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As of 2020, 164,000 Virginians suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, according to the national nonprofit Alzheimer’s Association. That number is expected to rise to nearly 200,000 by next year.
This uptick reflects a growing need to provide care to people with degenerative brain diseases such as dementia and to support caregivers and medical institutions tasked with managing dementia patients. In response, the Virginia Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Commission released its 2024-27 Virginia Dementia State Plan in January.
Updated every four years, the plan is a playbook for anyone diagnosed with or involved in the treatment of dementia in Virginia, listing care providers including assisted living facilities and state organizations such as the Virginia Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services.
The commission works to implement change through policy recommendations to lawmakers and suggested improvements to care facilities. The six major goals of the plan are to improve dementia services, enhance data collection, increase awareness of the disease, widen access to dementia care for patients, expand research and support brain health across the state.
One objective is already bearing fruit: increased data collection.
Established in 2022 and protected by law in a bill passed by the Virginia General Assembly and signed by Gov. Youngkin this year, the Virginia Memory Project is a database and tool for dementia patients and caregivers. The project includes an online survey documenting personal details and dementia symptoms that can help participants obtain additional information, connect with resources or schedule medical appointments.
“We’re collecting data and analyzing trends,” explains Annie Rhodes, founder and director of the Virginia Memory Project and assistant professor of gerontology at Virginia Commonwealth University. “We have a way for people who don’t have access to a caregiver to self-report,” she continues. “Because those folks are under-resourced, we have a way for them to ask for help.”
Another of the plan’s goals is currently implemented in the Richmond region. Bickford of Chesterfield, an assisted living community, is one of several long-term dementia care facilities in the region tailoring its care to the individual level with home-like environments, something the updated plan encourages across Virginia.
Dreama C., a family advocate at Bickford who asked to be referred to by her first name, notes that person-centered care is key to addressing dementia’s behavioral symptoms and improving residents’ quality of life. “We really try to speak with family and get to the root of the person [we’re treating],” she says. “When our treatment is geared towards the person, rather than generic, we can dissuade that behavior while honoring who they are.”
Bickford is an example of how facilities can model support for dementia patients and influence individual caregivers to use better methods. “The messages in the plan aren’t just for older people; they’re for every Virginian,” says George Worthington, dementia services coordinator for the state Department of Aging and Rehabilitation Services.
Start the search for care in the Richmond region with the Virginia Memory Project’s survey, available online from VCU’s Virginia Center on Aging. Senior Connections, the Area Agency on Aging for Central Virginia, provides lists of care facilities and educational resources online.
