C4A Conference Covers A Wide Array Of Seniors Issues

A group of people giving thumbs up to the camera.


Burbank, CA  The C4A Conference 2023: Mapping the Future of Aging and Disability in California, held here May 9-11, covered a vast number of topics, some uplifting, and some depressing.  The most depressing issue discussed, by far, is the Republican bill passed in April which proposed raising the nation’s debt limit to $31.4 trillion in exchange for massive cuts in spending.

The bill would return the government’s discretionary spending to fiscal 2022 levels in fiscal 2024 and then cap annual spending growth at about 1% over the next decade.  With inflation well over 1%, this would translate to draconian budget cuts to many social services programs, with declines in funding as much as 30% to most programs if Social Security and Veterans benefits are left intact.

Somewhere in the middle of uplifting and depressing was a panel on Affordable Housing where Dan McDonald and Michael Siglala discussed an affordable housing project called Magnolia Crossing where they were able to build a facility with 16 units of memory care and 36 which were assisted living.  They were studio units, where everyone had their own bathroom and housed anyone from a full-pay to someone on Medi Cal.  Unfortunately, they have not been able to replicate the model (which was built a decade ago in 2013).  “The Assisted Living Waiver program is great but it’s unpredictable.  The reimbursement rates are 10-20% below what they could be to make this feasible,†said Sagala, from Innovative Development and Living Solutions.

There was another panel on Affordable Housing, or rather the lack of it in California, which has resulted in an inordinate number of seniors joining the growing rank of homeless people.  It featured Dr. Joshua Bamberger from UCSF Family Community Medicine who left his job during the height of COVID-19 to study 3,500 homeless people who were moved into housing, mostly using tourist hotels.  “We can house everyone if we want to.  We’ve proven this during the COVID crisis,†he said.

There were also some disturbing panels on Alzheimer’s disease and wandering.  I am, unfortunately, very familiar with these topics as both my father and grandmother had Alzheimer’s disease.  I have raised over $100K for the Monterey chapter of Alzheimer’s Association and sponsored a number of their annual events through my company Family inHome Caregiving.

In a keynote speech on May 11, Sandy Markwood, the CEO of U.S. Aging, released preliminary data from a 2022 Area Agency on Aging (AAA) survey which found:

80% of AAAs serve individuals with a disability or chronic/serious illness;

49% of AAAs serve consumers with dementia of all ages; and

33% serve veterans under 60.

The survey also noted that 1 in 2 American adults report being lonely and 72% of AAAs are developing specific programs for people living with dementia.

One panel noted that many people who have Alzheimer’s or some type of related dementia are diagnosed with it but their doctor doesn’t tell them.  I was shocked to hear Michele Johnston, Program Director for Dementia Initiatives at the California Department of Aging, say that, “Half of the people diagnosed with dementia are never told by their physician.â€Â  It is just written down in a note in their charts and/or used as a justification for reimbursement from the insurance company or Medicare.  That’s shameful.

Another panel discussed how seniors who are members of minorities like African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, the LGBTQ Community and Native American’s are underserved and what we are doing to change this.

 

On a more uplifting note, one company did a presentation who actually has a solution for the victims of Alzheimer’s, dementia, autism and other diseases where victims lose their bearings and wander off.  The L.A Found Initiative has been rolled out by the Aging and Disabilities Department, a division of Adult Protective Services, using a device provided by the non-profit Project Lifesaver.

The way it works is people receive a wrist band which can be put on their hand or foot and if they wander off, the device will be able to find them within a distance of 3 to 5 miles.  Cinthie Lopez Paz, Leader of L.A. Found Initiative noted that 60% of those living with Alzheimer’s disease will wander at some point.

To date, they have a wonderful track record of having 26 successful saves of people who have wandered off.   Hopefully, we will have more uplifting stories like this at the 2024 C4A Conference, and the Debt Ceiling will have been raised without draconian cuts to social services.

 

 

 

 

 

 

More Testing Needed For Alzheimer’s Disease Detection

A close up of an old person holding someone 's hands


Burbank, CA  Getting an early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia (ADRD) is critical, agreed the panelists on the Mapping the Future of Alzheimer’s Partnerships panel at the C4A 2023 Annual Conference, held here from May 9-11.  Yet some people have this diagnosis written in their medical chart and their doctor hasn’t even told them.

Michele Johnston, Program Director for Dementia Initiatives at the California Department of Aging said that around 50% of people who have Alzheimer’s are diagnosed.  “Half of the people diagnosed with dementia are never told by their physician,†she said, which I found to be a shocking statistic.  “When people get diagnosed earlier, it saves money for both the family and society,†she said.

Roughly 60-80% of dementia cases are Alzheimer’s disease, said Barbara McClendon, Public Policy Director at Alzheimer’s Los Angeles.  Yet many people refer to dementia as Alzheimer’s disease.   About 690K Californians had Alzheimer’s disease in 2020, a number which is expected to rise to 840K by 2025 due to the rapid aging of our population.

Longer term, the statistics are even more bleak, and minorities are being hit harder than the general population.  By 2040, the number of Latino’s with the disease are expected to triple, as are the number of African Americans having the disease.  For Asian’s, the number will double during this time frame.  The same is projected for members of the LGBTQ community.

McClendon rattled off a number of other alarming stats and said, “We are really fortunate in California that the State is aware of these statistics.  Governor Newsom has gathered an Alzheimer’s Prevention and Preparedness Task Force, and Kim McCoy Wade, Senior Advisor on Aging to the Governor appeared on another panel to discuss what the State of California is doing to address the many issues seniors face in our state.  “Progress is already being made,†said McClendon.

Goal 2 of the Master Plan for Aging is “Health Reimagined†which includes a focus on dementia.  The plan is implementing a number of initiatives and calling for refunding for Adult Day Care, which was defunded in 2009.

She also said that research shows that there are a number of things Californians can do to reduce their risk of getting dementia, but “we need to get this info out,†she said.  Johnston noted that much progress has been made with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) 2018-2023 National Healthy Brain Initiative Road Map, and they are preparing to come out with a second edition of the road map soon.  She said the federal government had given out a number of grants to help fuel the Road Map, and the state has given grants to 13 different counties, including Monterey.

Terry Gabriel, Executive Director at PSA 2 of the Area Agency on Aging (AAA), said her agency had partnered with the Alzheimer’s Association and the Family Caregiver Support Program and emphasized the importance of inter-agency partnerships.

Shasta County was awarded funding and AAA was able to connect them with other agencies.  They developed a Community Needs Assessment Survey which was used to develop their local plan.  One thing the survey revealed was that first responders are there when there is a fall or someone with dementia has an outburst.  Sometimes they are at the same person’s home repeatedly.  They were able to develop a training program for first responders who can now better deal with dementia patients.

Victoria Jump, Director of the Ventura County AAA said that with the help of an ADPI Grant, they were able to develop the CAlz Connect initiative (California’s No Wrong Door System) which will be an enterprise client relationship management (CRM) system with interoperability between CRM systems with the Congressional Budget Office, health plans and counties.  This will be launched later this year.  The objective is to support communities and caregivers with access to quality innovative services.

Regular readers of my blog know that both my father and my grandmother had Alzheimer’s disease when they passed way.  It’s a terribly debilitating disease which can suck the life out of caregivers and family members.  Our local Alzheimer’s Association in Ryan Ranch has some wonderful people that can help, as well as a 24-hour hotline at 1-800-272-3900.