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Provides funds to states for development of innovative
and cost-effective programs that influence broader health
care systems and provide community-based services for those
with Alzheimer’s and their caregivers. The program
puts special emphasis on reaching underserved people such
as minorities, low-income persons and those living in rural/frontier
communities where culture and geography pose particular
challenges for Alzheimer treatment and care. The Alzheimer
State Matching Grants encourage states to test new ways
to meet the unique needs of people with Alzheimer’s
disease and their caregivers and to integrate successful
demonstrations into ongoing systems of care.
Lessons learned from these state innovations are being
widely shared and replicated. New York’s Dementia
Support Services Program addressed the needs of community-based,
developmentally disabled persons with dementia. There may
be 140,000 older adults (many under age 60) with developmental
disabilities affected by dementia. The initiative involved
partnerships between the Alzheimer’s Association,
the Association for Retired Citizens (ARC), the State University
at Albany and numerous state and local governmental agencies.
Today, the project is sustained with Medicaid funding.
Maine’s initiative uses program funds, otherwise
unavailable, to provide mental health counseling to Alzheimer’s
caregivers to reduce their level of depression. Reduced
caregiver depression has been shown to delay nursing home
placement. The initiative also focuses on helping families
to access services available via Medicare’s hospice
benefit. Additionally, program staff has provided advice
on adapting the state’s Medicaid assessment tool for
home- and community-based services to evaluate the needs
of both caregivers and people with the disease. Maine’s
program is the state’s only program serving
caregivers to people with dementia.
The Alzheimer’s State Matching Grant program also
creates focal points within state government to impact systems
change efforts and to mobilize public and private resources
beyond the small amount of the grant money. The Alzheimer’s
Association urges Congress to provide $12 million for the
Alzheimer’s State Matching Grant program.
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The Alzheimer State Matching Grants encourage states to test new ways to meet the unique needs of people with Alzheimer’s disease and their caregivers.
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