Advocates prioritizing Alzheimer's research funding, expanded training

Yahoo

28-02-2025

BOSTON (SHNS) – Alzheimer's care advocates called for new state oversights and first responder training Thursday while casting a wary eye toward Washington with worries about uncertain federal research funding.
At the center of the action was a new Alzheimer's and dementia care bill (HD 3983) filed by Rep. Danielle Gregoire and Sen. Adam Gomez to expand a 2018 Alzheimer's law signed by Gov. Charlie Baker. The bill would follow other states in creating a dedicated 'Director of Dementia Care and Coordination' position inside the Executive Office of Health and Human Services.
Gregoire told the News Service she was concerned about what the Trump administration's federal funding cuts could mean for Alzheimer's research and care.
'They've got so many things coming at us, it's hard to figure out what's real and what's not, and what's immediate and what's not,' Gregoire said of directives from President Donald Trump's administration. 'And so we're just trying to keep up with it, and figure out what's real and how we can try to fill those gaps as a state.'
Dr. Brent Forester, psychiatry department chief at Tufts Medical Center, said loss of federal funding would pose both immediate and long-term problems to Alzheimer's research.
'There's all sorts of therapeutic strategies that are not yet ready for prime-time. … If that funding starts to chip away, what will happen is not only will we have lack of advance in some of the promising therapeutics, but people will not be incentivized to go into the field,' Forester said, adding that an interrupted career pipeline to the research community could 'affect us for generations.'
The Gregoire-Gomez bill focuses on interactions between first responders and people living with dementia and Alzheimer's. It would require dementia training programs for police, firefighters, and EMTs through the Municipal Police Training Committee, the Department of State Police, the Massachusetts Fire Training Council, and the Department of Public Health. The training would cover symptoms, how to communicate with a dementia patient, identifying possible abuse or neglect, and protocols for contacting caregivers.
The 2018 law required hospitals to meet a 2021 deadline for completing and implementing 'an operational plan for the recognition and management of patients with dementia or delirium in acute-care settings.' Forester on Thursday questioned whether all hospitals had followed that mandate. The bill would extend the deadline to July 1, 2027, and call for the plans to be reviewed every five years after that.
The proposed dementia care post in EOHHS would work with the public health commissioner to ensure hospitals comply with the operational plan requirement. The new post would also coordinate statewide awareness efforts, study dementia-related training requirements, and track data collection. Chelsea Gordon of the Alzheimer's Association told the News Service that 27 other states have a similar position in their governments.
There are more than 135,000 people in Massachusetts living with Alzheimer's disease and more than 200,000 family caregivers, Gordon said, and that number is predicted to rise.
'Unfortunately, as the population ages, there's going to be a pretty urgent need for more support, more services, [and an] increased workforce who can diagnose and treat dementia,' she said.
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