Staff from the Middle Alabama Area Agency on Aging will be trained to implement components of the REACH II intervention, one of the most highly effective and widely tested interventions for family caregivers. This intervention will be compared with a group of caregivers receiving educational pamphlets and check-in phone calls. These caregivers will receive the full intervention at a later time. The ultimate goal in Alabama is to make REACH interventions available in every community through the state network of Area Agencies on Aging. Dr. Louis Burgio, one of the original REACH II investigators and Director of the Center for Mental Health and Aging (CMHA) at the University of Alabama, will assist with implementation of the program.

Intervention Delivered by

Delivered where

Care Recipient Profile

Caregiver Profile

Number of participants

• 60 dementia patients / 60 caregivers; 30 dyads in each of the two groups

• 1 dedicated staff member

Intervention Strategies

• Education and skills training on Alzheimer’s Disease

• Caregiver health

• Home Safety

• Behavior management

• Stress management

Comparison Intervention includes:

• Brief educational pamphlets covering the 5 REACH topics explained in a one-hour, in-home session by AA case manager
• Three check-in phone calls

Academic/technical assistance provided

University of Alabama CMHA staff will provide modified REACH II training and on-going consultation to the AAA staff member.

Principal Investigator: Dr. Louis Burgio

Investigator's Web Site

Site Contacts
Carolyn Fortner
Leila Heptinstall
Jacque Easterling

Agency Website

On May 29, 2008, the J&J/RCI team received a brief overview of the Alabama REACH project from M4A director Carolyn Fortner and staff members Kelly Lippert-Flick and Leila Heptinstall. Also present were collaborating partners Dr. Lou Burgio and Stacey Jernigan from the Center for Mental Health & Aging at the University of Alabama.

During our trip to the Calera, Alabama area, we visited the home of Mr. and Mrs. Walton. Mr. Walton is a full-time caregiver for his wife, and has been enrolled in the intervention for a short while. Mrs. Walton was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease two years ago. Mr. Elvis Walton (his real name!) had made his living singing in a quartet called “The Keymasters”. Elvis is a very outgoing person, so it was not surprising to learn that when respite care is available to him, he takes the opportunity to get out of the house and interact with lots of people. While a loving respite worker stays with his wife, Elvis works at the local Piggly Wiggly grocery store bagging groceries.

We met a very friendly and upbeat Mr. Walton at the “Pig”, where he posed for pictures and expressed gratitude to Leila and the program for helping him deal with the demands of being a full-time caregiver.

Commissioner Irene Collins of the Alabama Department of Senior Services met with our group in the afternoon. She is such a wonderful role model to other senior-level state officials for how to partner effectively with others to initiate and expand caregiver support services on a state-wide level. Read article about Commissioner Collins and the ADSS.

Dr. Burgio had several exciting updates on Alabama REACH. He has submitted a paper from the ADDGS project to the journal “The Gerontologist” which he feels will be accepted for publication. Also, the Alabama REACH project was used as a case example in the recent CDC publication “Assuring Healthy Caregivers: A Public Health Approach to Translating Research into Practice”. Lou is currently working with the CDC to produce an “action guide” - a procedural manual modified to be a step-by-step guide so that Agencies can more easily implement the program on their own. Look for links to these publications and the action guide on the RCI website as soon as they become available.

Dr. Burgio has recently been named the Harold R. Johnson Chair in Gerontology at the University of Michigan. His ultimate goal is to set up a training system at the University of Michigan to certify interventionists and master trainers. Although we are sad to see him leave the University of Alabama, Lou has laid groundwork that will enable him to stay actively involved in the project from his new home at the University of Michigan.

The team in Alabama is making great strides in caregiving, keeping that state on the leading edge of caregiver support!

Project Update - March 24, 2008

The Middle Alabama AAA received a letter recently from one of the dementia caregivers in our program. In the letter, she expressed appreciation for the relief she has experienced as a result of her participation in the program.

This joyful letter was in sharp contrast to an earlier letter written to us by the same caregiver. Months ago, this caregiver wrote requesting services and describing the stress she experienced due to her caregiving role.

All of the staff members working on this project love receiving letters like this. While research data has proven the effectiveness of REACH II in easing burden for caregivers, it is still nice to get first-hand accounts from the caregivers about how the program is impacting their lives.

Read this caregiver's letters.