About the Dementia Professional Certification
The Alzheimer’s Association and Ivy Tech State College have launched the Dementia Professional Certification (DPC). This certification is the first of its kind and recognizes health care professionals that have furthered their study in quality dementia care.
This partnership allows the Alzheimer’s Association’s professional courses to be delivered throughout Ivy Tech’s statewide campus system. Courses were developed by the Alzheimer’s Association and experts throughout Indiana in response to training deficits. The courses provide realistic best practices to provide quality dementia care. The courses are developed by the Association and experts throughout Indiana in response to training deficits in long-term care related to dementia.
Ivy Tech Community College is the state’s second largest public post-secondary institution with more than 73,000 students enrolled. It serves as the state's engine of workforce development, offering affordable degree programs and training that are aligned with the needs of its community along with courses and programs that transfer to other colleges and universities in Indiana. It is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.
The courses listed on this site are created by the largest national voluntary organization dedicated to conquering Alzheimer’s disease and delivered by the state's engine of workforce development and your Community College. We have conveniently scheduled the courses around the state to meet your continuing education needs.
Dementia Professional Certification
To earn the DPC, healthcare professionals must have a total of 40 hours of course work from courses offered through this program. Required courses are as follows:
- Understanding Dementia
- Effective Communication
- Problem Solving
- Activities of Daily Living
- Physical Health and Safety
- Fundamentals of Dementia Care
- Managing Activities
- Directing an Alzheimer’s Unit
- Strategies for Better Care Environments
Once you have completed your training requirements, you are eligible to sit for the certification exam in one of Ivy Tech’s 23 testing centers around the state. You will first be required to submit an application to test, and, upon receiving your approval letter, will need to contact the testing center of your choice to schedule.
Please note that you must test within one year of your training completion date.
You are required to present this approval letter as proof that you have completed all of your course requirements before being allowed to test. Upon successfully passing the exam, you will receive a certification certificate by mail.
For a copy of the DPC brochure call Tina Mabrey at (317) 575-9620 or tina.mabrey@alz.org
For additional information contact: Karen Hum, Program Manager, Operations Workforce and Economic Development, at (317) 916-7886 or khum@ivytech.edu or visit www.ivytech.edu/actnow/dementia.
Indiana State Department of Health Training Requirements:
- All nursing home staff with regular resident contact must receive six hours of dementia-specific training within six months of hire. Three hours of dementia-specific training is required annually thereafter.
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Personnel assigned to the Alzheimer’s/Dementia Special Care Unit must receive six hours of dementia-specific training within 30 days of the assignment. Three hours of dementia-specific training is required annually thereafter.
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In facilities with an Alzheimer’s/Dementia Special Care Unit, the designated unit director must have 12 hours of dementia-specific training within three months of employment and six hours annually thereafter.
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