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BAY PINES VA'S ALZHEIMER'S PROGRAM CALLED A MODEL
FOR THE NATION -- Ten years ago a day treatment
program
was started on the campus, and has since become
somewhat of a model in mental healthcare.
For more about veterans and Alzheimer's Disease,
use the VA Watchdog search engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/sessearch.php?q=alzheimer%27s&op=and
Story here...
http://www.wmnf.org/news_stories/5952
Story below:
-------------------------
Bay Pines treatment program is a model in
Florida
Dawn Morgan
According the Alzheimer’s Association, 5 million people in the country
have some form of dementia, and that number will only grow as the
population ages. Though there is no cure for cognitive impairments,
research has shown mental stimulation offered at dementia day treatment
centers prolongs the time a patient can live functionally outside of a
long term care facility. Pinellas County’s Bay Pines VA center offers such
a program, and may be a model for the state - and nation - to follow.
WMNF’s Dawn Morgan has more.
The Gulf Coast Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association offers resources to
caregivers and family members taking care of loved ones or patients with
dementia.
For veterans suffering from cognitive impairments, the Bay Pines VA
complex in Pinellas already has a plan in place. Ten years ago a day
treatment program was started on the campus, and has since become somewhat
of a model in mental healthcare.
 WWII
Army vet Steven Pryslak is 88, a widower, and lives at an assisted living
facility. He goes to a day treatment program at the Bay Pines VA clinic a
few times a week.
Roughly 70 percent of the 60 veterans in the program have some form of
dementia, such as Alzheimer’s disease. According to Melissa Dixon, the
social worker who coordinates the program at Bay Pines, such treatment
programs that engage the mind keep people with cognitive impairments out
of nursing homes for up to two and a half years.
She works with VA medical staff to coordinate the patient’s regular
physical and mental health care and says that the key to a good day care
program is collaboration.
Dixon says if not for the program, some of her patients would be sitting
home alone, developing depression and becoming isolated. She also stresses
the difference between a day treatment program and an adult day care
center.
And the Bay Pines model is proving that it doesn’t just help the patient,
but also the tax payer.
Several Florida senators, including Tampa’s Victor Crist, toured Bay Pines
in January to see if the Bay Pines model could be expanded out into the
state.
During this past 2008 Regular Session, the legislature approved the
continuing of the Medicaid Alzheimer’s Disease Waiver SB 1092 (HB 7047).
According to Michael W. Garner, Chief Legislative Analyst for the Florida
Senate, the bill provides enhanced services to Medicaid patients with
Alzheimer’s Disease.
Senator Crist’s office was unavailable to comment for follow up on his
visit for this story and further plans for the Waiver.
Bay Pines’ Melissa Dixon, hopes for the state to act soon though. The Bay
Pines program has a waiting list of about 25 people, and has little to
offer patients while they wait for an opening. And for the aging citizens
of Florida, vets and non-vets alike, the waiting can determine the road
their life will take.
On August 22nd, the Bay Pines VA and St Pete College present The 12th
Annual Geropsychiatry Workshop on Restoring Function and Quality of life
in the Elderly. For details on the conference, and more information this
story, log onto WMNF.org.
Alzheimer’s Association: Alz.org or 800-772-8672
Bay Pines VA: 727-398-6661
-------------------------
posted by Larry
Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org
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