As part of our “Women on Wednesdays” series, please join the Women & Politics Institute and AARP for a virtual conversation with Nancy LeaMond, Executive Vice President and Chief Advocacy & Engagement Officer at AARP, and Susan Reinhard, Senior Vice President and Director of the AARP Public Policy Institute, as they discuss critical issues in family caregiving and the pressures facing women of every generation with Representatives Debbie Dingell (D-MI) and Jen Kiggans (R-VA), congressional co-chairs of the bi-partisan Assisting Caregivers Today (ACT) Caucus. WPI Executive Director Betsy Fischer Martin will facilitate the conversation.

AARP recently released its Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS) Scorecard, which finds that more than three years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, care provided in the U.S. for older adults and people with disabilities is painfully inadequate, with major gaps persisting in every state, especially related to support for family caregivers, the long-term care workforce, equity in nursing homes, and emergency preparedness.

Nancy LeaMond currently serves as AARP’s executive vice president and chief advocacy and engagement officer. She leads government relations and campaigns for AARP and oversees their public education and outreach initiatives designed to help Americans take charge of their health and better plan, work, and save for retirement.

Prior to coming to AARP, she served as the chief of staff and assistant U.S. trade representative for congressional affairs at the Office of the United States Trade Representative. She was formerly CEO/President for five years of the Congressional Economic Leadership Institute, a nonprofit and nonpartisan forum for education and dialogue with members of Congress on economic competitiveness and trade issues.

She holds a bachelor's degree from Smith College and a master's degree in public policy and city planning from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

ABOUT SUSAN REINHARD
Susan C. Reinhard is a senior vice president at AARP, directing its Public Policy Institute (PPI), the focal point for public policy research and analysis at the state, federal, and international levels. She leads PPI's Family Caregiving Initiatives and also serves as the chief strategist for the Center to Champion Nursing in America.

Previously, she served as professor and co-director of Rutgers Center for State Health Policy. As deputy commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, Reinhard led the development of policies and nationally recognized programs for family caregiving, consumer choice, and community-based care options. She is a former faculty member at the Rutgers College of Nursing, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, the Gerontological Society of America and the Salzburg Global Forum.

She holds a master’s degree in nursing from the University of Cincinnati and a PhD in sociology from Rutgers University.

ABOUT REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI)
Congresswoman Debbie Dingell represents Michigan’s 6th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. She is a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee and the Natural Resources Committee, where she leads on critical issues including affordable and accessible health care, clean energy and water, domestic manufacturing and supply chain resilience, and protecting our wildlife and natural resources.

Before being elected to Congress, Dingell worked in the auto industry for over three decades, where she was President of the General Motors (GM) Foundation and a senior executive responsible for public affairs. She was also Chairman of the Wayne State University (WSU) Board of Governors. She chaired the Michigan Infant Mortality Task Force, the Children’s Leadership Council of Michigan, the Early Childhood Investment Corporation, the Baby Your Baby public education campaign that reduced infant mortality rates in Michigan, and has served on the board of Michigan’s Children. She is a founder and former chair of the National Women’s Health Resource Center and the Children's Inn at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

She holds both a B.S.F.S. in Foreign Services and an M.S. in Liberal Studies from Georgetown University.

ABOUT REP. JEN KIGGANS (R-VA)
Congresswoman Jen Kiggans represents Virginia’s Second Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, which includes Virginia Beach, the Eastern Shore, part of Chesapeake and Southampton, Isle of Wight, Suffolk, and Franklin City.

Prior to serving Virginians in public office, Kiggans served as a helicopter pilot in the U.S. Navy and worked in our nation’s healthcare system as a Geriatric Nurse Practitioner, serving America’s aging population. Kiggans was winged as a Naval Aviator in 1995. She served our nation for a total of 10 years as a helicopter pilot flying H-46 and H-3 helicopters, completing two deployments to the Persian Gulf.

She served three sessions in the Virginia State Senate, where she successfully championed legislation to establish a Military Spouse Liaison and advocated for patients, families, and caregivers in long-term care facilities.

A graduate of Old Dominion University’s Nursing School and Vanderbilt University’s Nurse Practitioner program, Kiggans has worked in several long-term care and nursing facilities in Virginia Beach and Norfolk in addition to serving as a primary care provider for a small private practice in Virginia Beach.

Betsy Fischer Martin is an Emmy-winning journalist and former TV news executive. Currently, she is the Executive Director of the Women & Politics Institute at American University and a faculty member in the School of Public Affairs, where she teaches courses on campaigns and elections. During her earlier career in television news, she spent 23 years at NBC News serving as the longtime Executive Producer of Meet the Press with Tim Russert and as the Managing Editor of NBC News Political Programming.

A native of New Orleans, Fischer Martin did her undergraduate and graduate work at American University in Washington, DC. She is a cum laude graduate of their School of Public Affairs and earned a master’s degree in Broadcast Journalism from the AU School of Communication.

“Women On Wednesdays”: Meeting the Challenges of Family Caregivers - No Matter What The Age