Michelle Plauche, Alzheimer's Association

One of the things I'd like to make sure to address is the problem with accessing services through the current health care system, and the problem of having the caregiver sort of taking someone to the doctor, working with the healthcare community with the physician and not really being a part of that dynamic and not knowing what to do and also sort of mixed responses from doctors to the advocacy of the caregivers.

We are doing, at the Alzeimer's Association, a very large statewide proiect right now that involves educating caregivers about how to work more effectively with doctors to get good care. It's a real issue here… We have also been working with faith-based organizations and training certain individuals or paraprofessionals (volunteers), who are church members, to recognize the signs of Alzheimer's within their church population. When we identify potential cases, we set up sort of a referral service to introduce families to local community services. It's worked pretty well...

Long-distance caregiving is also an emerging issue. It's a very mobile society now. Just look back on your own high school and try to know where all your friends went, people are moving away. We started a program for long-distance caregivers to try to connect with people who are local to the care consumer and identify support systems, and we have had an enormous response. Calls flood in, there's web traffic, etc.

Issues that Matter | Caregiving Professionals Forum