Q: Your recent testimony before the Senate Aging Committee on the topic of Alzheimer’s seemed especially earnest. True?
A: Helping older Americans who have Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias maintain their dignity and independence is central to our mission. The Administration on Aging strongly supports embedding dementia practice into state long-term services and supports.
Q: What’s AOA’s involvement?
A: AOA works with [federal] research agencies to determine the universe of interventions that are suitable for … community-based settings, where about three-quarters of persons with dementia live.
Q: What types of caregiver interventions are states testing?
A: One being translated by six states is the New York University Caregiver Intervention, a support program that significantly delayed institutionalization of persons with dementia by providing education, support and counseling to spousal caregivers. The average institutional delay was 557 days. (That) would result in an average savings of $121,983 in institutional costs per person.
Q: And this could free up government funds for other uses?
A: Early results indicate that [the six states’] projects are achieving some of the outcomes found in the original study. There are numerous other examples of success.
From the January 01, 2011 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News
