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The Center on Aging at the University of Hawaii at Manoa has received a three-year, $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for its Alzheimer’s disease initiative.
Hawaii is one of 11 states to receive such a grant.
The grant will be used by the Center on Aging to “fill gaps in dementia-capable long-term services and supports” for people with Alzheimer’s or with a high risk of developing the disease and related dementia and their caregivers.
The goal is to provide high-quality services that help Alzheimer’s sufferers remain “independent and safe in their communities,” a university statement said.
The Center on Aging will work with community partners and providers to target seniors who live at home, including those with memory loss who live alone; their caregivers; primary-care providers and allied health professionals; persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities who develop memory loss; and those with moderate to advanced dementia.
“We look forward to making the state more dementia-capable, and providing valuable and needed support for our Hawaii residents living with cognitive impairment, their families and caregivers,” said Christy Nishita, acting director of the Center on Aging.
As part of its efforts, the center will create a new Hawaiʻi Brain Health and Dementia website, a one-stop resource for information, links and information about the grant activities.
“We are very excited to provide financial resources and technical assistance to the UH Center on Aging in support of the expansion of dementia capable services throughout Hawaii,” said Erin Long, program officer for the Office of Supportive and Caregiver Services, part of the department’s Administration on Aging. “People with dementia and their caregivers have unique and specialized needs as they relate to long-term services and supports, and this project through the Center on Aging will aim to meet those needs over the course of the grant.”
The need for a cure or prevention of Alzheimer’s is a primary focus for scientists and researchers worldwide.
According to the Alzheimer’s Association 2015 Facts & Figures, one in three seniors dies with Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia. Someone in the U.S. develops the disease every 67 seconds.
It is estimated that 5.3 million Americans of all ages are living with the disease, including 26,000 age 65 and older in Hawaii. The Hawaii tally does not include people who are undiagnosed or under 65, and is expected to grow to 35,000 by 2025.
In other grant news
UH President David Lassner has made a $76,000 gift to support UH Information Technology Services. The state-of-the-art UH Information Technology Center opened in February 2014 and houses enterprise information and communications technology systems and services that support modern teaching, administration and research for all 10 UH campuses statewide.
“We are most grateful to David for leading by example with this generous gift to help the Information Technology Center fulfill its mission and support necessary maintenance, refurbishment and equipment,” Randy Moore, UH Board of Regents chairman, said in a news release. “The 21st-century facility supports the delivery of the 21st-century education so critical to our students’ and faculty’s success, and provides critical safeguards our state needs during disaster.”
The building includes a disaster-hardened, 8,000-square-foot data center for enterprise servers, storage and communications, designed to withstand Category 3 hurricanes; space for faculty to develop digital content; meeting and training rooms with teleconferencing capabilities; and an emergency situation room to support UH disaster responses.
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