AMDA Co-Convenes 2nd Dementia Thought Leaders Invitational Summit

Washington, DC – Last week, CCAL – Advancing Person-Centered Living,  The Eden Alternative, Planetree and AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine (AMDA),  all founders of the Dementia Action Alliance, convened the 2nd Dementia Thought Leaders Invitational Summit in Washington, DC. The Alliance is a national initiative to make person-centered dementia CARE the only acceptable norm in our country. The purpose of the Summit was to address and form consensus recommendations on what is needed to effect such change.  
 
Participants included a broad spectrum of persons living with dementia, care partners, advocates, healthcare practitioners, long-term services and support providers, researchers, and policymakers among others. The day-long Summit formed consensus on an initial framework of strategies to optimize the physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being of people living with dementia, as well as their care partners. Participants also strategized ways to make person-centered dementia care of consistent high quality across settings. 

AMDA Past President Jonathan Evans, MD, MPH, CMD told the group, “It’s not enough for us to say ‘fix it.’ We need to specify what we want fixed, how to fix it, and how we will determine if it’s been fixed.” 

Summit participants agreed that the overarching goal was to improve person-centered dementia care in the U.S. by helping people ‘Live Fully with Dementia’. To achieve this, five goals were developed: 

1. Develop and implement a mobilizing and operating infrastructure;
2. Coalesce, connect, and activate people and other resources to build capacity;
3. Educate and increase awareness among the diverse dementia care stakeholders;
4. Optimize health and well-being; and
5. Foster health equity by creating access to and utilization of dementia care resources and services.

Chair of CCAL-Advancing Person-Centered Living, Jackie Pinkowitz, MEd, commented, “This work must continue as an open, evolving process so that multiple perspectives may be exchanged.  We hope to have the expertise and insights of all stakeholders included in the workgroups that are forming to effectively translate these recommendations into national policy and practice.”

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The Dementia Action Alliance (DAA) was formed in 2012 to make person-centered dementia care practices the norm and not the exception of care in the U.S.  Four leading national organizations with person-centered care at the core of their missions,  AMDA -The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine, CCAL- Advancing Person-Centered Living, Planetree, and The Eden Alternative serve as the leadership team for the DAA. For more, go to www.ccal.org/the-dementia-action-alliance.