From the Program Director | Spring 2016 Newsletter
Welcome to a new chapter in our history. Welcome to CaringKind. As you probably know, after careful consideration, our Board of Directors has decided to disaffiliate from the National Alzheimer's Association and return to our roots as an independent 501(c)(3).
Please know that we remain deeply committed to providing quality care and support services to all New Yorkers who need them, as we always have. To the credit of our Board of Directors, outstanding staff, and senior management team, if you visit any day you will see business as usual:
The 24-hour Helpline staff busily answering calls, providing information, education, and a connection to our rich portfolio of services and community partners, thereby providing desperately needed connections and comfort.
Support groups meeting in the support group rooms, the members finding much needed solace and support.
Family Caregiver Workshops and Dementia Care Trainings for Professionals taking place, where caregivers are learning the fine art and skill of good dementia care.
Education programs being held, helping families negotiate the complex system of long-term care, including seminars on legal and financial planning, Medicaid home care, and placing a relative in a nursing home.
The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Early Stage Center bustling with new programs, as well as loads of laughter and friendship.
Social workers counseling families, providing personalized guidance to those in need who are often not only struggling with providing care for their relative, but also with difficult issues including poverty, food insecurity, looming homelessness, immigration status, drug and alcohol use, chronic illness of their own, longstanding mental health issues, and family conflict.
Our Diversity team reaching out to community centers, faith-based communities and more, bringing our message of hope and awareness to every corner of the city in English, Spanish, Cantonese, and Mandarin.
Our Medical & Healthcare Professional Outreach Manager working with doctors, nurses, social workers and others in medical practices, hospitals, and pharmacies across the five boroughs to educate them about our resources.
Our Residential Care Policy & Strategy Consultant bringing the hope of superb care and comfort for those in residential settings and beyond, informing the palliative care world about the importance of looking at palliation through the dementia lens.
Our Wanderer's Safety Program team enrolling persons with dementia in the jewelry identification program or responding to reports of missing individuals with memory loss with our partners at the NYPD, the Office of Emergency Management, and the city's Department for the Aging, providing support to families dealing with the nightmare of a missing person with dementia.
Thanks to a generous grant from the New York State Department of Health, we are working more formally with the vast array of cultural and arts institutions in the city, helping to make them dementia-capable. We are starting new partnerships with the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Queens Museum, and the Cloisters. This grant, an expansion of the AlzCAP contract, is allowing us to extend our services in many other ways as well. (More about that in my next column!)
We are still deeply committed to supporting research, sharing information about the latest research developments and helping you locate research trials.
Our new name says it all — we are the heart of Alzheimer’s and dementia caregiving and remain committed to providing the personal support that all caregivers need and deserve. We will continue to individually guide each caller and client to help make what is often the darkest hour a little bit brighter. We are New Yorkers serving those who live and work in our great city. If you need our help we are only a phone call away at 646-744-2900, 24 hours a day.
Sincerely,