Rhode Island is making meaningful efforts to expand its response to the ever-increasing population of families with Alzheimer’s and related dementias. A federal award was secured in 2018 by the Rhode Island Office of Healthy Aging to convene partners such as the Family Caregiver Alliance, in an effort to make the State’s system of home- and community-based services dementia-capable. The Rhode Island Department of Health has received “BOLD” funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to address dementia through a public health approach. The Rhode Island Office of Healthy Aging and the Rhode Island Department of Health are driving initiatives such as:
- Deliver evidence-based programming to support families living with dementia. This includes six-week Powerful Tools for Caregivers program offered multiple times a year, as well as a companion three-week training for individuals with dementia who are recently diagnosed. Courses can be found through the Community Health Network: Community Health Network - Health & Wellness Workshops in RI
- Recruit and train a wide range of direct care professionals on dementia care best practices. The training content covers a comprehensive set of topics meant for those who provide services in a care setting, emergency response, community supports, healthcare, and many more.
- Engage with Rhode Island’s network of primary care and related health practices to improve early detection and diagnosis of Alzheimer’s and related dementia. Under this targeted effort, practices will be informed of the full suite of community-based services, and how to refer patients into the State’s POINT support network. Providers can access the HIPAA-compliant referral form at this link.