Caregivers

ASTDD has shared a new collection of resources, Older Adult Oral Health Resources for Collaboration. This resource was developed by a workgroup consisting of individuals from state public health programs, academia, and clinicians caring for older adults in a variety of settings. It includes information on the link between oral health and overall health, oral health and chronic disease, special populations, ventilator and non-ventilator pneumonia, nutrition, financing routine dental care, information for non-dental providers, teledentistry and equity.

This new podcast episode from Tradeoffs discusses the severe shortage of long-term care workers in nursing facilities and patient homes across the country. The conversation touches on how career advancement professional development could play a part in the solution and help retain workers.

ACL released its first comprehensive report on the accomplishments of Older Americans Act (OAA) Title III, VI, and VII programs. Enacted in 1965, the OAA created the foundation for a comprehensive system of services and supports that enables millions of older adults in this country to continue to live independently as they age. Today, programs funded by the OAA provide essential services to older adults, targeting those with the greatest economic or social need, particularly low-income and minority persons, older individuals with limited English proficiency, and older persons living in rural areas. The programs play a vital role in helping to maintain the health and well-being of millions of older adults and their caregivers.

Applied Self-Direction is accepting session proposals for the 2023 Self-Direction Conference: Virtual Series happening this spring. Sessions should focus on best practices and innovations related to self-direction and include a range of perspectives including state program staff, people and families who self-direct, Financial Management Services providers, support brokers, and policymakers.

VA has expanded the Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers (PCAFC) to include caregivers of eligible Veterans of all service eras. Previously, PCAFC was only available to eligible Veterans who served on or after September 11, 2001. This expansion opens the program to eligible Veterans of all eras, including those who served after May 7, 1975, and before September 11, 2001. Over the past two years, PCAFC has added approximately 20,000 active Veteran and Family Caregiver participants. This final phase of PCAFC expansion will enhance the health and well-being of thousands more Veterans by supporting their caregivers.

The 2022 National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers is now available for public comment for 60 days. Comments will be used to inform the ongoing work of two Congressionally mandated caregiving advisory councils, and inform future updates to the strategy. The strategy is intended to serve as a national roadmap for better recognizing and supporting family and kinship caregivers of all ages, backgrounds, and caregiving situations. It includes nearly 350 actions the federal government will take to support family caregivers in the coming years and more than 150 actions that can be adopted at other levels of government and across the private sector to build a system to support family caregivers.

Community Care Corps has developed a new publication highlighting the accomplishments of their 2021-2022 grantees. Each grantee snapshot includes a program overview highlighting key efforts, partners and future directions. Returning grantees applied lessons learned from year one to enhance their volunteer service models while first-time grantees launched creative new volunteer program models to respond to the changing needs of their communities.

The National Aging and Disability Transportation Center, a program of the Federal Transit Administration administered by Easterseals and USAging with guidance from ACL, is lookig for survey participants to share challenges and promising practices in providing accessible transportation to older adults and people with disabilities. Survey responses will help guide NADTC's work over the next year.

NCAL has announced the publication of its annual Assisted Living State Regulatory Review. The report summarizes key selected state requirements for assisted living licensure or certification. It includes information on the following topics for all the states and the District of Columbia: 1) which state agency licenses assisted living, 2) recent legislative and regulatory updates affecting assisted living, and 3) requirements for resident agreements, admission and discharge requirements, units serving people with Alzheimer’s or dementia, staffing, and training.

ANCOR has announced a new campaign, As a DSP It's Up to Me!, designed to increase vaccine acceptance among direct support professionals (DSPs) so they can protect people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. A new COVID-19 Vaccine Toolkit has been designed to reduce vaccine hesitancy among DSPs and offer a range of resources to help community providers engage in conversations with DSPs that encourage them to get vaccinated.