Entering the Final Stretch, With A Lot of Support

As a non-profit, The George G. Glenner Alzheimer's Family Centers relies on the generosity of others to help us fulfill our mission of providing excellent adult day health care and other family services to San Diego County families struggling to care for a loved one with dementia.

Each year we hold a major fundraiser, and this year's "Old Hollywood Glam" gala is now just 10 days away. Needless to say, everyone on our Event Planning Committee is in overdrive now. And while we work on  last-minute details for our April 2 soiree at the historic El Cortez, every once in awhile each of us stops to take in the tremendous support we've received from businesses and individuals who believe in the importance and value of what we do to ease the stress of caregiving.

It was a tough year to raise money to cover our costs, but we did it thanks to the following people and businesses:

Health Care Group/ActivCare Residential Alzheimer's Nursing Care
Silverado Senior Living
Viejas Band of Kumeyay Indians
Teamsters Local 542
Vi at La Jolla Village
Lightbridge Hospice and Palliative Care
Genworth Financial
Kennon S. Shea & Associates
Health Care Centers
San Diego Health Care Association
Stellar Care at Collwood Terrace
The Elder Care Law Firm
Ron Greenwald & Associates California Prudential Realty
Procopio, Cory, Hargraeves & Savich
Ceregene
Absolute Senior Home Care
Estey & Bomberg
A Place for Mom
UCSD Medical Center
Keepsake Choices
Ron's Pharmacy
At Home Care Solutions
AALL CARE In Home Services
Guard A Kid
Richard & Paulette Wank
Virgil Barbat
Jeff & Nancy Conyers

Learn more about Old Hollywood Glam: Memories of Good Times Past.

 

Want to leave a comment? Just click on the post title and scroll to the bottom and you can send your comment.

Planning for the Future . . . and Now

This week the Alzheimer's Association released a report showing there are roughly 15 million U.S. unpaid caregivers of dementia patients, which amounts to about $202 billion in savings by taking care of Mom and Dad (or a grandparent, a husband or wife, aunt or uncle, sister or brother, . . .) at home, rather than placing them directly into a facility. The report also shows the heavy toll caring for a loved one with memory impairment is taking on these men and women. A third of them report suffering from depression, and stress is running near 100%.

These kinds of figures have gained the news media's attention and in many cases, news organizations have drilled down to state and local levels to explore the economic and emotional impact. One syndicated article on California cites the following:

Alzheimer's is the sixth leading cause of death in California. If trends continue, it will become an even more significant factor in mortality. The number of deaths attributed to the disease increased by 58 percent in the period from 2000 to 2004, the last year for which data are available, the Alzheimer's Association reports.

Current projections are that those who reach age 65 will have a 1 in 8 chance of developing Alzheimer's. Once individuals reach 85, they will have a 50-50 chance of developing the disease.

Article: California planning for increase in Alzheimer's cases

Here in San Diego, our ABC affiliate, HGTV, came to our George G. Glenner Alzheimer's Family Center in Hillcrest yesterday to interview our center manager, Marge Galante, about how Alzheimer's is affecting families throughout our county. She did a wonderful job, and we hope you'll tune into channel 10 this weekend to see their report. (We're waiting to find out when exactly it will run.)

The Alzheimer's Association report urges lawmakers to prepare for the increase in families needing support in the coming decade -- advice that arrived just after the key legislative committee voted to ax state support for adult day health care centers (one of the most cost-effective programs) and create a new agency responsible for a much smaller budget.

We're at a unique period in our society in which the population is pressing into retirement ill prepared for a debilitating disease such as Alzheimer's. Many of these individuals lost from a little to a lot of their nest eggs in the Great Recession and will be relying on family members to help them through the tough journey ahead. These caregivers frequently will have jobs and financial responsibilities related to raising families of their own. They too will quickly be overwhelmed by the additional time, money, patience and empathy required for their new role.

Each generation learns something from its elders, and one lesson will be to take action while healthy for a time when they are not. Long-term health care insurance will become more popular in the coming decades, but in the meantime, we each need to do our part to help our neighbor make the most of the challenging years ahead.

Want to leave a comment? Just click on the post title and scroll to the bottom and you can send your comment.

Thank You, Kearny Mesa 'High Rollers'

On Valentine's Day, residents and staff at Kearny Mesa Convalescent Hospital and Nursing Home launched a month-long fundraiser on behalf of The George G. Glenner Alzheimer's Family Centers. The event was called a Rock 'n' Roll Jamboree, in which residents rolled around the center in their wheelchairs and rocked in rocking chairs to generate donations.

Yesterday, our Liz Reinhofer returned to the facility to collect a check for $1,000 -- the dollar goal the group had hoped to raise! The owner, Mr. Hibbell, was on hand to help deliver the big check.

Thank you so much for all of your hard work and earnest efforts to help support our adult day health care services for families throughout San Diego County.

Want to leave a comment? Just click on the post title and scroll to the bottom and you can send your comment.

Future of ADHC in California

To follow up on last week's post, a legislative committee last week voted to eliminate Adult Day Health Care funding from the proposed budget. However, the same committee also recommended establishing a new program, but with less funding. That likely means Californians will still receive some assistance with ADHC, but organizations will still be hit hard by a reduction in state funding.

Our local public radio station this morning broadcast a report that included an interview with the executive director of CAADS about what last week's vote likely means for citizens and organizations such as the George G. Glenner Alzheimer's Family Centers. She notes that 37,000 seniors statewide will be impacted, 3,000 of them right here in San Diego County.

You can read the transcript here.