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The West Virginia Girls Rise Up program headed to Morgantown this week! Wednesday’s stop at North Elementary in Morgantown featured special guests from WVU Gymnastics. Senator Capito began the program in 2015 to instill confidence in young West Virginia women and empower them to be strong, confident, and kind female leaders.

“Empowering the next generation of female leaders right here in West Virginia is something that is so important to me, which is why I created the Girls Rise Up program,” Senator Capito said. “I was excited to partner once again with the strong and talented gymnasts at WVU to introduce the program to students at North Elementary. And what better time to do it than during Women’s History Month? As I travel across West Virginia and introduce this program to other students in our state, I am always so impressed by the incredible potential these girls and young women have. Today was no exception. There is no question that these students are dedicated to setting new goals and achieving them, and I can’t wait to see what they accomplish.” Learn more about the program in the video above.

In a continuing effort to ensure access to rural healthcare in the Mountain State, Senator Capito announced a grant of nearly $2 Million awarded through the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Health Center Program for Camden-on-Gauley Medical Center. “Community health centers are a vital component of West Virginia’s health care system,” Senator Capito said. “These facilities help provide integrated primary health care services in rural communities that may be far from hospitals or other facilities." The funding will help residents of Webster County and the surrounding area by providing primary health care services. "I have been a strong supporter of this program in Congress through my role on the Appropriations Committee, and I will continue working to ensure West Virginians have access to quality health care no matter where they live,” Concluded Senator Capito

Dr. Marie Bernard, Deputy Director of the National Institutes of Health visited West Virginia this week at the invitation of Senator Capito, who serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee and sits on the Health Subcommittee. Senator Capito and Dr. Bernard toured the WVU Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute learning about WVU’s cutting-edge Alzheimer’s research. They also discussed grant opportunities and ongoing projects around the country with WVU researchers.

Speaking with members of the WVU medical community, Bernard explained increased federal programming focused on Alzheimer’s. The federal effort to find a cure for the disease was ramped up in 2011 when a goal prevention or cure was by 2025 by the National Alzheimer’s Project Act. Four years later the Alzheimer’s Accountability Act of 2015 directed NIH to develop budget projections to take advantage of scientific research opportunities. “It’s a little daunting setting a goal for a cure by 2025, because you can’t predict where the science will be," admitted Dr Bernard. "But I’m encouraged by the real response of the scientific community." Dr. Bernard went on to cite the leaps in federal funding for Alzheimer's research, going from about $50 million in 2012 to $425 million in 2018. Senator Capito said that Congress will continue to fund Alzheimer’s research, adding “My personal experience with Alzheimer’s is what really drives my curiosity and my will to find a cure.”

The Register-Herald: West Virginia to receive more than $14.6 million to fight opioid crisis: Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., applauded the funding, “the drug epidemic has devastated so many families and so many communities across West Virginia, and federal funding like this plays an important role in helping us fight back against the opioid crisis.”