State Awards $2.35 Million to Improve Access to Alzheimer’s Care Across Finger Lakes Region
Over the next five years, the University of Rochester Medical Center's Office for Aging Research and Health Services (OARHS) will receive $2.35 million in funding from the New York State Department of Health to establish a Finger Lakes Center for Excellence in Alzheimer’s Disease (FLCEAD).
Under the leadership of associate professor of Psychiatry Carol Podgorski, Ph.D., the project aims to create an accessible, integrated system from which patients and families across the Finger Lakes region can receive comprehensive Alzheimer’s disease care. Specifically, the center will serve individuals from Chemung, Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, Orleans, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Wayne, and Yates counties.
Podgorski says the primary goal is to develop a system of Alzheimer’s care that crosses health and human service boundaries, and successfully meets the needs of the region’s most disadvantaged populations. These groups include African Americans, Latinos, individuals in underserved rural and urban areas, people whose primary language is not English, as well as those at or below the poverty level.
“Alzheimer’s is a complex, multi-faceted disease that demands a multi-faceted approach so that patients and families in every corner of our region can receive the care they need,” says Podgorski. “The goal is to expand and improve Alzheimer’s care delivery by leveraging our region’s established resources and knowledge in population health and primary care-based chronic disease management. We have an incredible pool of expertise to draw from, and working together, the potential is very promising.”
The OARHS, directed by professor of Geriatric Psychiatry Yeates Conwell, M.D., oversees two programs that will play central roles in the initiative: the URMC Memory Care Program and a tele-health program called GEMH, which provides consultations and support in geriatrics and dementia/Alzheimer’s disease to primary care practices, long-term care facilities, and providers across Upstate New York. Both of these programs will be central to accomplishing the objectives of the regional center, and they will work in tandem with four other partnering organizations: the Finger Lakes Health Systems Agency, the Rochester/Finger Lakes Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, the new HRSA-funded Finger Lakes Geriatric Education Center, and Lifespan.
“All of these organizations have in-depth experience in program planning, development and evaluation, and they offer a wide array of related programs and services,” says Podgorski. “They also have vast expertise related to Alzheimer’s disease, and bring very strong networks of collaborators to the table.”
One of the group’s top priorities will be to develop a data-informed strategic plan to improve access to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease care, with an emphasis on reducing health disparities, maximizing resources, and avoiding duplication of services. The project will also work to communicate the benefits of early diagnosis to health care providers, and to older adults, especially those within underserved populations.
To further support this goal, the project plans to train more primary care providers in how to screen for cognitive impairment, and provide information on when and where to refer patients for care or consultation.
Conwell says they also intend to increase the capacity of UR Medicine’s Memory Care Program to serve more patients, and develop ways to enhance the coordination of Alzheimer’s disease care with referring primary care practices.
“It’s absolutely vital that we provide the right care at the right time and place to patients with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia throughout the Finger Lakes region,” says Conwell.