ARKANSAS, USA — The Alzheimer's Association is out with its annual report, and once again, it shows those who care for a loved one are still struggling.
"When someone receives a dementia diagnosis, typical caregiving duties fall to the family and the friends first," David Cook with the Alzheimer's Association's Arkansas chapter said.
According to the report, 155,000 Arkansans have Alzheimer's and dementia, which translates into family caregivers spending more than 270 million unpaid hours taking care of their loved ones.
Cook says that kind of care can take its toll on the caregiver.
"Those caregivers report higher levels of emotional stress, physical strain, especially as the disease progresses, [and] the need for more intimate interventions and more physically demanding interventions ... just the lack of support systems— a lot of people feel isolated," Cook said.
He says the Arkansas chapter is trying to help by establishing the Dementia Respite Caregiver Grant Program. It helps caregivers care for themselves.
"People are tending to their own personal needs, caring for the family members, taking care of household obligations that they otherwise were not able to do. But the majority of them are trying to just take care of themselves with their break," Cook said.
According to the Alzheimer's Association, the grant is funded by the Arkansas Legislative Council through the Alzheimer's and Dementia Advisory Council. Family caregivers can apply for the $500 grant up to two times a calendar year (between July 1 and June 30). The grant can go toward in-home respite care, adult day care, or a short-term facility stay.
Cook says the Arkansas chapter only has $200,000 to give out a year, while Missouri has a $4 million budget and Tennessee has a $1.5 million budget.
Now, Cook says the effort is to get the state legislature to match that $200,000 budget as a start.
"Because our caregivers need it, our population needs it. And we need to expand our reach of the program," he said. "Again, our analysis has shown that we are hitting those caregivers that make too much money to qualify for Medicaid services, but they don't quite make enough to be able to afford in-home care."
He says the goal now is to talk with state lawmakers during the state's fiscal legislative session this spring to try to get more funding for this grant program.
Compounding the caregiver problem, Cook also says most caregivers have chronic health conditions of their own and suffer from depression.
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