RCI Gives Special Merit Awards

During the RCI Awards Gala held October 22, two special merit awards in the amount of $5,000 each were given by Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter. These award winners were both runners up for the 2009 Rosalynn Carter Leadership in Caregiving Award.

Fox Rehabilitation and the Jefferson Center for Applied Research on Aging and Health. Their work in translating Dr. Laura Gitlin's Environmental Skill-Building Program from a research setting into a third-party reimbursement environment ensures long-term sustainability in caregiver support for individuals with Alzheimer's disease. These partners are currently working to roll out the Environmental Skill-Building Program throughout the entire Fox Rehabilitation network involving 110 occupational therapists in 5 states - a real life example of "scaling up" to support caregivers.

The Dougherty Superior Court Mental Health/Substance Abuse Treatment Court Program; an innovative partnership between the Dougherty County Court System, the Albany Advocacy Resource Center, the Albany Area Community Service Board, Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, and many others. The goal of the program is to decrease or eliminate the number of hospitalizations, crisis unit admissions, or arrests experienced by those suffering from mental illness or substance abuse. Emotionally and physically exhausted family caregivers of these individuals now have somewhere to turn for help. Selected as one of only five Learning Sites across the United States by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the program is providing information to other states that are interested in improving outcomes for people with mental illness and their families.