the compassion to care, the leadership to conquer
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(CHICAGO) September 19, 2007 — This November the Alzheimer’s Association is launching a suite of resources intended to help caretakers by providing information to ease decision-making, building skills to care for loved ones, and keeping people living with the disease safe. November is both National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month and National Family Caregivers Month.
There are currently more than 5 million Americans living with Alzheimer’s disease and almost 10 million people caring for someone with Alzheimer’s disease or another dementia. Caring for a person with Alzheimer’s disease poses special challenges. Although memory loss is the most widely known symptom, as the disease progresses it also causes confusion, disorientation, and frequently, changes in personality and behavior. Individuals with Alzheimer’s require increasing levels of care, supervision and provision for their safety.
The Alzheimer’s Association already provides a number of programs and services that help people affected by Alzheimer’s at every stage of the disease. These include a toll-free help line open 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week (800.272.3900), and an informative web site found at alz.org. Local services such as information and referral, care consultation, peer and professional support groups, and educational resources are also available.
“More than 40 percent of caregivers report high levels of emotional and physical stress,” says Peter Reed, Ph.D., senior director of programs for the Alzheimer's Association. “The association is constantly looking to improve the lives of those living with the disease and those who provide care for them. We have proactively sought partnership opportunities with organizations that would provide necessary resources to people who have been touched by Alzheimer’s.”
Safe Return Enhancement: MedicAlert® + Alzheimer’s Association Safe Return®
More than 60 percent of those with Alzheimer’s will wander at some point during the course of the disease, often repeatedly. Wandering can be dangerous – even life threatening – for the person who wanders and the stress can weigh heavily on caregivers and family. Therefore the Alzheimer’s Association created a marketing alliance with MedicAlert® to create MedicAlert® + Alzheimer’s Association Safe Return®, specifically designed for people living with Alzheimer’s and dementia. MedicAlert + Safe Return provides assistance when a person with Alzheimer’s or a related dementia wanders and becomes lost locally or far from home. When someone enrolled in the program wanders, caregivers call a toll-free help line to report it to activate a community support network, including local Alzheimer’s Association Chapters and law enforcement agencies, to help reunite the lost person with his or her caregiver. To date, 99 percent of those registered with Safe Return have been found, however once they are found, wanderers often require medical attention. The new partnership with MedicAlert enables first responders to access the wanderer’s personal health records and quickly treat the individual. For more information on MedicAlert + Safe Return, visit www.alz.org, www.medicalert.org/safereturn or call 1-800-607-2696.
New Resources for Caregivers – CareSource
The Alzheimer’s Association is introducing CareSource, a new section on alz.org where caregivers can find useful tools for decision-making and care.
Senior Housing Finder℠
One of the most difficult times for millions of caregivers comes when they can no longer care for their loved one with dementia at home and must find housing. Recognizing the need for a resource to aid these families, the Alzheimer’s Association and SNAPforSeniors® have developed the first national dementia-specific senior housing database, called Alzheimer’s Association Senior Housing Finder. This free, web-based tool allows users to search and screen senior housing options throughout the United States by location, facility name, license type, availability, care services and lifestyle amenities. It even allows users to view the dementia care levels a facility provides, consistent with the seven stages of Alzheimer’s disease progression. The Senior Housing Finder will be available at no cost through alz.org.
CareFinder™
In addition to providing people with information on housing options through Senior Housing Finder, alz.org also houses CareFinder™, which provides detailed information on a variety of issues surrounding care options including: planning ahead, care options, coordinating care and support and resources. CareFinder helps people understand what type of care is appropriate given their needs and preference.
Lotsa Helping Hands
Nearly one in four caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias provide 40 hours a week or more of care. Seventy-one percent sustain this commitment for more than a year, and 32 percent do so for five years or more. The Alzheimer’s Association has added a tool that provides assistance for caregivers and people living with Alzheimer’s. The service, called Lotsa Helping Hands, is a free online service to help take care of a loved one with Alzheimer’s or their caregivers. The service is an easy-to-use, private group calendar, specifically designed for organizing helpers, where everyone can pitch in with meal deliveries, rides and other tasks. Needs are posted on a personalized Web site, where the group calendar is automatically updated. Members sign up to help, which the calendar also tracks automatically. Notification and reminder emails are sent to the appropriate parties.
CareSource will also feature a section with quick links to message boards where people can connect with others in a similar situation. Helpful training videos and DVDs will be available at CareSource as well.
If you have been touched by Alzheimer’s or are a caregiver to someone with the disease, there is help. For more helpful information and resources, visit CareSource at alz.org or call 800-272-3900.
The Alzheimer’s Association
The Alzheimer's Association is the leading voluntary health organization in Alzheimer care, support and research. Our mission is to eliminate Alzheimer’s disease through the advancement of research; to provide and enhance care and support for all affected; and to reduce the risk of dementia through the promotion of brain health. Our vision is a world without Alzheimer’s. For more information, visit www.alz.org.
About MedicAlert Foundation
MedicAlert Foundation is a leading provider of personal health records with a mission to protect and save lives. Since 1956, we have relayed vital medical information on behalf of our members to emergency responders so that they receive faster and safer treatment. MedicAlert emblems, worn as bracelets or pendants, can alert emergency personnel to a member’s primary health conditions. In addition to our 24-hour emergency response service, we also provide family notification so that our members can be reunited with their families. For more information visit www.medicalert.org.
About SNAPforSeniors®
SNAPforSeniors®, Inc. is a Seattle-based information company which has developed the most current and comprehensive senior housing resource and listing service in the U.S. Through the Alliance Network Program, SNAPforSeniors licenses and private-labels its database and search tools to leading third party websites, helping their users Search New Available Places more quickly and easily. Listings of more than 65,000 senior housing facilities across 192 license types are maintained through regular updates from 200+ data sources. For more information, e-mail info@snapforseniors.com or call 1-206-575-0728.
About Lotsa Helping Hands
Lotsa Helping Hands is a simple, immediate way for friends, family, colleagues, and neighbors to assist loved ones in need. It’s an easy-to-use, private group calendar, specifically designed for organizing helpers, where everyone can pitch in with meals delivery, rides, and other tasks necessary for life to run smoothly during times of medical crisis, end-of-life caring, or family caregiver exhaustion. It’s also a place to keep these ‘circles of community’ informed with status updates, photo galleries, message boards, and more.
Lotsa Helping Hands was created after witnessing four years of awe-inspiring community support and response to a family member's serious medical crisis. Seeing how earnestly friends wanted to help, and juggling the challenge of organizing their assistance, the creators of Lotsa Helping Hands designed the service with an understanding of how to bring together a variety of social circles and what a resulting community like this would need. Special attention was paid to making this caregiving coordination service intuitive enough to begin using immediately.
CONTACT:
Katie Kyle
312.335.5293
katherine.kyle@alz.org
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