, although she did write a children's book to help parents and young children understand and talk about the disease. She also produced an Emmy-winning HBO special called The Alzheimer's Project last year. And she has grown more and more passionate about the cause through her work with the Women's Conference, taking place again this weekend in California. It's clear that women are taking the lead role as caretakers in this area, and we all need more support, emotionally and in every other way, as our parents replace our children in their need for "parenting" by us, and as we feel squeezed by the pull on our time. Maria has organized a March on Alzheimer's to be held Sunday, the 24th, in Long Beach, California; find out more and join if you can.

Here, our conversation, and what you can do to help, and get the support you need!

Maria Shriver:
I got involved when my dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. I didn't get involved then because he was diagnosed the month before Arnold ran for governor. And then my mom got sick and I was in the crunch that so many women experience. Then I got involved with this report on how women are changing the landscape in every way.

The women in the first Women's Conference told me, "I'm dying on the elder care, can you do something with that?" It really made sense to me that so many women were feeling this way. It's a natural nexus for women my age to be saying that our aging parents have become our concern.

Related: Get toned in just 20 minutes

Lucy: But parenting parents is complicated, right? They're independent and want to stay that way, and it's a good thing when they can!

MS:
Yes! You have to do it in very different way than you do with your kids. It's complex...they don't want it. It's a challenge. We are all feeling our way through.

LSD:
So what would you tell women today who are facing these issues?

MS:
That there is a lot of power that women aren't using. We need to vote for candidates who have smart platforms for helping women with elder care. We need to involve our bosses in the multiple roles we are engaged in. This is a baby boomer epidemic and it will be up to the baby boomer women to find a cure for it, and to help change how we cope with it.

Related: Simple vegetarian meals to try tonight

LSD: Empowerment...that is definitely what we tell women at SELF. To feel they are the architects of their destiny, but sometimes when the to-do list is a mile long, it's daunting. You want to give up the power and just feel like help is on the way!

MS:
Yes, it's daunting, but it's also reality, so then what? Women make 80 percent of the consumer decisions in this country, and they make the majority of the political decisions in this country. The only people who don't understand the power women have are women.

LSD:
So you're saying: You can use that power to make or break a politician or a company with your consumer dollars, your votes, your voice?

MS:
Yes! And you can bring together a whole team of women, your own team. You can work together. You are a mother and wife and daughter and you should find women on your team. And then empower them to help you.

Related: Hungry? We have 30 healthy snacks you should buy now


Support companies that support women. Ask: Do they have flexible work options? Do they support paid family leave? The only two states that have it are California and New Jersey....you need to write to your politician and ask, Do you support flexible work hours, health care laws and do you support the National Alzheimer's Act?

Women can move the needle in supporting companies that support issues they care about: education, social consciousness and ways to help women within communities, be it with Visa, Target, Safeway....

We support individuals who see themselves as architects of change. We call it being Minerva, the goddess of wisdom and industry.

LSD:
We can all channel our personal wisdom and industriousness to make change happen. We have the power!

To learn more about how you can get involved, check out Maria's report.

More From SELF:


Photo Credit: womensconference.org