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Recommendations for Utah from the Alzheimer’s Association

Source: http://act.alz.org/site/DocServer/CAREGIVERS.pdf?docID=4644

• Educate and enlist the faith-based community as a key resource that can reach out to and support family caregivers.
• Recognize caregiving as a health risk factor that warrants public health attention to encourage health professionals to acknowledge and address the issue
• Ameliorate neuropsychiatric symptoms of persons with dementia cared for at home by enhanced training and support of family caregivers on effective behavioral interventions that are designed to modify such symptoms, reduce caregiver distress, and delay nursing home placement.
• Support, fund, and expand the availability of professional guidance to help family caregivers navigate and manage myriad safety and behavioral issues through an array of services such as caregiver assessment, care consultation, counseling, care management, respite care, support groups, assistive technologies, and other effective communications.
• Increase participation in educational programs among diverse caregivers through culturally and linguistically appropriate offerings.
• Secure foundation, corporate, and nonprofit funding for effective statewide family caregiver training programs.
• Provide health education to caregivers early in the disease through medical providers, voluntary agencies, and the Caregiver Support Program of the Area Agencies on Aging that includes information about disease course and services needed at different disease stages.
• Recognize and address the financial burden of caregiving and work to protect spouses from impoverishment at all levels of care.
• Encourage businesses and other workplace sites to offer family caregiver support services; for example, flexible work hours, referrals and counseling through Employee Assistance Programs, and other employee initiatives.
• Advocate for state and federal tax credits, similar to the child care tax credit, for frail spousal and working adult offspring caregivers paying for direct care services to encourage the use of early intervention and support services, such as adult day and respite care.
• Research, disseminate, and expand private insurance and cafeteria plans that cover supportive services (such as adult day care) for caregivers.