When they first joined the Institute of Gerontology at the University of Georgia College of Public Health, Lisa Renzi-Hammond and Jenay Beer were pursuing individual lines of research focused on helping people live better as they age. Renzi-Hammond studies how diet and lifestyle can prevent neurodegenerative diseases like dementia. Beer specializes in assistive technologies that could help older adults, in particular those with cognitive impairment, and their families cope with health challenges.
Over time, the seed of an idea began to form, an idea to innovate Alzheimer’s and dementia care – to combine the best of prevention education, care technologies and post-diagnosis support in one place and make it accessible to people beyond the borders of the UGA campus.
As a part of a collaborative effort in 2019, the Cognitive Aging Research and Education Center, or CARE Center, was born.
Across the U.S., rural communities are losing doctors, clinics and pharmacies. In an environment drained of resources, many remaining providers have turned to telehealth as a way to connect with specialists.
“Rural health care systems often lack the neuroimaging equipment, cognitive testing tools and advanced laboratory facilities needed to diagnose and treat Alzheimer’s and dementia, so the CARE Center is creating infrastructure and addressing economic barriers to diagnosis,” said Beer.
Renzi-Hammond and Beer plan to use telehealth in the same way, but first, they needed to build a team to offer the high-quality, wrap around services they wanted to offer.
In short time, they brought on board Don Scott, associate professor of medicine and campus director of geriatrics and palliative care at the Augusta University/University of Georgia Medical Partnership; Bernadette Heckman, a professor and director of clinical training in the department of counseling and human development services at the Mary Frances Early College of Education; and Larry Sweet, psychology professor and director of the Clinical Neuroscience Laboratory in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.
Together, these faculty and their graduate students began offering cognitive assessments to individuals who could travel to the Institute of Gerontology, where the CARE Center is housed, on UGA’s Health Sciences Campus.
To date, the team has assessed 14 patients and helped their families through the next steps of treatment and support care. And they can already see an impact, not only in connecting clients to diagnostic services, but in helping them reframe how they conceptualize the next years of their lives.
This year, the CARE team has also started training Extension agents on Alzheimer’s and dementia topics – like spotting the early signs of dementia or eating well to prevent cognitive decline – that they could fit into existing nutrition and wellness programs, and the team has created tailored curricula and resource guides to reflect the needs of those communities.
“The idea is not that you drive four hours to get specialty services and wait a year,” said Beer. “Instead, you can walk right into your local UGA facility – your Archway Partnership office, your Extension office, or even your local doctor’s office if they want to participate, and connect immediately to somebody who can help, who has the expertise to do that job, in a place that feels comfortable.”
If all goes to plan, there will be that someone, someone who cares, for everyone in Georgia.
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