NEWS

Alabama Project Wins Prestigious Caregiving Award

The 2007 Rosalynn Carter Leadership in Caregiving Award recognizes innovative partnerships between community organizations and caregiving researchers. These partnerships provide effective caregiver supports to professional, family, and volunteer caregivers.

The Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving (RCI) is proud to announce that the winner of the 2007 Rosalynn Carter Leadership in Caregiving Award is The Alabama REACH Intervention Project, a partnership between the Alabama Department of Senior Services and the University of Alabama’s Center for Mental Health and Aging. REACH, which stands for Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer’s Caregiver Health, is a support program designed to alleviate caregiver stress and burden.

Alabama’s REACH Intervention Project, funded by the Administration on Aging, was implemented in four pilot regions of Alabama with two main goals:

• to develop and expand affordable, accessible, and culturally appropriate evidence-based services which support people with Alzheimer’s disease and their family caregivers;

• to advance improvements in Alabama’s overall system of care for persons with Alzheimer’s disease and improve integration of the preferences and needs of people with Alzheimer’s disease and their family caregivers into Alabama’s long term care system, as well as home and community based services.

The Alabama Department of Senior Services partnered with the University of Alabama’s Center for Mental Health and Aging, directed by Dr. Louis Burgio. The State of Alabama made monumental advancements through this initiative, by:

• improving caregiver and care recipient well-being
• promoting the REACH program statewide
• engaging active volunteerism
• and proving the effectiveness of the REACH program in meeting the needs of people living with Alzheimer’s disease

Burgio received the award jointly with Irene Collins, executive director of the Alabama Department of Senior Services. The award was presented at the RCI’s National Summit, held October 25 & 26 at Georgia Southwestern State University. Dr. Burgio was on hand to accept the award from Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter. The award included a check for $20,000 to continue the work of the Alabama REACH Project.

The two finalists for the Rosalynn Carter Leadership in Caregiving Award also represent innovative partnerships between research and community-based organizations. Finalists were:

• The partnership between the Mt. Hope Family Center, the University of Rochester and the Monroe County, NY Department of Human Services, who implemented a program for traumatized children and their caregivers.
• North Carolina’s “Win A Step Up” Program, designed to improve morale, retention and quality of care delivered by front line caregivers. This project is a partnership between the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and the University of North Carolina’s Institute on Aging.

With funding from corporate partner Johnson & Johnson, the Rosalynn Carter Institute Caregivers Program provides more than $250,000 each year in grants to build partnerships between research and community-based organizations that have developed an evidence-based caregiver intervention.

The Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving, established in 1987 on the campus of Georgia Southwestern State University in Americus, Georgia, works to establish partnerships to create more effective long-term care systems and provide greater recognition and support for America’s caregivers.