Special CARE for Dementia Patients and Families

UGA’s Cognitive Aging Research and Education (CARE) Center helps patients and their families navigate the challenges of dementia.

More than 6 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease. By 2050, that number will more than double, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.

Additionally, over 11 million people provide unpaid care for loved ones with Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia, costing roughly $350 billion in health care and related expenses.

The U.S. doesn’t have the workforce to address those growing needs.

That’s where the Cognitive Aging Research and Education (CARE) Center at the University ofGeorgia comes in.

Based in the College of Public Health on UGA’s Health Sciences campus, the CARE Center is about seeing dementia differently. It’s a comfortable space where researchers and health care providers deliver education on dementia risk reduction, conduct cutting-edge research, and provide planning and support for persons with dementia and their care partners.

Simply put, the interdisciplinary group spreads the word about dementia, provides a diagnosis, and delivers support to patients and their loved ones while training the next generation of gerontological workers.

“CARE’s approach is rooted in science, but it’s also rooted in our own experiences,” says Lisa Renzi-Hammond, associate professor and director of the Institute of Gerontology. Renzi-Hammond, along with associate professor Jenay Beer, created the CARE Center based in part on their experiences watching their grandmothers battle dementia.

“If you walk around this building, we’ve all been there,” Renzi-Hammond said. “We know what it’s like to navigate these conditions. Even with all the education that we have about the conditions, it was still hard. In fact, it was too hard.”

In a recent survey by the Alzheimer’s Association, 80% of older adults don’t know the warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, which means they miss the opportunity to get themselves or their loved ones the care they need.

The CARE Center is working to change that.

Along with their team of staff and students, Beer and Renzi-Hammond created a curriculum to educate communities and health care providers about Alzheimer’s and dementia prevention and the need for diagnosis.

“If research isn’t meaningful and improving the state of health here in Georgia, then it’s not public health,” Beer says. “When you’re researching dementia, it involves people’s families. It involves the community. It involves addressing stigma. And it involves a more educated public.”

In 2022, the CARE team started training UGA Extension Agents on Alzheimer’s and dementia topics—like spotting the early signs of dementia and the importance of eating well to help prevent cognitive decline—so that they could fit into existing nutrition and wellness programs. The team has also created tailored curricula and resource guides to reflect the needs of those rural communities.

And they will soon implement telehealth services for rural counties, with the support of grants from the National Academy of Medicine. UGA is also investing in the program through the Rural Engagement Faculty Workshop and Presidential Interdisciplinary Seed Grant programs.

There’s no cure for dementia yet. But that only strengthens Renzi-Hammond’s and Beer’s resolve.

“Our team believes that we can create a new pathway to dementia education and diagnosis; a pathway built upon scientific evidence, passion, collaboration and sincerity.”

“Our team believes that we can create a new pathway to dementia education and diagnosis; a pathway built upon scientific evidence, passion, collaboration and sincerity.”
Jenay Beer, associate professor