Rochester organization to receive grant to increase awareness of Alzheimer’s, other related dementias

By KAALTV
Courtesy: MGN

(ABC 6 News) – A Rochester organization is one of thirteen across Minnesota that will receive a Minnesota Board on Aging grant to help support people with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.

The board issued $750,000 in grants to help increase awareness, promote early diagnosis, and connect caregivers to resources to help people battling the disease.

“These grants are strategic investments that can make huge impacts for these organizations and the people they serve,” said Maureen Schneider, interim chair of the Minnesota Board on Aging. “For small organizations doing the important work to fight Alzheimer’s and related dementias, this kind of funding can make the difference between keeping or losing a program or staff position.”

The organizations in southeast/southern Minnesota receiving grant money are listed below:

  • Family Service Rochester, Rochester, $148,914, to work in partnership with Olmsted Medical Center in Rochester and FiftyNorth in Northfield to offer multi-site dementia education and referral specialists, strengthen coordination between health care and community-based organizations, and organize region-wide public forums on brain health, memory care and caregiver supports.
  • VINE Faith in Action, Mankato, $53,180, for work in dementia education and awareness; programs in brain health and training; memory screening; and evidence-based caregiver education and depression support in Blue Earth, Le Sueur, Watonwan and Nicollet counties.
  • Winona Friendship Center, Winona, $10,557, to develop a free, weekly community health clinic in partnership with Bridges Health/Winona State University. The clinic will offer accessible access to cognitive and hearing screenings for people aged 50 and older who may be uninsured, underinsured, undocumented or otherwise distrustful of mainstream medical providers.
  • MapHabit, Owatonna, $51,742, for pilot projects in St. Paul and Granite Falls. The MapHabit interactive platform draws on the neuroscience of habit to create a visual mapping system to improve activities of daily living for people with dementia; it also offers education, task mapping and scheduling for family and friend caregivers.

Others receiving grant money are:

  • African Immigrants Community Services (AICS), Minneapolis, $49,995.
  • Amherst H. Wilder Foundation, St. Paul, $49,449.
  • CAPI USA, Brooklyn Center, $76,125.
  • Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio – CLUES, St. Paul, $75,000.
  • Horizon Health, Pierz, $12,440.
  • Koochiching Aging Options, International Falls, $41,220.
  • Lao Advancement Organization of America, Minneapolis, $47,262.
  • SEWA-AIFW, Brooklyn Center, $94,992.
  • Tri-Community Living at Home/Block Nurse Program, Newfolden, $39,124.

For more information on the Minnesota Board on Aging, CLICK HERE.