June 2006 Vol. 25. No. 6

Published by the Humboldt Senior Resource Center in Eureka, California. HSRC is a non-profit community-based organization offering services for senior citizens, multi-generational families and caregivers.

Meeting health needs of the future: Introducing the New Alzheimer's Center

Rural representation: Eureka man named to California Commission on Aging

Happy 25th anniversary, Silvercrest!

Designing for Alzheimer's

Get healthy in McKinleyville this month

Think About It: Health district option is being explored

Delivering care - Single payer is the way to go

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Making plans. Joyce Hayes, HSRC executive director, and Maggie Kraft, director of Adult Day Health Services, pour over preliminary plans for the New Alzheimer's Center. The facility will be built kitty-corner from the main HSRC building on California Street in Eureka.

Long before Doug Durham relocated to Eureka in 2004, he began researching Humboldt County's services for people with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. Durham's wife, Virginia, has dementia, and he knew he would need assistance with her care when the couple moved to the North Coast.

Durham contacted the Humboldt Senior Resource Center, learned about local resources and decided to enroll Virginia in HSRC's Adult Day Health Services program. ADHS provides day care for adults with mental and physical disabilities, including Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia.

Yet despite Durham's advance planning, Virginia was placed on a waiting list for the program.

"Everyone was very nice and helped me a lot, but it still took several months before we were able to get in," he said.

Other families have had to wait even longer if their loved one is in the later stages of dementia. The ADHS facility can serve only 25 people with dementia, just 12 of whom may be in the more advanced stages of the disease. The program has had a waiting list for the past six years.

ADHS Director Maggie Kraft noted that there is a growing need for Alzheimer's support services, because seven out of 10 people with dementia are cared for at home. "Adult day care allows family caregivers to remain employed or take care of the normal life details the rest of us take for granted," Kraft said.

Kraft added that additional educational, counseling and support services are also needed to help families deal with the emotional impact of having a loved one with dementia.

HSRC is responding to this need for local Alzheimer's services by planning the New Alzheimer's Center, a facility that will offer adult day care services for up to 60 patients per day - up to 40 of whom may be in the later stages of the disease - in an environment that is specially designed for people with dementia.

The new facility will also allow HSRC to expand its ancillary services for families and caregivers, including support groups, individual and family counseling, caregiver education and a resource library. In addition, the center will offer Alzheimer's education and training for health care providers and professional caregivers, serving as a regional resource.

Joyce Hayes, HSRC executive director, said the agency has already raised nearly $2.3 million of the $4.5 million needed to build the New Alzheimer's Center. "We are so appreciative of those donors who have already stepped forward and helped us reach the halfway mark," Hayes said.

"This month, we officially launch the public phase of our capital campaign to raise the rest of the funds. This means we are turning to more public fundraising efforts and asking the community to help us raise the remaining $2.2 million needed to make the New Alzheimer's Center a reality," she said.

Donations from individuals, businesses and service clubs as well as grants from foundations and government agencies are helping to fund the New Alzheimer's Center, Hayes noted. Fundraising for the project will continue for the next year. Construction is expected to begin in 2007.

For local families who are coping with dementia, the New Alzheimer's Center will be a lifeline of support and hope. Doug Durham noted that since Virginia was enrolled in the current ADHS program, "It's been my salvation. The New Alzheimer's Center is something I believe in strongly."

Kraft added that with Humboldt County's senior population increasing, more and more local families will be facing the challenge of caring for a loved one with Alzheimer's. "By building the New Alzheimer's Center, we will help make sure all families can get the support services they need to cope with this disease," she said.