Expand the Dementia Care Management Program
In 2019, the General Assembly approved funding to provide 100 families a year with dementia care management at the University of Virginia’s Memory and Aging Care Clinic. While this funding was removed in response to the pandemic, the General Assembly recognized the need for appropriate care coordination and restored funding to launch a pilot program serving only 50 families. Care coordination can help increase the length of time that people living with dementia are able to remain in their homes and delay the need for residential long-term care. Coordinated care programs using trained Dementia Care Managers (DCMs) embedded in memory assessment clinics are needed for successful community-based dementia care. Streamlining dementia care using DCMs results in significant cost savings, decrease health care utilization, and improve health outcomes. The Alzheimer’s Association is calling on the General Assembly to expand dementia care management funding to support people with dementia.
Virginia State Plan Overview
The Virginia Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Commission serves as an advisory board within the executive branch and assists people living with Alzheimer's disease and related disorders as well as their caregivers and families. In 2009, the Commission began collecting public input to inform a state plan on Alzheimer's disease. Utilizing aging as well as stress and coping theory, in December 2011 the Commission published the Dementia State Plan: Virginia's Response to the Needs of Individuals with Dementia and their Caregivers. In 2015 an updated version of the plan, 2015-2019 Dementia State Plan: Virginia's Response to the Needs of Individuals with Dementia and their Caregivers, was published. In October 2019, the Commission published the Dementia State Plan: Building a Dementia-Capable Virginia (2020-2024).
Virginia State Advocacy Day
January 27, 2022
Turn the Capitol purple! Join fellow Alzheimer’s advocates and have your voice heard by your elected officials in Richmond! Share your experience and help improve the care, support and services for those living with Alzheimer’s and the people caring for them. Never advocated before? No problem! We’ll train you and there will be plenty of opportunity to ask questions before meeting with state officials.
