Submitted by JFS
Jewish Family Service of the Cincinnati Area (JFS) has been awarded $147,206 from the Alzheimer’s Association Center for Dementia Respite Innovation (CDRI) to enhance the quality and availability of dementia-specific respite care for people living with dementia and their caregivers in Cincinnati.
Jewish Family Service is one of only 21 recipients nationwide chosen from nearly 200 applicants, and the sole agency in Ohio to receive grant funding. Funds will be used to enhance JFS’s Adult Day Services program, which helps older adults impacted by memory challenges improve their quality of life.
“Jewish Family Service is thrilled and honored to be one of a select group of agencies to receive a grant from the Alzheimer’s Association Center for Dementia Respite Innovation,” said JFS CEO Liz Vogel. “This partnership empowers families to do what’s best for them. For many, that is not an institution. And while there is Medicaid funding for memory care, not everyone qualifies for that or feels that is the right solution for their husband, wife, mom, or dad. Jewish Family Service Adult Day Services is bridging the gap by tackling both sides of the problem — enabling couples to stay together in their homes longer. We believe this model could change the approach to navigating dementia.”
Studies show that regular physical, social, and cognitive activities can help protect older adults from age-related changes in mental acuity. “The day program here at JFS has been awesome for my wife, and the other participants seem to be getting a huge benefit from it,” said Chuck Albers, husband of a JFS Adult Day Services participant. “Over the past month, her mood and attitude has been much better. And when a person has cognitive issues, you just never know what’s going to happen. So, stability, for me, seems like a win.”
In conjunction with the grant, Jewish Family Service will also receive online training and ongoing technical assistance from the CDRI. The CDRI will also collect data and evaluate the impact of these innovative projects from all grant recipients to inform public policy.
“We congratulate Jewish Family Service on its grant and look forward to working with its team to help enhance respite care services for local dementia caregivers,” said Sam Fazio, Senior Director, Psychosocial Research & Quality Care, Alzheimer’s Association. “We intend to gain insights from each respite program we fund, ultimately developing a catalog of programs, tools, and resources that will be easily accessible to interested caregivers and care providers.”
The Alzheimer’s Association created the CDRI earlier this year after receiving a $25 million grant from the Administration for Community Living (ACL), a division of the US Department of Health and Human Services. Over the next five years, the CDRI will provide $25 million in grant funding to local respite providers and organizations to enhance the quality and availability of respite care nationwide.
