GREENFIELD — With a $125,000 grant, LifePath will bolster its dementia-specific care offerings for the region by continuing to fund its Community Engagement Center.
The grant, provided by the Alzheimer’s Association’s Center of Dementia Respite Innovation, will ensure the Community Engagement Center can operate through the current fiscal year. The center, operated out of LifePath’s Munson Street offices, is a social day program designed to reduce social isolation and support individuals living with dementia, while also offering respite, coaching and planning support to caregivers.
Gary Yuhas, LifePath’s executive director, said the grant, which was a nationally competitive process, will help the agency provide dementia-specific care and support for caregivers. Most importantly, he added, it provides vital care options for families dealing with a difficult medical condition.
“Some folks just don’t have other options. They may not have family or friends nearby who can assist, or even if they have people who can assist, they may not have the skills, temperament, patience to be able to safely and successfully assist someone with memory loss,” Yuhas said. “Memory loss brings a number of behavioral changes; some of them are predictable and some of them can present as surprises.”
“In addition to providing more intergenerational and community-based programming at the CEC, we look forward to developing a peer-to-peer model of respite that would allow individuals to arrange for respite care using a new online platform,” Community Engagement Center Program Manager Donna Bigelow said in a statement. “We are in the early stages of development. We also look forward to sharing information, resources and programming with senior centers and others who are looking to provide respite in their communities. This is an exciting time.”
LifePath will also receive online training and technical assistance from the Center of Dementia Respite Innovation to ensure respite services are dementia-capable and support sustainability. The Center of Dementia Respite Innovation will also collect data and evaluate the impact of these projects from all grant recipients to inform public policy.
The funding comes as LifePath’s community needs assessment shows high demand for dementia respite care. Of 545 older adults surveyed, 95 were care partners and more than half cared for someone with memory loss. Respite was identified by 65% of caregivers as their top need.
“When you hear the caregivers talk about what need this does fulfill for them … this gives them an opportunity to go to the dentist, the doctor or grocery store,” Yuhas said. “What is also important is this provides a little bit of a relief valve. When the person comes home, they are often in better spirits.”
On top of those benefits for caregivers, Yuhas said folks with memory loss tend to sleep better at home after a day of activities, form friendships with other participants and are often more comfortable going out in public.
While the grant will allow LifePath to operate the Community Engagement Center for the rest of the fiscal year, Yuhas said this will likely be the final year of it, unless a sustainable funding source can be found. He noted the region’s local representatives and senators understand the positive impacts of the program, but the state is facing a variety of budgeting challenges and federal funding is unlikely at this point.
“We’re the only center of its sort in our area. We have people who come across Franklin County and the North Quabbin for the respite programming.” Yuhas said. “Right now, we’re on a year-to-year plan.”
For more information about the Community Engagement Center, visit lifepathma.org/what-we-offer/care-at-home/community-engagement-center-cec.
Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.