Forum Highlight

Advocates travel far to paint Capitol Hill purple on Hill Day

At the 2025 Alzheimer’s Impact Movement (AIM) Advocacy Forum, advocates from all 50 states turned Capitol Hill purple to rally bipartisan support for legislation crucial to the Alzheimer’s community. No one traveled farther than advocates from Hawaii and Alaska.

For Debra Adams of Cordova, Alaska, her journey to becoming an advocate had an unexpected start. Adams is a high school teacher in a rural area of the state. Several years ago, she was in Washington, D.C., with her students on a government program trip. At the time, she was in the thick of caregiving for her husband who was living with dementia. While they were outside a Senate office building, Adams saw a big group of advocates in purple Alzheimer’s Association sashes.

“I walked up to one of them,” recalls Adams. “I didn’t know where they were from, and I just started crying and thanking them.”

Being in the right place at the right time continued for Adams. In 2022, while hiking the Appalachian Trail in Virginia, Association policy staff from Alaska reached out to see if she could attend the AIM Advocacy Forum because someone had to cancel at the last minute. Adams immediately agreed, traveling and arriving to Washington, D.C., in her hiking clothes, buying a few new outfits, and heading right into her first Advocacy Forum.

Debra Adams tells her story to Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).

In addition to attending her fourth Forum this week, Adams has also participated in Alaska’s State Advocacy Day in Juneau, even jumping in one year while coincidentally there with her students.

As Adams and her fellow Alaska advocates met with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) on Tuesday, they asked for her continued support in the fight against Alzheimer’s and all other dementia. “In Alaska, everyone knows someone [living with dementia],” Adams said. “I can name a dozen people in our community of 2,500 who have dementia.”

Adams shared updates on some mutual acquaintances with Murkowski and provided information about the latest policy priorities. Murkowski committed to continue standing up for those living with Alzheimer’s and dementia in Alaska and across the nation.

Murkowski has been a longtime champion for the cause, joining a bipartisan group of her colleagues to introduce the NAPA Reauthorization Act and the Alzheimer’s Accountability and Investment Act and cosponsoring bipartisan legislation including the BOLD Reauthorization Act and the Comprehensive Care for Alzheimer’s Act. Murkowski is also a member of the Senate Health, Energy, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, which has jurisdiction over many pieces of legislation that impact the Alzheimer’s and dementia community.

“When my husband was diagnosed, it was a death sentence,” Adams said. “I advocate because I don’t want my son to have to take care of me someday.”

Maria Lutz from Hawaii was diagnosed with younger-onset Alzheimer’s in February 2024. Shortly after, she and her husband, Chris, quickly made the decision to become Alzheimer’s advocates. But Maria’s commitment to helping others began decades earlier with her career in disaster response at the American Red Cross. When her symptoms began to interfere with her ability to continue working, she decided to retire in June 2023.

Advocates from Hawaii meet with Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii).

After a few months of tests, including a spinal tap, Maria and Chris felt fortunate to have access to specialists and testing without barriers that enabled a fairly smooth and speedy diagnosis. Now they’re both passionate about sharing their story to help improve access for others and ensure they feel empowered to seek a diagnosis.

During their meeting with Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Maria and Chris shared their story and urged him to support the Alzheimer’s Screening and Prevention (ASAP) Act. This critical bipartisan bill will create a pathway for Medicare coverage of Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved blood biomarker screening tests, accelerating access to blood biomarker tests and earlier detection of Alzheimer’s and other dementia.

As an undergraduate student at UC Berkeley double majoring in Neuroscience and Public Health, Mansa Devaki of Hawaii urged Schatz to support continued investment in Alzheimer’s and dementia research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

A member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and its Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, Schatz is influential in determining funding for Alzheimer’s and dementia research and other programs such as BOLD. Schatz told the Hawaii delegation that he’s committed to supporting the Alzheimer’s and dementia community.

Learn more about Alzheimer’s Association policy priorities and how you can take action today.

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